Monday, February 23, 2015

Wed 2/25 The Liminal Cinema of João Pedro Rodrigues (in-person)


João Pedro Rodrigues is a Portuguese filmmaker based in Lisbon. His work explores human desire in all its guises—and disguises—reflecting the multifarious history of film, from classic genres to experimental film. His fourth and most recent feature film, The Last Time I Saw Macao (2012), co-directed with João Rui Guerra da Mata, confronts fiction and documentary, metamorphosing film noir into autobiography and all the shades in between.

After studying biology at Lisbon University João Pedro Rodrigues attended the Lisbon Film School, where he obtained his diploma. His film career began with the short PARABÉNS! which won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice IFF 1997. In 1998 he made ESTA É A MINHA CASA and VIAGEM À EXPO, a two-part documentary. In 2000, he directed his first fiction feature, O FANTASMA, which was screened in competition at the 57th Venice IFF. His 2005 feature ODETE won several awards, among them a Special Mention at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. His feature project TO DIE LIKE A MAN was selected in 2007 by the Cinéfondation for L’Atelier in Cannes and premiered at Un certain regard in 2009.

PROGRAM:

Morning of Saint Anthony’s Day (2011) 25 minutes
Directed by João Pedro Rodrigues 

Tradition says that on June 13th, Saint Anthony's Day, Lisbon's patron, lovers must offer small vases of basil with paper carnations and flags with popular poems as a token of their love.

At the ball where everybody dances
Someone's left out.
It is better not to go
Where one will not be. 
-Fernando Pessoa


O Fantasma (2000) 90 minutes, 35mm on video
Directed by João Pedro Rodrigues


The first feature film by João Pedro Rodrigues which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. 

No one can live without love . . . By day, brooding, lonely Sergio works as a trash collector in the streets of Lisbon. By night, Sergio embarks on an increasingly intense odyssey of random, anonymous sexual encounters. Quickly, Sergio becomes fixated on a hot, young stranger and begins to retreat further and further into his dark dream life, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, love and obsession.