UTOPIA 4th UK Portuguese Film Festival

27 Nov - 08 Dec 2013

Ciné Lumière / Barbican Cinema / ICA / Genesis Cinema

Filmville proudly announces UTOPIA – the Fourth UK Portuguese Film Festival. Showcasing an exciting international line-up selected around the theme of Film, Memory and Landscape, this is the most ambitious UKPFF yet, expanded to include mostly recent productions and emerging talent. The programme combines contemporary works by renowned directors such as London Film Festival habitués Zézé Gamboa (The Hero) and João Pedro Rodrigues (Two Drifters), along with productions by emerging directors Portuguese Salomé Lamas and Brazilian Marcelo Lordello. The selection weaves together a cross-cultural narrative of surprising connections, presenting a rare opportunity to discover more about the artistic and cultural singularity of production from countries such as Angola, Portugal, Guinea Bissau and Brazil. Among the highlights in this year’s festival is Emmy Award-nominated Brazilian actor Lázaro Ramos, who plays 'Joãozinho' in Zezé Gamboa's The Great Kilapy - a witty portrait of the last decade of Portuguese rule in Angola. In association with their Pop: Images of Desire, Barbican Cinema will be showing The Circle, the first feature film by Portuguese New Cinema pioneer Antonio da Cunha Telles. Other highlights are a one-off special archive session and a playfully over-baked melodrama about an ill-fated preoperative transsexual in João Pedro Rodrigues and João Guerra da Mata’s To Die Like a Man and The Last Time I Saw Macao. Once again in partnership with TAP airlines, the festival is offering two return flights to Portugal. The winners will be announced by Christmas. The Portuguese Embassy in London and Instituto Camões in Portugal support the event.

FESTIVAL LINE-UP

27 Nov WED CINÉ LUMIÈRE 18:20: The Great Kilapy + Q&A

28 Nov THU CINÉ LUMIÈRE 18:20: They’ll be back + Q&A

30 Nov SAT GENESIS CINEMA 18:30: No Man’s Land + Q&A

01 Dec SUN GENESIS CINEMA 18:30: Housemaids

03 Dec TUE ICA 18:30: The Last Time I saw Macao + Q&A

04 Dec WED BARBICAN CINEMA 18:30: The Circle

05 Dec THU ICA 18:30: The Battle of Tabato + Q&A

06 Dec FRI CINÉ LUMIÈRE 18:20: All is Well

08 Dec SUN GENESIS CINEMA 18:30: Bird of Prey and other shorts by João Nicolau + Q&A

WED 27 NOV 18h20 CINÉ LUMIÈRE

The Great Kilapy (O Grande Kilapy). Angola 2011 Dir Zézé Gamboa 100’. The session will be followed by a screentalk with director Zézé Gamboa. Zézé Gamboa's sardonic historical drama follows a good-hearted, politically apathetic conman who, on the eve of the Angolan independence in the mid-1970s, pulls off a massive swindle at the expense of the Portuguese colonial administration — and soon after finds himself hailed as a national liberation hero.

THU 28 NOV 18h20 CINÉ LUMIÈRE

They’ll be back (Eles voltam). Brazil 2012 Dir Marcelo Lordello 100’. The session will be followed by a screentalk with director Marcelo Lordello. Marcelo Lordello’s directorial debut narrates an episode in the life of a white upper-middle-class Brazilian teenager, who, gone missing from her parents, begins a journey through a series of different social and ethnic realities in contemporary Brazil. Best Film at the Brasilia Festival of Brazilian Film in 2012 and Tiger Award nominee at Rotterdam International Film Festival 2012.

SAT 30 NOV 18h30 GENESIS CINEMA

No Man’s Land (Terra de Ninguém). Portugal 2012 Dir Salomé Lamas 72’. The session will be followed by a screentalk with director Salomé Lamas. Best First Feature and Best National Film at Doclisboa 2012, No Man’s Land is a poignant, interview-based documentary about a man who worked as a soldier, mercenary and contracted hit man from the period of the Portuguese colonial war (1961-74) until the 1990s, disconcertingly in collaboration with top governmental agencies.

SUN 01 DEC 18h30 GENESIS CINEMA

Housemaids (Domésticas). Brazil 2013 Dir Gabriel Mascaro 76’. Gabriel Mascaro’s documentary is a tragicomic yet intimate portrait of a group of housemaids and their work with families across a wide social spectrum. The film is shot by the families’ teenage children following the director’s instructions, allowing for an unusual and insightful perspective on the hard lives of these women and the roles they play in each household.

TUE 03 DEC 18h30 ICA

The Last Time I Saw Macao (A última vez que vi Macau). Portugal 2012 Dir João Pedro Rodrigues and João Guerra da Mata 85’. The session will be followed by a screentalk with director João Pedro Rodrigues. Part memoir, part city symphony, part noirish B-movie adventure, this newfeature from acclaimed film-making duo João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata (To Die Like a Man) is a sensual, shape-shifting ode to one of the world's most mythic, alluring and exotic cities. Special Mention at the Locarno International Film Festival’12.

WED 04 DEC 18h30 BARBICAN

The Circle (O Cerco). Portugal 1970 Dir António da Cunha Telles 111’. A glance at the world of advertising in the late 60s, in which beautiful women strive for independence but fall pray to a society arrogated by men. This is the story of Marta (Maria Cabral), a young girl wishing to leave her husband in search of her true identity. A landmark of Portuguese New Wave Cinema, The Circle was sold out for three months when it was first released.

THU 05 DEC 18h30 ICA

The Battle of Tabato (A Batalha de Tabatô). Guinea-Bissau/Portugal 2013, Dir João Viana 78’. The session will be followed by a screentalk with director João Viana. First-time feature director João Viana explores music, sorcery and post-colonial angst in Guinea-Bissau in this fable-like drama, which won him Best Debut with Honourable Mention at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival. Much like Tabu, The Battle of Tabato finds a Portuguese filmmaker reflecting on his nation’s imperial legacy in Africa, using stylish monochrome visuals and a playful fairytalelike narrative. However, unlike Tabu’s director Miguel Gomes, self-produced first timer João Viana tells a contemporary story here, featuring native Africans as his main protagonists.

FRI 06 DEC 18h20 CINÉ LUMIÈRE

All is Well (Por aqui tudo bem). Angola 2011 Dir Pocas Pascoal 96’. Directed by the Angolan Pocas Pascoal, All is Well won Best Narrative Film at the 2012 edition of the LA Film Festival. The film follows two Angolan sisters as they flee conflict in their homeland and start a new life in Lisbon, where they struggle to survive on the streets. As the jury of the LAFF stated, filmmaker Pocas Pascoal has transformed her personal story of exile from Angola into a deeply affecting cinematic drama.

SUN 08 DEC 18h30 GENESIS CINEMA

Bird of Prey and other shorts by João Nicolau. The screening will be followed by a screen talk with João Nicolau. Bird of Prey (Rapace) Portugal 2006 25’. Multi-award winning short (Best Short at Entrevues and Milan Film Festival), Rapace is a witty, surrealist coming-of-age tale, depicting the apathetic life-style of young middle-class students in contemporary Portugal. Song of Love and Health (Canção de Amor e Saúde) Portugal 2009 35’. This is the story of the only employee in the Morais Key Cutting shop, João. His daily routine is broken by the arrival of Marta, a Fine Art student who brings an unusual request. The key João cuts for her opens wide more than a single door. The Gift of Tears (O Dom das Lágrimas) Portugal 2012 27’. Commissioned by Guimarães 2012 - European Capital of Culture, The Gift of Tears tells the story of an encounter between a princess and a hunter. An iconographic and fantastical journey immersed in the symbols of Portuguese history. A Wild Goose Chase (Gambozinos) Portugal 2013 18’. Winner of the Illy Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2013, the eccentric A Wild Goose Chase tells the story of a 10 year-old boy who struggles with the trials and tribulations of life through the course of summer camp. Troubled by young thugs and rejected by the girl of his dreams, he finds that in the forest he will not be threatened by the mythical “wild haggis”. All films in Portuguese with English subtitles.

TICKETS

Ciné Lumière (£10, £8 con) 17 Queensberry Place SW7 2DT +44 (0) 20 7871 3515

Barbican Cinema (£11.50, £10.50 con) Silk Street EC2Y 8DS +44 (0) 20 7638 8891

ICA (£10, £8 con) 12 Carlton House Terrace SW1Y 5AH +44 (0) 20 7766 1452

Genesis Cinema (£8.50) 93-95 Mile End Rd E1 4UJ +44 (0) 20 7780 2000

For any press enquiries, please contact:

Fernanda Franco

M: +44 (0) 7939 941 831

E: press@filmville.org

For more information about the films and festival guests, please visit:

www.filmville.org/ukptff

FACEBOOK FilmvilleUKPortugueseFilmFestival

TWITTER @Portuguesefilm

THE FOURTH UK PORTUGUESE FILM FESTIVAL

Notes to Editor:

Filmville was founded in 2007 with the aim of curating and promoting film events around Portuguese speaking countries' cultures in the UK. Since 2010, Filmville has programmed the annual UK Portuguese Film Festival, working with institutions such as the Barbican Arts Centre, the Whitechapel Gallery, the Institut français, the Tricycle Theatre and the Picture House. Fimville is run by Erica Faleiro Rodrigues, with external help from freelancers and key institutions.