UTOPIA 5th UK Portuguese Film Festival

6 - 7 December 2014

Barbican ICA

5 years celebrating film and the Portuguese language - 5 films celebrating freedom

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Following 4 successful years dedicated to exploring the relationship between film and the arts, Filmville’s Utopia - UK Portuguese Film Festival celebrates in December its 5th edition with an exceptional programme: 5 contemporary films from Portugal and Brazil united by the theme of freedom. 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the Carnation revolution that ended almost 50 years of dictatorship in Portugal. The 5 films in the programme all deal with the concept of freedom in different but complementary ways. From freedom of speech in Manuel Mozos's brilliant collage assembled entirely from censored footage, to freedom of sexual orientation in Joaquim Pinto's award-winning autobiographical documentary, to freedom of creation with Ana Maria Magalhães' electrifying portrait of urbanist Affonso Eduardo Reidy, to freedom of choice in Alê Abreu's spellbinding contemporary fairytale, and last but not least to utopian freedom in João Dias' outstanding piece on one of Europe's major social and architectural programmes, the SAAL project. 3 of the films will be presented with introductions that will hopefully serve as catalysts for a wider debate.

LINE-UP 2014

Saturday 6th 2.30pm Barbican: Reidy–Constructing Utopia

Saturday 6th 4.15pm Barbican: Operations SAAL

Sunday 7th 11am Barbican: The Boy and the World

Sunday 7th 2.30pm ICA: The Woman is the Devil

Sunday 7th 3.45pm ICA: Now What? Remind me

SAT 6 DEC 2014 2.30PM BARBICAN

Reidy - Constructing Utopia (Reidy, A Construção de uma Utopia) + Introduction. Brazil 2009 Dir. Ana Maria Magalhães 77min. The urbanist Afonso Eduardo Reidy is one of the leading figures of Brazilian modernism. Born in Paris and with a career devoted to transforming the landscape of his beloved Rio de Janeiro, Reidy was catapulted to the spotlight when he won the first prize at the 1953 International Biennale of São Paulo with the seminal housing project Conjunto Habitacional do Pedregulho. In the following decades, Reidy worked in various important assignments, which have since become Rio de Janeiro landmarks, like the Museum of Modern Art, the Aterro building and the Flamengo Park. Reidy’s work is guided by a strong belief in the liberating and transformative powers of architecture.

SAT 6 DEC 2014 4.15PM BARBICAN

Operations SAAL - A Radical Architecture Project (As Operações SAAL) PG* + Introduction. Portugal 2007 Dir. João Dias 90 min. The most complete and compelling documentary about the SAAL (Ambulatory Support Service) movement: a groundbreaking experiment in Portuguese architecture and urbanism, which emerged with the fall of the dictatorship in 1974, led by architects such as Álvaro Siza and Souto de Moura. SAAL aimed to tackle the housing needs of underprivileged populations, by involving them, together with intellectuals and artists, in direct participation in architectural planning and production. SAAL was one of the most innovative European projects of its time, helping to modernise long-held perspectives on social housing and opening up the field of play to popular participation. This year, Portugal celebrates 40 years of democracy and of the SAAL movement.

SUN 7 DEC 2014 11AM BARBICAN

The Boy and The World (O Menino e o Mundo) PG*. Brazil 2013 Dir. Alê Abreu 80 min. This wordless, sensuously original animation follows Cuca, a Brazilian boy, as he ventures from his simple country home into the neon-infused, carnivalesque metropolis in search of his father. Brazilian artist Alê Abreu’s immensely creative work employs everything from mosaics to watercolours, to samba and hip hop rhythms, to tella story of contrasts between country and city and deprivation and wealth. With hardly a line of dialogue spoken all the way to the surprising and emotional finale, this is a beautiful essay on the freedom to dream and the power of reverie, and a real treat for both adults and children. It won the Cristal Award at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the Youth Award at the São Paulo International Film Festival and the Special Jury Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

SUN 7 DEC 2014 2.30PM ICA

The Devil is a Woman - A Few Cuts From the Censorship III (Cinema – Alguns Cortes: Censura III) + Introduction. Portugal 2014 Dir. Manuel Mozos 45 min. Manuel Mozos’ third film on censorship focuses on the Dictatorship’s wilful deletion of all manner of scenes containing a female presence. As can be imagined, the presence of women in shots that could rouse desire or suggest any form of emancipation allowed for a veritable slicing machine, under whose scissors passed not only British and American movies, but also films from the golden age of Italian cinema. The Devil is a Woman is also a window into the changing shape of distribution that, up to the 1970s, licensed German and other cinematographies into the same theatres that now serve up only Hollywood and its derivatives - we are left to wonder what happened to european distribution since then. It is not by chance that the Viennale 2012 dedicated the Programme In Focus to Manuel Mozos. His work is as original as it is audacious and historically relevant.

SUN 7 DEC 2014 3.45PM ICA

Now What? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) PG*. Portugal 2012 Dir. Joaquim Pinto 160 min. ‘…is a beautifully unfussy illustration of a productive, supportive and evidently very happy union’ (Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter). Renowned for his long international career as a sound engineer, with directors such as Werner Schroeter, Raoul Ruiz and Manoel de Oliveira, Joaquim Pinto surprised international audiences with his breathtaking new film What Now? Remind Me, a remarkably personal essay on love, sufferingand the ephemerality of life. Shot over a year, during which the director repeatedly took time off for treatment of his long-termH.I.V. and Hepatitis C infections, What Now? Remind Me is a mesmerising experiment that counterpoises the discomforts of the flesh with the comforts of film-making. A film focused on the personal freedom to strive and to love against all odds. It won the FIPRESCI Prize and Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival in 2013.

All films in Portuguese with English subtitles

TICKETS

Barbican Cinema (Standard £11.50, Members £9.20, Concessions £10.50, Under 18 £6 exception for The Boy and the World’s screening on Sun 11am, £2 as part of Framed Film Club programme)

ICA (Standard £11, Members £7, Concessions £8)

For press enquiries, please contact Fernanda Franco on +44 (0) 7939 941 831 or via email: press@filmville.org

Further information about the programme: www.utopiafestival.org.uk

FACEBOOK FilmvilleUKPortugueseFilmFestival

TWITTER @Portuguesefilm

The festival is funded by Instituto Camões, sponsored by TAP Portugal and kindly supported by the Portuguese Embassy in the UK.

Notes to Editor:

Filmville was founded in 2007 with the aim of curating and promoting film events from Portuguese speaking countries 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. Filmville is run by Erica Faleiro Rodrigues, with external help from freelancers and key institutions.