“The Vows” (1973) - Dir. António de Macedo

+ Introduction by Hilary Owen + Q&A with António de Sousa Dias

Genesis Cinema - 2 December - 21.00h - (TBC)

https://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/event/93142

The Vows [A Promessa, 1973] is António de Macedo's landmark piece of cinema from the closing years of Portugal's dictatorship. A young newlywed couple, living in a devout fishing village have committed themselves to celibacy in fulfilment of a pledge made to God to spare the life of the husband's father from a deadly storm at sea. But the young wife struggles when a wounded gypsy is given shelter in their home. And violent consequences are unleashed across their entire community.  The Vow tested the limits of censorship at the time by making a challengingly explicit statement about the entanglement of human sexuality and blind religious faith. (Digital copy by Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema)

Introduction by Hilary Owen - Senior Research Fellow in Portuguese at the University of Oxford and Emeritus Professor of Portuguese and Luso-African Studies at the University of Manchester.

Q&A with António de Sousa Dias - Composer, multimedia artist, researcher, and the son of director António de Macedo

This screening is co-funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council Grant, U.K., Leading Women in Spanish and Portuguese Film and Television, 1970-1980