Lucrecia Martel and Jacques Rozier are the Independent Heroes IndieLisboa 2018

The filmography of Lucrecia Martel is closely linked to the history of IndieLisboa, as her second feature, La niña santa, was part of the international competition of the first festival. Let us return then to the most prominent Argentinean filmmaker of today for a homage with an integral retrospective of her work for cinema, after a hiatus of almost a decade between La mujer sin cabeza (2008) and Zama, one of the films of the year 2017. In this adaptation of the homonymous novel by Antonio di Benedetto, we find a man barred from leaving his colonizer exile as the center of a fascinating deconstruction of historical common places. Lucrecia Martel premiers in IndieLisboa this film-rediscovery or film-consecration of a singular voice that shows that there is still much to reveal. Zama is a Portuguese co-production with O Som e a Fúria, directed by Rui Poças. Lucrecia Martel will be in Lisbon during the festival to follow the retrospective and the debut of Zama. The program dedicated to the director will also integrate the documentary of Manuel Abramovich filmed during the shooting of Zama, Años Luz, and a masterclass, to be held on April 29.

Jacques Rozier doesn’t need introductions and more than 60 years separate the homage IndieLisboa gives him in 2018 and the extraordinary first short film he made in 1955, Rentrée des classes. The Cinemateca Portuguesa, with which IndieLisboa co-programmes this retrospective, is organized in collaboration with the French Cinematheque and thus completes its past of tributes to the great filmmakers of the nouvelle vague. Contemporary of Godard, Truffaut, Varda or Rohmer, Rozier has not become so recognized or loved, even though his Adieu Philippine
(1962) is an undeniably striking film for generations of French filmmakers ever since. Perhaps Rozier has been able by his spontaneity and lightness to be the freest of the filmmakers of the new wave, and perhaps that is why the genius and intelligence his peers recognize him is so captivating and enchanting. More discreet within the context of a generation that had to radicalize its cinema, the genius of Jacques Rozier is a breath of fresh air still today. It is time to discover him, and meet him personally, in Lisbon, during the sessions that will take place at the Cinemateca Portuguesa, as well as in the conversation with the director (date to be announced).