Since the premiere in 2014 of Tant qu’il nous reste des fusils à pompe (which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival of that year), the duo of French directors Jonathan Vinel and Caroline Poggi has never stopped filming compulsively and has become widely acclaimed, both by critics and the public. Notre Heritage, Martin Pleure and After School Knife Fight have had a brilliant run through many film festivals, where they drew attention for their originality, irreverence, talent and contemporaneity. Her debut feature Jessica Forever, which will be one of the IndieLisboa’s International Competition titles, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and since then something became clear: they are the artists of the moment and that is why IndieLisboa decided that the Silvestre Focus of 2019 should be about their work. A complete retrospective of their work will mark this edition of the festival (both with films made as a duo and individually) and a gaming performance is bound to be one of the strongest moments of the section.
The Silvestre section is a panorama of free cinema, in a time in which it becomes increasingly meaningless to speak of documentary or fiction as closed territories, in which cinema can decide to expand or remain faithful to the traditional languages that were in its origin. Silvestre is a competitive section with its own jury, which is drawn from this freedom with a program of shorts and feature films that demonstrates an intense year of production. In addition to the focus of the section, there are other highlights that should be mentioned such as the new feature by director Radu Jude, who was previously awarded in other editions of IndieLisboa, I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians, a fiction that questions the presence of fascism in contemporary Romania from a reconstitution of a historical episode.
Burning, the latest film by Lee Chang Dong, which was screened was part of the competition at the latest Cannes festival and was considered by the specialized press one of the most important films of 2018, will be screened at the festival before premiering in Portuguese theatres thanks to Alambique Filmes. In Coincoin et les Z’inhumains, award-winning Bruno Dumont returns to the characters of the highly acclaimed series (and film) P’tit Quinquin for a new irresistible season of four episodes that you’ll be able to binge watch at the festival. Finally there’s Blue, by Apitchatpong Weerasethakul, part of a project created for the Opéra national de Paris to make a film that isn’t a dance at all, but a reflection on an invented space, a cursed and insomniac body, a very accurate visual and sound experience.
The 16th edition of IndieLisboa – International Film Festival takes place from May 2nd to 12th at Cinema São Jorge, Culturgest, Cinema Ideal and at Cinemateca Portuguesa.