Leila is heartbroken, a sudden breakup comes like a hectic telegram ‚ÄòTake a plane stop, fly away stop, you’re going to be someone stop, I believe in you stop, I’m doing this for us stop’ What hurts the most in abandonment? Its suddeness. The decision that pops out of a person’s head without any prior notice. Leaving the other all alone to deal with emptiness. Breaking up is not a birthday cake that you serve as a surprise and after the candles are blown and is dark you disappear. It’s the moment of choise, do you start protecting yourself or you change and start over? Protecting yourself cuts you off from everything, life, surprises, love… but not smoking. Leila changed her life to cope with her birthday cake, gets up every morning and plays music, she is ready to love again putting herself at risk again cause that’s what is called living. (Nina Veligradi)
Pablo Larrain recreates the historic campaign that said no” to Pinochet in the 1988 plebiscite. A distant Larraín from Tony Manero or Post Mortem, then black and impenetrable, is here colorful with a contagious energy. Expert in the retro look, the film reaches its climax with the fabulous videoclip overflowing rainbow wrapped in lycra, where everyone sings democracy. No and Yes in fierce fighting in a campaign that, were it not linked to the history of a people sadly surrendered, would be hilarious. Rene Saavedra (Gael García Bernal) is the leader publicist of the operation that advertised democracy as synonymous of happiness. While fighting behind the desk, he also tries to regain the respect of his ex-wife. Larraín captured the spirit of the era perfectly, as Saavedra caught the attention of Chileans. (M. M.)
A fair like any other. Children seem to play harmlessly with theirfavorite toys. But peace can snap at any moment, if just one of them presses the trigger. Slijepcevic takes the premise of a place among wars to a different level, through an observational documentary about contemporary society. One could almost say, in time of war, weapons are cleaned up. (M. V.)
A film belonging to the pagan and popular realm. A documentary with several layers of a praedial Portugal, about a man named Antero. Antero is wicked. Antero recites rhymes, verses and popular sayings. Antero laughs. Antero collects lost objects and fixes everything he finds. Like Joseph Beuys said, every man is an artist. (Carlos Ramos)
In his first solo work, the director reflects the images of the fire in Chiado in his character, wandering sadly while talking on the phone. Fire consumes the buildings and a love rupture consolidates. A game of projections creates a super-real atmosphere, rebuilding a beautiful part of Portuguese cinema. (Miguel Valverde)
Johann is a guard at the Museum of Art History in Vienna. His working hours consist on the discreet and attentive observation of visitors passing through the halls of the museum and stoping in front of works of art on display. Johann is faced with the enigmatic presence of Anne, a foreign visitor who came to Vienna on an emergency visit to a friend hospitalized. Without knowing the city, she takes refuge in the museum. A sensitive and intelligent film about the somewhat mysterious crossing of life, spaces and works of art, open to as many interpretations as we want to. Director of known Benjamin Smoke (2000) and Chain (2004), Jem Cohen has a solid and versatile filmography of short and feature films. His experimental short Smells Like Teens Spirit screened at IndieLisboa in 2008. (C. C.)
In southern Russia, there is a not so well-known region affected by radiation resulting from accidents at Mayak nuclear station: in September 1957, a tank containing highly radioactive waste exploded at Mayak, spreading a high quantity of radioactivity over 400 km. The accident was kept secret for over thirty years until Perestroika, and was compared, by experts and scientists, to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Adopting an aesthetic recording, with contemplative shots and careful photography in black and white, Sebastien Mez’s film introduces us to this place, considered one of the most contaminated in the planet, and to the people who live in it. A work that leaves in our memory the big shots of the faces of these people, whose places, life and stories have the wound of the nuclear age. (C. C.)
…once upon a time factories worked night and day, no pauses, those were the assembly lines days… When they stoped, everything remained untouched… Assembly Line is an artistic installation on those spaces.
Meet the craziest refugee centre in Scotland in this sarcastic dark comedy. Two passionate asylum-seekers are trying to make their way in an absurd world mixing the bureaucratic inhuman reality and, as a consequence, a no-man’s land where reality melts into dreams of a better life. (Karim Shimsal)
A day in the life of 8 people living in Alexandria gives us a glimpse of contemporary Egypt. The austere composition of the different shots forces us to look at the characters and yet still allows us, by its depth, to experience lifes and hopes in a megacity in transformation. (K. S.)
Miriam is in the kitchen, making a milkshake with the food processor. The chicken, too is interested in the appliance, but keeps pressing wrong buttons and finally it crashes on the floor. As Miriam is busy ironing, the chicken starts fixing the food processor herself. It seems to work. Later mother wants to use it, but the appliance has gone berserk. I turns out that the chicken has climbed into it.
A Formal is a rite of passage with its savage roots living oblivious under prom dresses. A long shot, in slow motion, allows us to follow the transformation of the event into a primary ritual, with a sacrifice and the usual group photo that states that all is well and order preserved. (Ágata Pinho)
Filmed during culminating months of the acclaimed singer-songwriter’s most rigorous year of touring, Andrew Bird crosses the December finish line in his hometown of Chicago – feverish and on crutches from an onstage injury. Fever Year is the first to capture Bird’s precarious multi-instrumental looping technique and features live performances.
Little brother falls ill and gets all of the attention and care of the rest of the family. Miriam feels unhappy. In the end she cannot think of anything else besides painting the spots of the illness on her own face. The chicken is definitely involved, and experiences analogous emotions to Miriam’s.
Young and excited Spike feels like a conqueror when he catches his first mud crab. Now all he has to do, in this simple but very smart animation, full of details, is cling to it without being caught by its ruthless clawss. A trap for the animal and for man too. (A. P.)
The body is the subject of this film. The oversize that stands between what you feel and what you do. A giant attracted by a small woman does what he can to make this relationship work. But sometimes, too much strenght does not help. Only sometimes. (Possidónio Cachapa)
In the background an image of Tokyo is divided into four pannels. Side by side, the four seasons of the year permeate the Japanese capital. From one side to the other, people and objects travel from Spring to Winter. A film for the spectator’s eyes to wander and get lost. A small animation charged with poetry. (Carlos Ramos)
A film than curiously puts together imagens and sounds that echo in the near distance. We see a man walking through the countryside, a craftsman focused on his work, taming wood because of an idea, pure nature waiting for the dreams of man. Meanwhile, the craftsman tries to talk to frogs. There is an old man who speaks about God and women who chant wandering through the woods. Trains pass by every five minutes in front of the firm believer’s house. A calm interaction of the elements, in a place we feel like coming back to.
