Last year Patrícia Delgado’s short film The Hood was presented in the national competition at IndieLisboa. The Portuguese director, L.A. based, signs now her first feature film, a coming of age story of a young Latin student, Aleteia, who looks forward to pursuing her studies at the university. With a realistic style and attentive look, this is also a vision of the tense American political atmosphere at the moment, as well as the dissensions within the Hispanic community.
Laniakea is a galaxy supercluster that contains our Milky Way. In this melancholic, disquieting film-journey, we proceed musically through the elements we’re made of. The animal, the water, the sky, mannequins and broken stones.
In mid-late 1960s and early 1970s, Laurel Canyon was the epicentre of the counterculture. Many musical events took place there and many rock stars lived at that place. Alison Ellwood’s documentary uses rare videos, outtakes, demos and photos in order to pull the curtain on that mythical period, make us go back in time and explore the stories of musicians like Mamas and the Papas, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, The Doors or Frank Zappa.
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Somewhat bigger than a neighborhood and smaller than a city. It watched closely the Los Angeles metropolis, but the orography and the surrounding nature acted as a protection from it. In the 1960s, Laurel Caynon was one of the epicenters of the musical American counterculture that defined the decade. Impressive as it may seem, it seemed everyone found a home, shelter and inspiration there: The Mamas And The Papas, The Doors, Love, Franz Zappa, Joni Mitchell, The Monkees, Neil Young and Stephen Stills’ Buffalo Springfield, Gene Clark and David Crosby’s Byrds – therefore, also Crosby, Stills & Nash. Them and those who came, guided by them, which could be The Beatles, Bob Dylan or Dennis Hopper.
“Laurel Canyon: A Place In Time” tells us, as the title goes, the story of a time and a place. Someone calls it “the garden of Eden”, but this is a garden made of electric sounds and the ambition to create in those mountain houses a new reality – free, creative and brotherly. Then came Charles Manson, time passed by, success corrupted brotherhood and youth experienced an heads-on collision with life outside that idyllic bubble. The fascinating and inspiring Laurel Canyon was inevitably doomed to fail, but that, in fact, only adds to the romanticism of the echo we still hear calling from the distance. (Mário Lopes)
The hippopotamus discovers he has a big behind. Animals came from the savannah to see it and give their opinion. But since everyone disagrees, a battle of rotten fruit starts. Everything ends well, when each bottom finds a proper potty.
Once upon a time there were five misfits. The first was full of holes. The second was folded in two, like a letter. The third was soft and slept all day. The fourth was reversed, hands on the ground and feet on air. The fifth had nothing of worth, a sort of bizarre ball.
So flowery are the memories of our childhood. Two brothers, all grown up, enter a home full of details of the past. The colours, the smell, the wall paper flowers, all of these are souvenirs of happiness.
A truck drivre reaches the end of a road and opens the back door of his vehicle. From there fly away a flock of birds. All but one, small and shy, that doesn’t seem to want to leave…
A young boy dances and imitates Michael Jackson, while listening to the electronic music of Wilbert Gavin. Improvisation, release and energy.
A Senegalese middle-aged man, unemployed, lives with his two wives and kids in Dakar. When he receives a money order from his son, working in Paris, bureaucratic problems arise in order to cash the money. Sembène turns his attention, for the first time, to the corruption of daily life in his country, fulfilling his dream to direct a film entirely spoken in his Wolof language. Despite censorship, the film received the international critics’ prize in Venice.
A girl buys a tomato plant. She puts it in a vase too big for its size. The tomato plant gets depressed. It only gives one little tomato. But still it is time to say goodbye. Goodbye little tomato, see you sometime.
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The simple life of a tomato tree that has finally fulfilled its mission. From all the attention it was given, a tomato was born – a single fruit. All the energy was consumed in the gestation of that life and it was time to harvest it, putting an end to a hope of abundance. (Margarida Moz)
A large group of people gather around a table for a meal. It is not clear whether they are family or friends. Food is served under a
noisy, atmosphere. Throughout the meal we discovered the various figures of the group, listened to their conversations and we can guess the connections between them. Toasts are made and congratulations are sung. At some point there are already those who sleep, who read, who date. The environment is increasingly fragmented. In the end there is only dirty dishes and silence.
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Being at the table is a necessity for many. But describing a lifetime through a table is far more complicated. Fazenda, best known for his work in illustration, shows that it is possible to do it vigorously. Without dialogues and with a minimal chromatic quality, the film bets on Philippe Lenzini’s sound design, creating atmospheres to pay attention to the multiple stories brought about by the animation of Fazenda and that accumulate around this “Table”. (Miguel Valverde)
Sarah Maldoror, a major filmmaker of the African liberation cause, directs here her first film. The denunciation of Portuguese colonialist torture in Angola, sufficing a word with unknown meaning to trigger violence.
This is Sembène’s last film and the second of a planned trilogy about the heroism of the African woman. In a small Senegalese village, Collé Ardo, the second wife of a prosperous farmer, plans her daughter’s marriage. But suddenly, she decides to shelter four young girls that are trying to escape the “purification” ritual of female circumcision. Her attitude causes a conflict in the village, dividing the members of her community.
People living in big cities will relate to this drama. A young woman has a Sisyphean task ahead: to carry a mattress up the stairs to her apartment. Almost without words and filmed in 16mm, this physical comedy is also an homage to the city of New York.
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There are a handful of films whose representation of a truly New York experience includes an example of public urination: Kids, Frances Ha and also Moving. But the quintessence that this film captures is broader and an illustration of how any change – material or emotional – is the most difficult when done in solitude. Even if it’s as simple as pulling a mattress up a flight of stairs, if “you can make it there, you can make it anywhere”. (Ana Cabral Martins)
How many emails do we receive as spam and then they turn out to warn us about evil forces in a neighbouring galaxy? How many emails tell us that we have a galactic twin in need of our help? Sasha Svirsky returns to IndieLisboa (Lavo, 2019).
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One day Sasha Svirsky receives an email from her galactic twin brother Galaction asking for help in the fight against evil in a nearby galaxy. First he thinks it’s spam. Then the adventure begins. A brilliant and fun animation, made of explosions of color and a strict chaos of images and rhythm. Seven minutes of pure pleasure. Will it be enough to save the world? (Carlota Gonçalves)
Nestor is a man who suffers from obsessive-compulsive behaviours, affecting the position of the objects around him. Unfortunately, he lives in a houseboat, where the oscillation and instability is the norm.
Based on real events, Niaye tells us, through the words of a griot – a traditional African storyteller – the case of a young woman that suddenly turns up pregnant. The situation will challenge the traditional morals of a small Senegalese village.
This film is not in English and does not have subtitles in English.
Dance is a creative and healthy way of expressing yourself through the body. Or maybe not. Vinciguerra’s delicious animation shows dance as a daily danger. There are moments where one should say: “no, I don’t want to dance!”
