Still Lives: The Films of Pedro Costa

Contemporary Portuguese film-maker Pedro Costa's (1959-) films are largely concerned with the harsh realities of poverty. His work is defined by a "heightened realism" and its beauty is drawn from the wounds of the human psyche & society. Costa dwells contentedly on the outer realms of film-making, questioning the nature and purpose of cinema while producing idiosyncratic, experimental, & philosophical films which simultaneously make surprising & knowing references to the Hollywood greats.

This season of imported 35mm prints showscases all of Costa's films to date, highlighting his pre-occupation with the slums of Lisbon and the fate of immigrants displaced by Portugal's colonial heritage. It also demonstrates Costa's extraordinary feeling for and knowledge of the cinema, running from his bold refashioning of I Walked with a Zombie (Casa de Lava, to his now classic documentary on the cinematic process and the work of Straub-Huillet, Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie?

As Johnathan Rosenbaum suggests, "Costa's films are the cinema of the future, partl because of their intimate scale. As we get to know them better, they steadily grow in stature". Thus, with each subsequent film, critical appreciation of Costa's cinema has begun to swell, making this the right time to introduce his compelling and deeply humanist work to Melbourne audiences.

November 5 - 7:00pm

Pedro Costa Shorts

These 3 shorts engage in shifting, multi-layered dialogue with the people and sites in Costa's features, and serve as the perfect introduction to next week's season.

6 Bagatelas (2001) 18 mins. 6 unused scenes of Straub & Huillet from Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? are put into a new context.

Ne Change Rien (2005) 11 mins. In crisp black & white Costa's camera is captivated by the enigmatic French actress Jeanne Balibar (Desplechin's My Sex Life... Or How I Got Into An Argument), first in her dressing room, then strikingly placed in space performing on stage a song inspired by Godard.

Tarrafal 2007 16 mins. On the island of Fogo (where much of Casa de Lava was filmed) stands the site of the tarrafal prison where political dissidents were tortured & killed for nearly 40 years.

November 12 - 7:00pm

The Blood

Pedro Costa (1989) 95 mins

3 teenagers flee some nasty criminals, a dubious uncle & the law. In a desperate attempt to keep a secret, they decide to separate. Reminiscent of the films of Nicholas Ray, RKO “B” movies & Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter with its nocturnal, dream-like black-and-white cinematography, the film makes its mark equally as one of the great debuts of ‘80s European cinema.

Imported 35mm print.

November 12 - 8:45pm

Colossal Youth

Pedro Costa (2006) 155 mins

The 3rd instalment in Costa’s ongoing collaboration with the inhabitants of the Fontainhas district of Lisbon, a slum populated by immigrants from Cape Verde. This hybrid of fiction & documentary provides a multi-faceted commentary on gentrification, loss, isolation & rejection. Costa follows Ventura, a slum dweller & victim of forced relocation, on his rounds of the city, visiting the people & places that he loves. Touted by many as the “politicised successor” to Robert Bresson & Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet, Costa’s film is also a rigorous inquiry into experimental cinema.

Imported 35mm print.

November 19 - 7:00pm

Casa De Lava

Pedro Costa (1995) 110 mins

Costa’s 2nd film invokes Jacques Tourneur’s I Walked with a Zombie to delve into the haunted colonial past of the beautiful, volcanic islands of Cape Verde. A Portuguese nurse (Inês Medeiros from Costa’s debut The Blood) travels there with an islander who has slipped into a coma after a worksite accident in Lisbon. Full of striking faces, amazing landscapes, & island music, as well as visually & verbally poetic, the film is beautifully crafted & intensely played.

Imported 35mm print.

November 19 - 9:00pm

Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie?

Pedro Costa (2001) 104 mins

Critically hailed as one of the best portrayals of the cinematic process, & called “probably the best documentary of any kind I have ever seen” by Adrian Martin, Costa’s understated documentary on Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet treats their creative partnership with insight & sensitivity. Centring on the exacting processes undertaken during the editing of their 1999 film Sicilia!, the pair recount personal anecdotes & professional ruminations over their significantly collaborative cinema. An affectionate, humorous & indelible image of profound kinship & creative symbiosis.

Imported 35mm print.

* Preceded by Casa De Lava at 7.00pm.

* Screens as part of the Pedro Costa Season.

November 26 - 7:00pm

In Vanda's Room

Pedro Costa (2000) 170 mins

Nothing can quite prepare you for Costa’s portrait of 2 drug-addicted sisters, Vanda & Zita Duarte, who spend their days “in Vanda’s room”, scraping crack from the pages of an old telephone book to smoke while the shantytown in which they live is being demolished. Surprisingly funny, the film was shot on digital video & displays both a rigorous cinematic formalism & great humanity. Life may treat these people with nothing but contempt, but in their fleeting connections with each other they assert their worth, their compassion & their dignity.

Imported 35mm print.

November 26 - 10:10pm

Bones

Pedro Costa (1997) 94 mins

Costa asks his players to move & express sparingly, invoking Bresson: A young mother loses her (barely wanted) newborn to her boyfriend who tries to sell it on the perilous streets of the shantytown in which they live. The mother enlists her best friend to help her find it, without luck. Under the lamp of the director’s artistry, this devastating, bleak, highly stylised & minimalist work also wields the power to amaze.

Imported 35mm print.

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