Tarrafal in "Expresso" newspaper
"Pedro makes the remains the narrative material. Where there were houses, schools, grocery stores, cafes, corners that each had as their own, all that was left was the wind moving through the abandoned land". (Valdemar Cruz)
You can read the full article here: https://expresso.pt/cultura/2016-12-30-Despojos-do-Tarrafal
"If and when someone decides to call something 'Tarrafal' that is not the Tarrafal—the one of infamy, shame, and torture, made into a concentration camp for opponents of Salazar's regime—what is being invoked is a memory of horror to name a reality that, while completely distinct, evokes in the present similar feelings of terror to those from a distant past.
Tarrafal was in Porto. Inside it contained the 'valley of lepers.' Once again, a metaphor. It was a way of evoking those who, by frequenting that space, had already begun a one-way journey through the degradation inherent in extreme drug dependency. This all took place in a social housing neighborhood located in the parish of Campanhã. It had a name blessed by the veneration of a saint: São João de Deus was the official designation, even though, for a long time, and not just because it had become a sort of drug supermarket, it came to be known by its nickname: Tarrafal.
Pedro Neves, one of the most promising young Portuguese documentary filmmakers, could not resist this story of desolation and abandonment. The essence of the neighborhood today is merely a memory, etched in the anguish of hundreds of families expelled during the terms of Rui Rio as mayor of Porto." (by Valdemar Cruz).
Lucefece won the Cinema Falado Competition at Porto Post Doc
We are very happy to announce that Lucefece - where there is no vision, the people will perish, by Ricardo Leite and produced by Red Desert, was the Best Film in the Cinema Falado Competition at the Porto Post Doc 2023 Festival.
Bostofrio, où le ciel rejoint la terre won the award for Best Documentary at the Filmes do Homem IFF
Bostofrio, où le ciel rejoint la terre, directed by Paulo Carneiro, won the award for Best Documentary at the Filmes do Homem International Film Festival in Melgaço, Portugal.
Cold Water in the International Competition of Short Film Festival - Clermont-Ferrand
Cold Water / Água Fria was selected for the International Competition of the world's most important Short Film Festival! The film is going to be presented in the International Competition of Clermont-Ferrand!
Two documentaries from Red Desert at the Caminhos do Cinema Português Festival
Lucefece: Where there is no vision, the people will perish, by Ricardo Leite, and Dreams of a Revolution, by Pedro Neves, have been selected for the Caminhos Selection at the Caminhos do Cinema Português Festival.