Tarrafal will have International premiere in CPH:DOX
Decades of conflict, gang dominance and violent clashes with the police have taken their toll on bodies, faces and buildings in S. João de Deus – a neighbourhood on the wrong side of the train tracks in the part of Porto where tourists never go.
But the residents of the dilapidated neighbourhood have defended their homes and special community for just as long.
Pedro Neves continues and renews the Portuguese tradition of investigating the origins of melancholy in madness, and has created his very own variation of hard and dark social realism with an almost supernatural edge of something threatening and inexplicable. An atmosphere, which has a historical foundation in grainy VHS images of hot-tempered women who swear at the police from the windows of a dilapidated apartment block, but which in today’s moment meet us like a silent and bare-chested man on horseback. If ‘gentrification blues’ was a genre, ‘Tarrafal’ would be the sound of a hoarse voice singing at night. And as a film, it is an unmistakably Portuguese and strangely haunting experience.
The Melusinas in Festa do Avante!
Melusinas on the banks of the river, by Melanie Pereira and produced by Red Desert, will be shown at Festa do Avante.
Cold Water selected to Golden Ball Film Festival in Turkey
It is the first time that Cold Water / Água Fria will be presented in Turkey.
Cold Water wins Special Mention at Mecal Short Film Festival in Barcelona
The documentary Cold Water / Água Fria, won a Special Mention of Onda Curta Prize at Mecal Film Festival, in Barcelona, Spain. Cold Water was selected for the Documentary Competition.
To My Parents in Porto Femme official selection
The documentary To My Parents, directed by Melanie Pereira, is in the National Competition of Porto Femme International Film Festival.