CHANGE NOTHING
Ne change rien
France, Portugal | 2009 | 103 min
Immersed in the darkness of particular spaces – a stage, a rehearsal studio – Jeanne Balibar is rehearsing the songs for her new album, exhibiting herself, taking lessons in opera singing, performing in a show. In every shot, her face emerges partially from the black space that seems to swallow her up, absorb her, perhaps forever. The movement of the film lies precisely in this tension: an open rapport between a body and a face that attempt, search, experiment; and an external space that at the same time contains that body, letting out glimpses of its intensity. Pedro Costa’s film camera lingers on the actress’ face, on the spaces she moves about, capturing expressions, hidden thoughts, sorrows, and concentration. All notes, all vocal exercises, all arrangements become concrete, material, while the vision becomes hypnotic and magnetic. A film dealing not only with music, but also with the duration of creation, the work of time, of black, of non-seen, the very fabric of cinema. (d.d.)
FREE ENTRY
Local Time
- Timezone: America/New_York
- Date: 09 Nov 2023
- Time: 13:00
Location
- Istituto Francese Florence - Palazzo Lenzi, Piazza Ognissanti, 2, 50123 Florence
Organizer
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Pedro Costa
Pedro Costa is one of the most important directors in contemporary Portuguese cinema. Born in 1959, he studied history and art history at the University of Lisbon before starting to work as an assistant director for some of the most prominent Portuguese directors, including João César Monteiro and André Téchiné. His career as a director began in 1989 with the film O Sangue, presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs section. Since then, he has directed numerous films that have been screened at major international festivals such as the Venice Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. His film In Vanda's Room (2000) won the FIPRESCI prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was selected to represent Portugal at the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category. With his subsequent films Colossal Youth (2006), Horse Money (2014), and Vitalina Varela (2019), Costa continued to work with the same non-professional actors who live in a poor neighborhood of Fontainhas in Lisbon. His work has received numerous awards worldwide, including the Best Film award for Vitalina Varela and the Best Director award for Horse Money at the Locarno Film Festival. Costa is known for his unique aesthetic, which often relies on long static shots and a creative use of light and shadow, for his attention to detail and composition.
