DOWN TO EARTH
Casa de Lava
Portugal, France | 1994 | 110 min
Pedro Costa’s second feature is at once a swerve from and a follow-up to the previous O sangue, not to mention that it is the necessary stepping stone towards Ossos. The journey of Mariana, a nurse who escorts her comatose patient up to Cabo Verde experiencing first-hand how difficult the relationships with the local population are, in a radically hostile environment, is emblematic of the research that will be conducted by the Portuguese director through his filmmaking, increasingly focused on radically displaced characters who carry an invisible grief that is only perceived in their features, their harsh and impenetrable countenances. Costa’s gaze acquires the dimension of a quest – of a form and a universe that need be made visible. Nature and wilderness are not a mere backdrop, but places that heighten the tensions between the worlds - the urban, western one exemplified by Mariana and the one of the local inhabitants. Tensions that immediately turn into form of cinema. (d.d.)
Local Time
- Timezone: America/New_York
- Date: 07 Nov 2023
- Time: 9:00
Location
- Spazio Alfieri - Via dell'Ulivo, 8, 50122 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.
