Passion of Christ/Rite of Spring

A representation by the populace of the Passion of Christ in accordance with a text from the sixteenth century by Francisco Vaz de Guimarães. The inhabitants of the town of Curalha in Trás-os-Montes work on farms. Tourists arrive in town to stage the passion of Christ - Auto da Paixão. During the show, staging effects establish a parallel between the struggles in our modern world and the Crucifixion. The Director makes a point of showing the cameras and recorders that record the spectacle to strengthen the idea of bridging eras: staging an event from the past, two thousand years ago, re-written in the sixteenth century, and filmed in the twentieth, resulting in a re-interpreting of the Passion that transcends the religious spectacle. Shown as part of the retrospective on the film maker at the 15th Mostra.

Born in Porto, Portugal, in 1908. Before being a director, he was race driver and athlete. Made his first short silent film, Douro, Faina Fluvial, in 1931. In the 1940’s, he became a winemaker. He returned to cinema in the 1970’s with authorial films that made him one of the most unique directors in history. Oliveira had all of his movies since Ill-Fated Love (1978, 3rd Mostra) presented at the São Paulo Film Festival. He gained a complete retrospective of his work at the 15th Mostra and at the 29th Mostra, respectively in 1991 and 2005. He won Mostra’s Special Festival Award with The Cannibals (1988, 12nd Mostra), the Critics Prize for Abraham’s Valley (1993, 17th Mostra) and I’m Going Home (2001, 25th Mostra), and the Humanity Award for the ensemble of his work (2004, 28th Mostra). He also directed titles such as Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl (2009, 33rd Mostra), The Strange Case of Angelica (2010, 34th Mostra), the segment From Visible to Invisible, part of the film Invisible World (2011, 35th Mostra), produced by Mostra, Gebo and the Shadow (2012, 36th Mostra) and The Old Man of Belem (2014, 38th Mostra). Died in 2015 at the age of 106.

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA