Ricardo Trêpa

Quote:
Ignoring the alarmed advice of his noblemen and counselors, young King Sebastian fuels his religious obsession to go to war with the Muslims. They warn that Portugal can’t afford it, but he brushes them off. Even his mother, Queen Catarina, cannot sway his fervor to fight the infidels, expand his kingdom and achieve glory. A mysterious figure called the Holy Cobbler challenges his fanatical ideas, calling down ghostly voices to talk to him. But he is no wiser the next morning.Read More »

Quote:
This Proustian documentary, made when Oliveira was 93 years old, explores the great Portuguese film-maker’s relationship with his home town, Oporto, the place which inspired his first film Douro, Faina Fluvial way back in 1931. Using old photographs and newsreels with dramatic reconstructions, he offers a vivid portrait of a city caught between the old and the new. When he was a child, Oporto didn’t even have proper cinemas, film shows were improvised in sheds, Oliveira (born 1908) recalls. Most of the landmarks familiar from his youth have vanished. The brothels and cafés where he and his artist friends used to while away their days are long since closed. Even the house where he grew up is in ruins. The city I remember only remains alive in my sad memory, he sadly reflects. Poignant and playful, this is one of the old master’s most accessible late films.Read More »

Venice Film Festival wrote:
The film was made upon the invitation of the Serralves Foundation in Porto for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Foundation and the 10th anniversary of its Museum. A reflection on the Painéis de São Vicente de Fora, a 16th-century masterpiece attributed to Nuno Gonçalves.Read More »