EDGAR PÊRA: RETROSPECTIVE - 17 DEZ
17 DEC 2016
17h00 session:
Cinesapiens | 20 min.Reflecting on the changing and disruptive nature of the cinematic apparatus, Cinesapiens – the final segment of the 3X3D film that brought together Edgar Pêra, Jean-Luc Godard and Peter Greenaway - evokes various moments in film history in order to think about different stages of the influence and modalities perception that cinema has triggered in successive generations of viewers, widening the reflection to the evolution of man's relationship with the image. In this film, Pêra uses and abuses technical exhibitionism, which translates, for example, in an insistence on gestures towards the camera / viewer. By focusing on that which, in the specific language of cinema constitutes a negative convergence (the elements situated below the screen), he transgresses the most consensual protocol of 3D cinema. The infringement of formal taboos thus becomes a paradoxical mechanism, which at the same time accentuates and takes advantage of the illusionistic potential of the image, and thereby reveals the limits of its constituent technical expedients.
The Cavern | 15 min.A forerunner to The Amazed Spectator (2016), the short film, The Cavern, questions the nature of images and the links established between the image and the spectators. Reversing the perspective of Cinesapiens (2013), the cavernous space of The Cavern, filmed in 3D, is narrowed to a positive convergence, through an abyssal overlay of the constituent elements of the classical formal and semantic models of depth of field. On the other hand, Plato’s famous allegory of the cave is revisited through a screenplay that recalls Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1962), to reassess the boundaries between the thought image and the immersive image, trying to reconstruct the missing links of the unstable (and unstoppable) chain of transformation that ranges from the original image to the technical image.
Ressurrection! Ressurrection! Ressurrection! (Work in progress) | 10 min.A creature that appears to have come from another planet and promptly presents itself as the President of the Institute of Human Resurrections, appears on the movie screen - she is an image – and addresses an anaesthetised audience that would fit perfectly into Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). The determined orator, familiar with the aesthetics of fascist propaganda, talks, from the height of the pulpit, about strategies to radicalize workers’ enjoyment of their lives and the possibilities of Resurrection, to the delight of the undead spectators.
Virtual visions (Work in progress) | 20 min.Virtual Visions, which will have its world premiere in this retrospective, is a documentary and fictional study of the behaviour of cyber-viewer-handlers when faced by virtual reality and by everyday reality. The film explores spectatorial immersiveness, testing the technical and aesthetic potential of 3D, and questioning the boundaries between cinema and video games. Virtual Visions can be seen as an epilogue to the film that constitutes Edgar Pêra’s doctoral thesis, The Amazed Spectator, or as a prologue to his post-doctoral project, Out of Orbit, addressing visceral cinema in a non-canonical manner (from 3D cinema to virtual cinema).
22h00 session:
The Amazed Spectator | 70 min.The Amazed Spectator questions the nature of the cinematic apparatus, from the point of view of those who sit in front of the white screen waiting for images to appear. As the title suggests, it’s an investigation into the act of watching movies and the typological evolution of viewing habits. The film commences with the actual condition of the spectator and then proceeds towards the domain of his projective and mnemonic imagination. For this purpose, Edgar Pêra conducts a series of interviews with critics, theorists, filmmakers and family members, with actions that relate to the imaginary circumstance of watching a film, thereby creating a doctoral thesis work that lies halfway between an essay, manifesto and intimate film. CINESAPIENS, 2013 THE CAVERN, 2015 RESSURRECTION! RESSURRECTION! RESSURRECTION! (work in progress), 2016 VIRTUAL VISIONS (work in progress), 2016 THE AMAZED SPECTATOR, 2016
Scriptwriter, director and editing: Edgar PêraDirector of Photography: Luís BranquinhoVisual effects: Edmundo RivottiCamera: Jorge QuintelaSound: Pedro MarinhoSound mixing: Pedro GóisMusic: Jorge PrendasStereoscopy assistant: Cláudio VasquesCast: Nuno Melo, Jorge Prendas, Keith Esher Davis, Leonor Keil, Valdemar Santos, Adelaide Teixeira, Ângela Marques, Carolina Amaral, Eva Fernandes, Tiago Correia and othersProduction: Guimarães 2012 – European Capital of CultureProducer: Rodrigo AreiasFormat: DCP 3D, black and white/colour, 20 min.
Original idea, director and editing: Edgar Pêra Director of Photography: Edgar Pêra, Luís BranquinhoSoundtrack: Artur Cyanetto, Assistant Pedro GóisMusic: Vortex Sound Tech, Jorge Prendas (Cinesapiens), Mahler, SchumannCast: Diana Sá, Valdemar Santos, Miguel Borges, Adelaide Teixeira, Jorge Prendas, Rebeca da Cunha, Soraia Sousa, Carla Gouveia, Gisela Matos, Miguel Roque, Antonieta Tedim, Elisabete Sousa, Márcia Gomes, Inês Mondim, Sara Montalvão, Rui Azevedo, João Pamplona, Susana MadeiraPost-production 3D: Cláudio VasquesProduction: Bando à Parte / Rodrigo AreiasFormat: DCP 3D, black and white/colour, 15 min.
Camera, director and editing: Edgar Pêra Original idea: Edgar Pêra, Marina AlbuquerqueCast: Alexandra Faustino, Carolina Rodrigues, Cristina Benedita, Daniela Gonçalves, Gonçalo Vale, Henrique Laurentino, João Vasco, Joana Calado, Mafalda Pérez, Mariana Amorim, Marta Correia, Raimundo Henriques e Vítor CaixeiroMusic: Henrique LaurentinoSoundtrack: Artur CyanetoStereography and Post-production 3D: Cláudio Vasques Co-Production: Bando à Parte / Rodrigo AreiasFormat: DCP 3D, 10 min.
Original idea, director and editing: Edgar PêraAssistant director: Diogo FerreiraProduction assistant: Adriana LourençoAssistant: Ana Soares, Bruno Leal Soundtrack: Artur CyanetoStereography and Post-production 3D: Cláudio VasquesCo-Production: Bando à Parte / Rodrigo AreiasFormat: DCP 3D, 20 min.
Original idea, director and editing: Edgar Pêra Interviews: Laura Mulvey, Eduardo Lourenço, Augusto M. Seabra, Guy Maddin, Manuel Domingos, Paulo Borges, Henry Jenkins, Toby Miller, Laura Rascaroli, Manuel Rodrigues, F.J. Ossang, Maria José Pêra, Henrique Pêra, Paula Sequeiros, Marina Turco, Benoit Michel, André Gaudreault, Fátima Chinita, Wanda Strauven, Olaf MöllerCast: Diana Sá, Miguel Borges, Valdemar Santos, Adelaide Teixeira, Jorge Prendas, Nuno Melo, Keith Esher Davis, Cláudia Clemente, Henrique Clemente Pêra, Soraia Sousa, Carla Gouveia, Rebeca Cunha, Leonor Keil, Miguel Partidário, José de Pina, Tiago Correia, Carolina Amaral, Joana Carvalho, Gisela Matos, Tânia Dinis, and othersPost-production 3D: Cláudio VasquesCo-Production: Bando à Parte / Rodrigo AreiasFormat: DCP 3D, black and white/colour, 70 min.
Cinesapiens | 20 min.Reflecting on the changing and disruptive nature of the cinematic apparatus, Cinesapiens – the final segment of the 3X3D film that brought together Edgar Pêra, Jean-Luc Godard and Peter Greenaway - evokes various moments in film history in order to think about different stages of the influence and modalities perception that cinema has triggered in successive generations of viewers, widening the reflection to the evolution of man's relationship with the image. In this film, Pêra uses and abuses technical exhibitionism, which translates, for example, in an insistence on gestures towards the camera / viewer. By focusing on that which, in the specific language of cinema constitutes a negative convergence (the elements situated below the screen), he transgresses the most consensual protocol of 3D cinema. The infringement of formal taboos thus becomes a paradoxical mechanism, which at the same time accentuates and takes advantage of the illusionistic potential of the image, and thereby reveals the limits of its constituent technical expedients.
The Cavern | 15 min.A forerunner to The Amazed Spectator (2016), the short film, The Cavern, questions the nature of images and the links established between the image and the spectators. Reversing the perspective of Cinesapiens (2013), the cavernous space of The Cavern, filmed in 3D, is narrowed to a positive convergence, through an abyssal overlay of the constituent elements of the classical formal and semantic models of depth of field. On the other hand, Plato’s famous allegory of the cave is revisited through a screenplay that recalls Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1962), to reassess the boundaries between the thought image and the immersive image, trying to reconstruct the missing links of the unstable (and unstoppable) chain of transformation that ranges from the original image to the technical image.
Ressurrection! Ressurrection! Ressurrection! (Work in progress) | 10 min.A creature that appears to have come from another planet and promptly presents itself as the President of the Institute of Human Resurrections, appears on the movie screen - she is an image – and addresses an anaesthetised audience that would fit perfectly into Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). The determined orator, familiar with the aesthetics of fascist propaganda, talks, from the height of the pulpit, about strategies to radicalize workers’ enjoyment of their lives and the possibilities of Resurrection, to the delight of the undead spectators.
Virtual visions (Work in progress) | 20 min.Virtual Visions, which will have its world premiere in this retrospective, is a documentary and fictional study of the behaviour of cyber-viewer-handlers when faced by virtual reality and by everyday reality. The film explores spectatorial immersiveness, testing the technical and aesthetic potential of 3D, and questioning the boundaries between cinema and video games. Virtual Visions can be seen as an epilogue to the film that constitutes Edgar Pêra’s doctoral thesis, The Amazed Spectator, or as a prologue to his post-doctoral project, Out of Orbit, addressing visceral cinema in a non-canonical manner (from 3D cinema to virtual cinema).
22h00 session:
The Amazed Spectator | 70 min.The Amazed Spectator questions the nature of the cinematic apparatus, from the point of view of those who sit in front of the white screen waiting for images to appear. As the title suggests, it’s an investigation into the act of watching movies and the typological evolution of viewing habits. The film commences with the actual condition of the spectator and then proceeds towards the domain of his projective and mnemonic imagination. For this purpose, Edgar Pêra conducts a series of interviews with critics, theorists, filmmakers and family members, with actions that relate to the imaginary circumstance of watching a film, thereby creating a doctoral thesis work that lies halfway between an essay, manifesto and intimate film. CINESAPIENS, 2013 THE CAVERN, 2015 RESSURRECTION! RESSURRECTION! RESSURRECTION! (work in progress), 2016 VIRTUAL VISIONS (work in progress), 2016 THE AMAZED SPECTATOR, 2016
Scriptwriter, director and editing: Edgar PêraDirector of Photography: Luís BranquinhoVisual effects: Edmundo RivottiCamera: Jorge QuintelaSound: Pedro MarinhoSound mixing: Pedro GóisMusic: Jorge PrendasStereoscopy assistant: Cláudio VasquesCast: Nuno Melo, Jorge Prendas, Keith Esher Davis, Leonor Keil, Valdemar Santos, Adelaide Teixeira, Ângela Marques, Carolina Amaral, Eva Fernandes, Tiago Correia and othersProduction: Guimarães 2012 – European Capital of CultureProducer: Rodrigo AreiasFormat: DCP 3D, black and white/colour, 20 min.
Original idea, director and editing: Edgar Pêra Director of Photography: Edgar Pêra, Luís BranquinhoSoundtrack: Artur Cyanetto, Assistant Pedro GóisMusic: Vortex Sound Tech, Jorge Prendas (Cinesapiens), Mahler, SchumannCast: Diana Sá, Valdemar Santos, Miguel Borges, Adelaide Teixeira, Jorge Prendas, Rebeca da Cunha, Soraia Sousa, Carla Gouveia, Gisela Matos, Miguel Roque, Antonieta Tedim, Elisabete Sousa, Márcia Gomes, Inês Mondim, Sara Montalvão, Rui Azevedo, João Pamplona, Susana MadeiraPost-production 3D: Cláudio VasquesProduction: Bando à Parte / Rodrigo AreiasFormat: DCP 3D, black and white/colour, 15 min.
Camera, director and editing: Edgar Pêra Original idea: Edgar Pêra, Marina AlbuquerqueCast: Alexandra Faustino, Carolina Rodrigues, Cristina Benedita, Daniela Gonçalves, Gonçalo Vale, Henrique Laurentino, João Vasco, Joana Calado, Mafalda Pérez, Mariana Amorim, Marta Correia, Raimundo Henriques e Vítor CaixeiroMusic: Henrique LaurentinoSoundtrack: Artur CyanetoStereography and Post-production 3D: Cláudio Vasques Co-Production: Bando à Parte / Rodrigo AreiasFormat: DCP 3D, 10 min.
Original idea, director and editing: Edgar PêraAssistant director: Diogo FerreiraProduction assistant: Adriana LourençoAssistant: Ana Soares, Bruno Leal Soundtrack: Artur CyanetoStereography and Post-production 3D: Cláudio VasquesCo-Production: Bando à Parte / Rodrigo AreiasFormat: DCP 3D, 20 min.
Original idea, director and editing: Edgar Pêra Interviews: Laura Mulvey, Eduardo Lourenço, Augusto M. Seabra, Guy Maddin, Manuel Domingos, Paulo Borges, Henry Jenkins, Toby Miller, Laura Rascaroli, Manuel Rodrigues, F.J. Ossang, Maria José Pêra, Henrique Pêra, Paula Sequeiros, Marina Turco, Benoit Michel, André Gaudreault, Fátima Chinita, Wanda Strauven, Olaf MöllerCast: Diana Sá, Miguel Borges, Valdemar Santos, Adelaide Teixeira, Jorge Prendas, Nuno Melo, Keith Esher Davis, Cláudia Clemente, Henrique Clemente Pêra, Soraia Sousa, Carla Gouveia, Rebeca Cunha, Leonor Keil, Miguel Partidário, José de Pina, Tiago Correia, Carolina Amaral, Joana Carvalho, Gisela Matos, Tânia Dinis, and othersPost-production 3D: Cláudio VasquesCo-Production: Bando à Parte / Rodrigo AreiasFormat: DCP 3D, black and white/colour, 70 min.
