Film series: "Manoel de Oliveira: Close-Up – Complete Works"
from 10 NOV 2015 to 12 DEC 2015
The late Manoel de Oliveira left us with an extremely impressive oeuvre. This full retrospective of his works - an initiative of the Department of Culture of Porto Municipal Council, co-organized with the Serralves Foundation and also involving the participation of other cultural agents from the city - is an exceptional opportunity to discover or rewatch all of Oliveira's films, in chronological order and in their original formats. This intensive film series is also programmed during the month before the director's birthday - a date that Porto had become used to celebrating. The retrospective, "Manoel de Oliveira: Close-Up”, celebrates the memory of the man, the intransigence of the artist and the vitality of his oeuvre - a legacy that crosses the present and projects itself for posterity.
This is the first full retrospective since Manoel de Oliveira passed away and thus necessarily has a definitive character - given that no more films will be produced. Nonetheless, it assumes a commitment that his oeuvre will be reactivated by fresh perspectives. Manoel de Oliveira’s filmography has come to an end, but his oeuvre will never be completed. Cinema is the art of the instability of the gaze and Oliveira’s films defy the contingencies of time, update the past through dialogue with the contradictions of the present, and remind us of our responsibility to transform our active memory into a memory that takes actions.We can definitively say that an oeuvre - however monumental it may be, as in this case - will only survive film heritage approaches if it unreservedly offers itself to perplexity, which is necessary in order to question ourselves in relation to its intelligence and continue to be moved by it.
Over more than a century, Manoel de Oliveira was always an artist of his time. This makes him the most persistent of his contemporaries - modernist by principle, modern by conviction, and controversial by vocation. This sequential journey across his extensive oeuvre, that is both unlikely and paradoxical, allows us to view the singular case of this great inventor of forms who condenses one hundred years of cinema in a single shot, while acting as if the entire history of cinema recommenced with each new film. A journey accompanied by a collection of texts – including previously published works and unpublished writings - that offer clues for interpreting his cinema. The differentiated critical perspectives, emphasise the manner in which - averse to trends or consensus and almost always swimming against the tide - Oliveira participated, internationally, in the key discussions that marked the cinema as a developing art form, while he forged a dialogue with the political events of Portugal. Oliveira was a maverick with an irregular career trajectory, reflecting his sense of permanent dissatisfaction, irresolvable doubts and a search that never succumbed to self-satisfaction, nor avoided the most difficult contradictions and changes of course (which underpins his extreme consistency). His intense film production over recent decades (e.g. eighteen films, including eleven feature films, that he made between 2000 and 2010, when he was already over ninety years old), contrasts with his long periods of interruption during which he was prevented from filming (fourteen years of silence between "Aniki-Bóbó” and "The Painter and the City”). His career was also marked by the contrast between big-budget productions such as "Doomed Love”, "Le Soulier de Satin” and "NON or the Vain Glory of Command”, with films where the filmmaker personally co-ordinated, with limited resources, all the aspects of directing and production, which was the rule for his productions up until 1971.Oliveira’s career demonstrates his irreverence towards authority (noted early in his career), that underlines the radical nature of his cinema in terms of the perspective that he casts in relation to cinema itself, and its foundations, aspirations and limitations, and the relations that cinema establishes with the other arts. It’s also important to recall his biting sense of humour, that he engages via ironic dismantling of conventions, the social eroticism between the different classes and merciless questioning of the institutionalization of amorous relationships and desire, a disruptive and revolutionary force, almost always doomed to frustration. A career that, in a nutshell, sums up the history of cinema at the same time that it highlights the relationship that cinema has always maintained with history.
All those who had the privilege of living at the same time as Manoel de Oliveira will now have the opportunity (and responsibility) to discover his entire oeuvre, which belongs to everyone and has, or will have, something to say to us all.
Scientific and programming consultant: António Preto
Related Activities 10 NOV (TUE), 19h00 - Serralves
Douro, Faina Fluvial1931 (1994) | 18 Min
Hulha Branca1932 | 8 Min.
Já se Fabricam Automóveis em Portugal1938 | 9 Min.
Famalicão1940 | 24 Min.
11 NOV (WED), 22h00 - Rivoli (IAC)
Aniki-Bóbó1942 | 70 Min. 12 NOV (THU), 22h00 - Rivoli (IAC)
O Pintor e a Cidade1956 | 27 Min.
O Pão1959 (1963) | 24 Min. 13 NOV (FRI), 22h00 - Passos Manuel/ Milímetro
Acto da Primavera1963 | 90 Min 14 NOV (SAT), 17h30, 18h30, 22h00 - Rivoli (IAC)
17h30A Caça1964 | 21 Min.Vilaverdinho1964 | 20 Min.As Pinturas do Meu Irmão Júlio1965 | 16 Min.
18h30O Passado e o Presente1972 | 117 Min.
22h00Benilde ou a Virgem-Mãe1975 | 106 Min.
17 NOV (TUE), 18h00 - Passos Manuel
Amor de Perdição1978 | 261 Min. 18 NOV (WED), 21h30 - Campo Alegre
Francisca1981 | 165 Min.
20 NOV (FRI), 19h00, 21h30, 23h00 - Passos Manuel/ Milímetro
19h00Visita ou Memórias e Confissões1981 | 68 Min.
21h30Lisboa Cultural1983 | 58 Min.
23h00Nice... à Propos de Jean Vigo58 Min 22 NOV (SUN), 14h30 - Rivoli (MO)
Le Soulier de Satin1985 | 410 Min. 24 NOV (TUE), 19h00, 22h00 - Passos Manuel
19h00Mon Cas/ O Meu Caso1986 | 91 Min.
22h00Os Canibais1988 | 98 Min. 25 NOV (WED), 22h00 - Campo Alegre
Non ou a Vã Glória de Mandar1990 | 111 Min. 26 NOV (THU), 22h00 - Rivoli (IAC)
A Divina Comédia1991 | 141 Min. 27 NOV (FRI), 22h00 - Rivoli (IAC)
O Dia do Desespero1992 | 75 Min. 28 NOV (SAT), 15h00 - Campo Alegre, 22h00 - Passos Manuel
15h00, Campo AlegreVale Abraão1993 | 207 Min.
22h00, Passos ManuelA Caixa1994 | 93 Min. 29 NOV (SUN), 16h00, 18h30, 22h00 - Serralves
16h00O Convento 1995 | 90 Min.
18h30En Une Poignée de Mains Amies1996 | 25 Min.Party1996 | 91 Min.
22h00Viagem ao Princípio do Mundo1997 | 91 Min.
01 DEC (TUE), 22h00 - Serralves
Inquietude1998 | 110 Min.
02 DEC (WED), 22h00 - Campo Alegre
A Carta1999 | 103 Min.
Momento, uma Canção de Pedro Abrunhosa2002 | 6 Min. 03 DEC (THU), 22h00 - Serralves
Palavra e Utopia2000 | 130 Min.
04 DEC (FRI), 22h00 - Serralves
Je Rentre à la Maison/ Vou Para Casa2001 | 90 Min.
05 DEC (SAT), 21h00 - Rivoli (MO)/ Porto/Post/Doc
Porto da Minha Infância2001 | 62 Min. 06 DEC (SUN), 16h00, 18h30, 22h00 - Serralves
16h00O Princípio da Incerteza2002 | 132 Min.
18h30Um Filme Falado2003 | 96 Min.
22h00O Quinto Império – Ontem Como Hoje2004 | 127 Min. 07 DEC (MON), 22h00 - Serralves
Espelho Mágico2005 | 137 Min 08 DEC (TUE), 22H00 - Serralves
Do Visível ao Invisível2005 | 6 Min.
O Improvável não é Impossível2006 | 19 Min.
Belle Toujours2006 | 68 Min. 10 DEC (THU), 22h00 - Rivoli
Manoel de Oliveira – Mesa Redonda 12 DEC (SAT), 14h30, 16h00, 18h00, 20h00, 22h00 - Rivoli (MO)
14h30 Rencontre Unique2007 | 3 Min.Cristóvão Colombo – o Enigma2007 | 75 Min.
16h00, Rivoli (MO)Romance de Vila do Conde1957-2008 | 8 Min.O Poeta Doido, o Vitral e a Santa Morta1958-2008 | 7 Min.Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loura2009 | 63 Min.
18h00, Rivoli (MO)O Estranho Caso de Angélica2010 | 97 Min.
20h00Painéis De São Vicente de Fora – Visão Poética2009 | 16 Min.O Conquistador Conquistado2012 | 10 Min.O Velho do Restelo2014 | 19 Min.1 Século de Energia2015 | 15 Min.
22h00O Gebo e a Sombra2012 | 91 Min.
TECHNICAL CREDITS PROGRAMME: Pelouro da Cultura da Câmara Municipal do Porto, Fundação Serralves - Museu de Arte ContemporâneaORGANIZATION: Pelouro da Cultura da Câmara Municipal do Porto, Fundação Serralves - Museu de Arte ContemporâneaEDITORIAL COORDINATOR AND PROGRAMME CONSULTANT: António PretoPRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Sérgio MarquesGRAPHIC DESIGN: And AtelierSUBTITLES: Amarante Abramovici
ACKOWLEDGEMENT: António Menéres, Barberine Feinberg, Bernard Despomadères, Clemente Menéres, Maria João Mayer, Mariana Pimentel, Sara Moreira, Saul Rafael, Teresa Sampaio, Biblioteca Pública Municipal do Porto and all the family of Manoel de Oliveira.
This is the first full retrospective since Manoel de Oliveira passed away and thus necessarily has a definitive character - given that no more films will be produced. Nonetheless, it assumes a commitment that his oeuvre will be reactivated by fresh perspectives. Manoel de Oliveira’s filmography has come to an end, but his oeuvre will never be completed. Cinema is the art of the instability of the gaze and Oliveira’s films defy the contingencies of time, update the past through dialogue with the contradictions of the present, and remind us of our responsibility to transform our active memory into a memory that takes actions.We can definitively say that an oeuvre - however monumental it may be, as in this case - will only survive film heritage approaches if it unreservedly offers itself to perplexity, which is necessary in order to question ourselves in relation to its intelligence and continue to be moved by it.
Over more than a century, Manoel de Oliveira was always an artist of his time. This makes him the most persistent of his contemporaries - modernist by principle, modern by conviction, and controversial by vocation. This sequential journey across his extensive oeuvre, that is both unlikely and paradoxical, allows us to view the singular case of this great inventor of forms who condenses one hundred years of cinema in a single shot, while acting as if the entire history of cinema recommenced with each new film. A journey accompanied by a collection of texts – including previously published works and unpublished writings - that offer clues for interpreting his cinema. The differentiated critical perspectives, emphasise the manner in which - averse to trends or consensus and almost always swimming against the tide - Oliveira participated, internationally, in the key discussions that marked the cinema as a developing art form, while he forged a dialogue with the political events of Portugal. Oliveira was a maverick with an irregular career trajectory, reflecting his sense of permanent dissatisfaction, irresolvable doubts and a search that never succumbed to self-satisfaction, nor avoided the most difficult contradictions and changes of course (which underpins his extreme consistency). His intense film production over recent decades (e.g. eighteen films, including eleven feature films, that he made between 2000 and 2010, when he was already over ninety years old), contrasts with his long periods of interruption during which he was prevented from filming (fourteen years of silence between "Aniki-Bóbó” and "The Painter and the City”). His career was also marked by the contrast between big-budget productions such as "Doomed Love”, "Le Soulier de Satin” and "NON or the Vain Glory of Command”, with films where the filmmaker personally co-ordinated, with limited resources, all the aspects of directing and production, which was the rule for his productions up until 1971.Oliveira’s career demonstrates his irreverence towards authority (noted early in his career), that underlines the radical nature of his cinema in terms of the perspective that he casts in relation to cinema itself, and its foundations, aspirations and limitations, and the relations that cinema establishes with the other arts. It’s also important to recall his biting sense of humour, that he engages via ironic dismantling of conventions, the social eroticism between the different classes and merciless questioning of the institutionalization of amorous relationships and desire, a disruptive and revolutionary force, almost always doomed to frustration. A career that, in a nutshell, sums up the history of cinema at the same time that it highlights the relationship that cinema has always maintained with history.
All those who had the privilege of living at the same time as Manoel de Oliveira will now have the opportunity (and responsibility) to discover his entire oeuvre, which belongs to everyone and has, or will have, something to say to us all.
Scientific and programming consultant: António Preto
Related Activities 10 NOV (TUE), 19h00 - Serralves
Douro, Faina Fluvial1931 (1994) | 18 Min
Hulha Branca1932 | 8 Min.
Já se Fabricam Automóveis em Portugal1938 | 9 Min.
Famalicão1940 | 24 Min.
11 NOV (WED), 22h00 - Rivoli (IAC)
Aniki-Bóbó1942 | 70 Min. 12 NOV (THU), 22h00 - Rivoli (IAC)
O Pintor e a Cidade1956 | 27 Min.
O Pão1959 (1963) | 24 Min. 13 NOV (FRI), 22h00 - Passos Manuel/ Milímetro
Acto da Primavera1963 | 90 Min 14 NOV (SAT), 17h30, 18h30, 22h00 - Rivoli (IAC)
17h30A Caça1964 | 21 Min.Vilaverdinho1964 | 20 Min.As Pinturas do Meu Irmão Júlio1965 | 16 Min.
18h30O Passado e o Presente1972 | 117 Min.
22h00Benilde ou a Virgem-Mãe1975 | 106 Min.
17 NOV (TUE), 18h00 - Passos Manuel
Amor de Perdição1978 | 261 Min. 18 NOV (WED), 21h30 - Campo Alegre
Francisca1981 | 165 Min.
20 NOV (FRI), 19h00, 21h30, 23h00 - Passos Manuel/ Milímetro
19h00Visita ou Memórias e Confissões1981 | 68 Min.
21h30Lisboa Cultural1983 | 58 Min.
23h00Nice... à Propos de Jean Vigo58 Min 22 NOV (SUN), 14h30 - Rivoli (MO)
Le Soulier de Satin1985 | 410 Min. 24 NOV (TUE), 19h00, 22h00 - Passos Manuel
19h00Mon Cas/ O Meu Caso1986 | 91 Min.
22h00Os Canibais1988 | 98 Min. 25 NOV (WED), 22h00 - Campo Alegre
Non ou a Vã Glória de Mandar1990 | 111 Min. 26 NOV (THU), 22h00 - Rivoli (IAC)
A Divina Comédia1991 | 141 Min. 27 NOV (FRI), 22h00 - Rivoli (IAC)
O Dia do Desespero1992 | 75 Min. 28 NOV (SAT), 15h00 - Campo Alegre, 22h00 - Passos Manuel
15h00, Campo AlegreVale Abraão1993 | 207 Min.
22h00, Passos ManuelA Caixa1994 | 93 Min. 29 NOV (SUN), 16h00, 18h30, 22h00 - Serralves
16h00O Convento 1995 | 90 Min.
18h30En Une Poignée de Mains Amies1996 | 25 Min.Party1996 | 91 Min.
22h00Viagem ao Princípio do Mundo1997 | 91 Min.
01 DEC (TUE), 22h00 - Serralves
Inquietude1998 | 110 Min.
02 DEC (WED), 22h00 - Campo Alegre
A Carta1999 | 103 Min.
Momento, uma Canção de Pedro Abrunhosa2002 | 6 Min. 03 DEC (THU), 22h00 - Serralves
Palavra e Utopia2000 | 130 Min.
04 DEC (FRI), 22h00 - Serralves
Je Rentre à la Maison/ Vou Para Casa2001 | 90 Min.
05 DEC (SAT), 21h00 - Rivoli (MO)/ Porto/Post/Doc
Porto da Minha Infância2001 | 62 Min. 06 DEC (SUN), 16h00, 18h30, 22h00 - Serralves
16h00O Princípio da Incerteza2002 | 132 Min.
18h30Um Filme Falado2003 | 96 Min.
22h00O Quinto Império – Ontem Como Hoje2004 | 127 Min. 07 DEC (MON), 22h00 - Serralves
Espelho Mágico2005 | 137 Min 08 DEC (TUE), 22H00 - Serralves
Do Visível ao Invisível2005 | 6 Min.
O Improvável não é Impossível2006 | 19 Min.
Belle Toujours2006 | 68 Min. 10 DEC (THU), 22h00 - Rivoli
Manoel de Oliveira – Mesa Redonda 12 DEC (SAT), 14h30, 16h00, 18h00, 20h00, 22h00 - Rivoli (MO)
14h30 Rencontre Unique2007 | 3 Min.Cristóvão Colombo – o Enigma2007 | 75 Min.
16h00, Rivoli (MO)Romance de Vila do Conde1957-2008 | 8 Min.O Poeta Doido, o Vitral e a Santa Morta1958-2008 | 7 Min.Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loura2009 | 63 Min.
18h00, Rivoli (MO)O Estranho Caso de Angélica2010 | 97 Min.
20h00Painéis De São Vicente de Fora – Visão Poética2009 | 16 Min.O Conquistador Conquistado2012 | 10 Min.O Velho do Restelo2014 | 19 Min.1 Século de Energia2015 | 15 Min.
22h00O Gebo e a Sombra2012 | 91 Min.
TECHNICAL CREDITS PROGRAMME: Pelouro da Cultura da Câmara Municipal do Porto, Fundação Serralves - Museu de Arte ContemporâneaORGANIZATION: Pelouro da Cultura da Câmara Municipal do Porto, Fundação Serralves - Museu de Arte ContemporâneaEDITORIAL COORDINATOR AND PROGRAMME CONSULTANT: António PretoPRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Sérgio MarquesGRAPHIC DESIGN: And AtelierSUBTITLES: Amarante Abramovici
ACKOWLEDGEMENT: António Menéres, Barberine Feinberg, Bernard Despomadères, Clemente Menéres, Maria João Mayer, Mariana Pimentel, Sara Moreira, Saul Rafael, Teresa Sampaio, Biblioteca Pública Municipal do Porto and all the family of Manoel de Oliveira.
