The first tension of the cinema, as an art founded by a mechanical gesture that would seek to reproduce, in the first place, the visibility of the world, will always be towards the invisible, towards that which may or may not exist, but in any case cannot be seen, because it has no form, dimension or thickness that would allow it to be converted into an image.
The secret language of the cinema – its invisible gesture – starts from its non-material side, from the order of desire and the unconscious, using all the conventional tools that construct the film. It allows us to attend to the time of intuition and the senses through the articulation of invisible instruments: the unfathomability of everything that seems not to be explained through analytical and mechanical tools, but that stems from impressions, shakes, emotions, and disquiet.
In a time, when in order to exist we are impelled to the most absolute of transparencies, can the invisible still be a last place of resistance, survival, and desire?
Each of the cycle’s curators extends this program to a guest who proposes to respond to the premise first established.
Laura Gama Martins and Narciso Miranda
PROGRAM
WEDNESDAY, March 4th, 9:30pm
‘Fragile Like the World’, Rita Azevedo Gomes (2001) 90′
Vera and João, two teenagers, find no space in their surroundings for their love. Apparently, everything is favorable to them: their families, their friends, the land. But the truth is that no one seems to understand this love that “is born I don’t know where, comes I don’t know how, and hurts I don’t know why.” The desire to be together leads them, in a kind of childish game, to drift apart. Isolated in the forest, in search of idyll, they swear never to part, for anything in the world. With each other, for each other, will they be able to overcome everything… even death itself?
+ NECK
ASMR WEB-RESEARCH DJ SET
WEDNESDAY, May 11th, 9:30pm
Short films by Stanley Brakhage, 90′
“Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception.” Stanley Brakhage, Metaphors on Vision, 1946
+ Aires
Madeiran musician active under different pseudonyms and one of the leaders of the Casa Amarela Collective. As Aires, his debut on records took place in 2014 with the release of the homonymous album by the Portuguese label Enough Records. Since then he has collaborated with several labels, such as Genot Centre and Bad Panda Records, until he focused on his Casa Amarela, which he shares with artist Mafalda Melim, with whom he curates the cycle Jejum na Rua das Gaivotas6. Currently, his work reflects a theme that has become central to the whole project: the ephemerality and spectral quality of relationships in the digital age. In 2021 he edited the EP ‘Daylight Fireworks’, by ZABRA, and the EP ‘Chains of Silver, Chains of Gold’, by the Finnish World Canvas, works about phantasm, the inevitable acceptance of ephemerality, about distance and the modern illusions we use to hide it.
WEDNESDAY, March 18th, 9:30pm
‘Une Histoire de Vent’, Joris Ivens and Marceline Loridan (1988), 80′.
An old man travels to China to try to film the invisible image of the wind. In the desert, the man waits for the wind to wake up, but the wind is treacherous and will not reveal its secrets easily.
+ Puçanga
In his musical project, Puçanga released the album “Fazer da Trip Coração” (2021) through the label Gruta. His music is a mixture of dark electronic sounds with a melodic voice. In her work, she pays a lot of attention to the power of the voice, and her compositions and lyrics are inspired by a certain reinvigoration of folklore, feminism, and social justice movements and ideas. She is the composer, song-writer and music producer. She is currently finalizing her second album, to be released soon.
WEDNESDAY, May 25th, 9:30pm
‘Five Year Diary’, Anne Charlotte Robertson (1981-97) [excerpts] 90′
Anne Charlotte Robertson began her diaristic activity at the age of eleven. ‘Five Year Diary’ (1981-97) is the pinnacle of her output, spanning 36 hours of film. A radically transparent autobiographical document woven through a set of images that reflect on his own existence.
+ Real No Real
Real No Real is a non-profit organization established in Madrid focused on promoting a diverse scope of independent artists whose practice revolves around sound art and experimental music.
