Images of a time from Portugal

Monica Arora

The Portuguese influence in the Goan way of life stares from every nook and cranny of the region — be it the architecture, cuisine, or even socio-cultural influences. In accordance with this premise, the Sunaparanta, in association with Centro de Lingua Portuguesa-Camoes, held screening of Portuguese films recently. Curated by filmmaker Alexandra Côrte-Real de Almeida, these films were based on the theme ‘Images of a time to the time of images’. 

The two-day repertoire comprised films that showcased an entire range of Portuguese classic and contemporary cinema in the form of animation, fiction and documentary. The festival opened with the 1931 classic documentary Douro Faina Fluvial by Manuel Oliviera. It is based on the life of working people around the Douro river. In 20 minutes, the director showcases a myriad of emotions of the people, their lives, struggles, day-to-day dealings and the flavour of their existence, in general. Acaso, which stands for by chance, was premiered at the screenings.

The next movie to be shown was The Edge of the World, filmed on the highest mountain of Portugal, Serra da Estrela. It is the story of Maria, Lurdes, and Natália, who go down the river to wash their blankets but continue to bask in the natural sunshine and lapping waves throughout the day, well past sunset, while waiting for their blankets to dry. How they hesitate to dip their feet in water and the pleasure of succumbing to the moment is beautifully portrayed.

A collage collection of YouTube videos, juxtaposed with quick edits, Will Free is an account of how the internet rules our lives and one has no control over the images which are shown to us on the screens of our iPads, laptops or mobile phones. Come to Me, a short animation film about the idea of “becoming a woman”, symbolises by her coming of age at the onset of puberty.

Another interesting documentary Vigilia is about a young boy who is studying to become a priest. The film displays his journey of looking for faith and acceptance of spiritualism as an integral part of his new way of life in the convent. The final film to be screened Mirage My Bros, interlinked three different tales of young people with a futuristic outlook. One story runs in a primary school’s classroom; the second in a football field and the third at a New Year’s Eve bash. How these parallel stories are linked by a common thread in the end makes for compelling viewing as it denotes change, transformation and the heralding of the idea of a new world. 

According to Alexandra, much like the Indian culture of boisterous celebrations and loud conversations in the small towns and city of the heartland of the country, the Portuguese way of life in Porto is equally expressive and full of light-hearted banter. As an extension of that expression of life, she says, cinema is perhaps the most powerful medium to share and express feelings visually or those emotions which cannot even be expressed in prose or poetry.