On April 2, the oldest active filmmaker in the world died. Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira, 107, began his career in the silent film era in the 1930s, took a pause to tend his vineyards during the mid-century dictatorship, and had a resurgence in the 1980s. He kept making films — at least one a year since the 1990s — until 2014. The man was almost as old as cinema itself when he passed away.
This Sunday, "Week Of Portuguese Cinema" will kick off at the Film Archive (Public Organisation) with Oliveira's first feature film made in 1942, a fitting tribute to the late master even though the event had been planned before his death.
Film Week will then continue to show eight films at the Film Archive and Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) until April 25. The line-up is packed with landmark films that span the history of Portuguese cinema, with a mix of classic and recent titles — the screenings at Film Archive will be on 35mm print — available with the support of Cinamateca Portuguesa and Camões Institute.
The highlights are of course the two films by Oliveira. The opening film this Sunday is Aniki Bobo (1pm at Film Archive and April 25, 5.30pm at BACC), a sprightly, streetwise children's drama made in the style of Italian neo-realism. The black-and-white cinematography blithely captures the light and shadow of Porto's cobblestone streets (Oliveira set most of his films in that coastal city) while the story of street kids' adventures also functions as a keen social observation. Another of Oliveira's film to be shown is No, Or The Vain Glory Of Command (Sunday 6pm at Film Archive and April 25, 3pm at BACC); an ambitious, eccentric 1990 film that ponders the entire military history of Portugal through the eye of a soldier marching in an African colony — a film that is eventually more about defeats than victories.
Another top bill in the programme is Joaquin Pinto's What Now? Remind Me, an intimate and mesmerising visual essay of the filmmaker's life as he undergoes a clinical trial for his HIV infection. This 2013 film will screen on April 24, 6pm at BACC.
The wealth of Portuguese cinema — a place of many eccentric and surprisingly romantic filmmakers — will also come with Tabu (April 23, 6pm at BACC). Many critics have included this Miguel Gomes' 2012 work as one of the best films (so far) of the 21st century, and although it was screened in Bangkok before, two years ago, this beautiful and moving film about the foibles of colonialism is worth seeing again.
Rounding off the programme, The Eyes Of Asia, a 1996 film by João Mário Grilo, about a Japanese Catholic priest who's forced by a Shogun to leave his faith (Sunday 4pm at Film Archive). The Green Years is Paulo Rocha's first feature film from 1963 — he would go on to become a mainstay and a respected filmmaker — about a young love in the changing city of Lisbon.
Recollections Of The Yellow House is an acclaimed 1989 film by João César Monteiro, about an odd, melancholic relationship between a middle-aged loser and the young daughter of his landlady (showing on April 22, 6pm at BACC).
April Captains is a 2000 film by Maria de Medeiros — a well-known Portuguese actress and director — that dramatises a historic political chapter in 1974 when a coup overthrows a fascist government (showing April 25, 1pm at Film Archive).
