Palácios de Pena by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt - Venice Film Festival 11
Venice Film Festival Showings -
2 September 11:30 - Sala Perla 3 September 13:00 - Sala Pasinetti
Palácios de Pena by Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt - Portugal, 59'
language: Portuguese - s/t English, Italian
Catarina Gaspar, Andreia Martins
http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/lineup/off-sel/orizzonti/palacios-de-pena.html
Synopsis
Haunted by their own directionless lives, two pre-adolescent girls reunite while visiting their ailing grandmother. In the midst of her fantasies of a medieval past – one consumed by fear and desire – the two girls are transformed and confront a legacy of oppression. “Love is finally, / an entrancement of legs, / a union of bellies, / a brief tremor of arteries, / a confusion of mouths, / a battle of veins, / a rolling of thighs, / whoever says otherwise is a beast.“ (Gregório de Mattos, 17th century) “Oh my boy, what will happen to me if I lose you from sight! What will happen to me if I see you bit by bit, I hope to be always, always seeing you! But, as I have no liberty to do so, I die, so I rest without you embracing me! Now shake, shake little puppy, for you, for you little heart, now shake, yes, yes, yes, oh my little heart, give me your arms because there I want to die.“ (Letter from Frei Francisco da Ilha da Madeira to Frei Mathias de Mattos –1690 circa) “Big baby sleep over at my new palace!!! Bring boots and your black hoodies, and pls pls pls pls don’t tell Ana about this, K? Best Best Friends. Thnx! Princess Maggie xoxox MEGA
Directors’ Statement
Palácios de pena is about a culturally inherited fear in Portugal, linked to political and social oppression during the Inquisition and Fascism. It revolves around two upper-middle class adolescent Portuguese girls, juxtaposing their budding identities to a trial condemning two Moorish homosexuals to burn at the stake. Their ailing grandmother gives them an awareness of their heritage through the mechanism of desire, describing a dream where she is a judge of the Inquisition. The grandmother’s and the girls’ guilt is complicated by their relationship, that of family and love. As they love each other, so does what they represent: ignorance and the will to violently oppress.
language: Portuguese - s/t English, Italian
Catarina Gaspar, Andreia Martins
http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/lineup/off-sel/orizzonti/palacios-de-pena.html
Synopsis
Haunted by their own directionless lives, two pre-adolescent girls reunite while visiting their ailing grandmother. In the midst of her fantasies of a medieval past – one consumed by fear and desire – the two girls are transformed and confront a legacy of oppression. “Love is finally, / an entrancement of legs, / a union of bellies, / a brief tremor of arteries, / a confusion of mouths, / a battle of veins, / a rolling of thighs, / whoever says otherwise is a beast.“ (Gregório de Mattos, 17th century) “Oh my boy, what will happen to me if I lose you from sight! What will happen to me if I see you bit by bit, I hope to be always, always seeing you! But, as I have no liberty to do so, I die, so I rest without you embracing me! Now shake, shake little puppy, for you, for you little heart, now shake, yes, yes, yes, oh my little heart, give me your arms because there I want to die.“ (Letter from Frei Francisco da Ilha da Madeira to Frei Mathias de Mattos –1690 circa) “Big baby sleep over at my new palace!!! Bring boots and your black hoodies, and pls pls pls pls don’t tell Ana about this, K? Best Best Friends. Thnx! Princess Maggie xoxox MEGA
Directors’ Statement
Palácios de pena is about a culturally inherited fear in Portugal, linked to political and social oppression during the Inquisition and Fascism. It revolves around two upper-middle class adolescent Portuguese girls, juxtaposing their budding identities to a trial condemning two Moorish homosexuals to burn at the stake. Their ailing grandmother gives them an awareness of their heritage through the mechanism of desire, describing a dream where she is a judge of the Inquisition. The grandmother’s and the girls’ guilt is complicated by their relationship, that of family and love. As they love each other, so does what they represent: ignorance and the will to violently oppress.
