‘Fogo do Vento,’ the only Portuguese film competing at the Italian festival, is described by the jury as “a fable traversing past, present, and future, capable of narrating, with a personal language, the twilight of the rural and working-class world,” as the award was announced.
The film had its world premiere last year at the Locarno Festival and was subsequently selected for festivals in New York, London BFI, Tokyo, Viennale in the Austrian capital, and Valdivia in Chile.
Among numerous accolades, ‘Fogo do Vento’ garnered the Special Jury Prize at the Avant-Garde Film Festival in Athens, the Special Jury Fipresci Prize (international federation of film critics) at the Gijón Festival in Spain, and the Best Directing Award at the Caminhos do Cinema Português Festival in Coimbra.
‘Fogo do Vento,’ a co-production by Portugal’s Clarão Companhia with Switzerland’s Casa Azul Films and France’s Les Films d’Ici, follows the award-winning short film “Farpões Baldios” by the director, premiered at Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight in 2017.
The first feature film by Marta Mateus “follows some of the protagonists of that film, delving into the stories of a community in the Alentejo,” according to a statement released today by Portugal Film regarding the work.
The film “evokes the memory of previous generations,” spanning “from resistance against the Salazar dictatorship to the present time, reflecting on war and peace,” the Portuguese film agency adds.
The director, in the statement of intentions cited by Portugal Film, describes the work: “One day, in the summer of 2017, a black bull appeared in my thoughts. Days later, an image of a fire, of scorched earth, came to me. I learned to pay attention to signs, dreams, visions, to keep the slightest hints present in an idea, in a breath of wind. These are the inaugural images from which I began weaving a narrative that intertwines the experiences of the people of my community in the Alentejo, our memories’ images, and those created by imagination.”
‘Fogo do Vento’ is set for commercial release in Portuguese cinemas in September, following the summer.
