In ‘The Smell of Things Remembered’, José Martins portrays “a veteran of the colonial war forced to enter a nursing home, where he confronts the ghosts of his past and forms an unexpected bond with his black caregiver,” according to the synopsis.
The film, a Portugal-Brazil co-production, is described as “a poetic and intimate portrait of an elderly man in an institution, exploring the fragility of the human condition, the inevitability of death, and the quest for redemption,” addressing “pressing societal issues such as population aging and structural racism.”
Actor and director José Martins was born in Lisbon in 1952, and was involved in the founding of the former Grupo de Campolide, now the Companhia de Teatro de Almada, the Teatro da Malaposta, and the Teatro do Noroeste – Centro Dramático de Viana in 1991, to which he belongs.
‘The Smell of Things Remembered’ was one of 12 films selected for the official competition of the 27th edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival, which concludes today in the Chinese city.
In this edition, the Golden Goblet Award for best feature film, the most prestigious prize at the festival, was awarded to “Black Red Yellow” from Kyrgyzstan, directed by Aktan Arym Kubat.
The grand jury prize was shared between the Japanese film ‘On Summer Sand’ by Shinya Tamada and the Chinese film ‘Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts’ by Wang Tong.
The best director award went to Cao Baoping from China for the film ‘One Wacky Summer’, a decade after being recognized at the same festival for ‘The Dead End’.
The best actress award honored Wan Qian for her performance in ‘Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts’, while the best screenplay award went to Korek Bojanowski and Katia Priwieziencew for the Polish film ‘Loss of Balance’. Markus Nestroy won the best cinematography award for ‘You Believe in Angels, Mr. Drowak?’, a Swiss-German co-production directed by Nicolas Steiner, and the Sino-French co-production ‘My Father’s Son’ by Qiu Sheng won the best artistic direction award.
The best documentary award was given to ‘Constanza’ by Spanish director Agustín Márquez Gómez. The best animation award went to ‘The Songbirds’ Secret’ by Antoine Lanciaux, a co-production between France, Switzerland, and Belgium. The best short film award was given to ‘Crow’ by Chinese director Xu Jianming, and ‘Son’ by Zhanna Bekmambetova, from Russia and Kazakhstan, won the best animated short award.
The main jury of the competition was chaired by Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore, director of ‘Cinema Paradiso’.
The 27th edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival was held from June 13 to 22 in Shanghai, China.
