The film “Ice Merchants”, from Portuguese director João Gonzalez, and which is nominated for the Oscars, premieres this Thursday in Portuguese cinemas, in an unusual initiative in Portugal, dedicated to a short film.
The distributor refers, in a press release, that the short film is available in “more than 30 cinemas from nine exhibitors”, with the possibility of seeing the film in venues from north to south of the country, as well as on the islands.
Thus, the film will be shown from Viana do Castelo to Faro, Funchal and Ponta Delgada, as well as cinemas in Aveiro, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Leiria, Santarém, Setúbal, Vila Real and Viseu, among others.
“Ice Merchants”, 14 minutes long, is the third film by João Gonzalez, and is produced in Portugal by Bruno Caetano, with Cola Animation, and co-produced with France and the United Kingdom.
The film, without dialogues, has as its starting point the image of a house on a mountain, leaning over a precipice. From there, the director developed the story of a father and son, who produce ice in the inhospitable house where they live, and from where they parachute every day to sell it in the village at the foot of the mountain.
“I started this film as a school film, I started making it in my small room in London, I never imagined it could take on this kind of proportions. It was a very pleasant surprise. It was two years of work, it’s very gratifying, obviously, to be valued,” the director recalled to Lusa news agency last January, when it was nominated for the Oscars.
“Ice Merchants,” which has won dozens of international awards, is one of the candidates for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.
João Gonzalez is currently in Los Angeles, California, to showcase the film in the weeks leading up to the Oscar ceremony on March 12.
Last Monday, João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano participated in the traditional lunch and group photo with the nominees of this year’s edition of the Oscars.
According to the Short Film Agency, the screening schedule of “Ice Merchants” in festival context continues to grow: This month, the film will be in two festivals in Belgium, in March it will be at Monstra festival, in Lisbon, at South by Southwest, in Texas (USA) and also in the Netherlands, Canada, France and Spain.
Before the Oscars, on the 25th “Ice Merchants” will find out if it wins the best short film award at the Annie Awards, for which it is nominated in the US.
