João César Monteiro
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João César Monteiro was a Portuguese film director, actor, writer and film critic . He was born in Figueira da Foz in February 2, 1939 and died of cancer in Lisbon on February 3, 2003.
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[edit] Life and career
He was born in a rural midclass family with anti-clerical and anti-fascist ideals. With 15-years-old in order to continue his studies his family moves to Lisbon. In 1963, with a grant from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation he travels to Great Britain to study at the London School of Film Technique. Back in Portugal in 1965 he starts working in his first film Quem Espera por Sapatos de Defunto Morre Descalço (Who Waits for the Deacesed's Shoes Dies Barefoot) wich would only be finished five years later due to financial problems. In the mean time he also worked the short documentary "Sophia de Mello Breyner Andersen", the portuguese poet and wrote film critics for periodicals like Imagem, Diário de Lisboa and O Século.
His first long film is Fragmentos de um Filme Esmola: A Sagrada Família (1972). 1981 Silvestre, an adaptation from traditional portuguese folk stories, is presented in Venice Film Festival and constitutes an important step to his international projection.After À Flor do Mar (1986) featuring Laura Morante and exhibited at Salsomaggiore Film Festival where wins the Special Prize of the Jury, returns to the Venice Film Festival in 1989 with Recordações da Casa Amarela (Silver Lion), the beginning of the charachter João de Deus and in 1992 with O Último Mergulho - esboço de filme, featuring Fabienne Babbe. A Comédia de Deus (Venice Film Festival, 1995), As Bodas de Deus (Cannes Film Festival 1999), Branca de Neve (Venice Film Festival,, 2000) e Vai e Vem (Cannes Film Festival, 2003) were his last works. Branca de Neve (Snowhite) was highly controversial between the public due to fact that the whole film is a black screen and only the text and sounds can be heard.
[edit] Aesthetics
His work, polemic and hard to classify, has a lyric quality that some identify as "film-poem", however is work is often satirical and cynic. He plays the principal character in many of his films, wich seems to be an biographical reference The quality of his work has been a subject of study by portuguese and international critics and academicians and is unanimously recognised as the most important portuguese director alongside with Manoel de Oliveira.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Director
- Sophia de Mello Breyner Andersen (documentary, 1969)
- Quem Espera por Sapatos de Defunto Morre Descalso (short, 1971)
- Fragmentos de um Filme-Esmola: A Sagrada Família (1972)
- Que Farei com Esta Espada? (1975)
- Amor de Mãe (1975)
- Os Dois Soldados (short, 1978)
- Veredas (1978)
- O Amor das Três Romãs (short, 1979)
- O Rico e o Pobre (short, 1979)
- Silvestre (1982)
- À Flor do Mar (1986)
- Recordações da Casa Amarela (1989)
- O Último Mergulho (1992)
- Passeio com Johnny Guitar (short, 1995)
- Lettera amorosa (short, 1995)
- O Bestiário ou o Cortejo de Orpheu (short, 1995)
- A Comédia de Deus (1995)
- Le Bassin de John Wayne (1997)
- As Bodas de Deus 1999
- Branca de Neve (2000)
- Vai e Vem (2003)
[edit] Actor
- Amor de Perdição by Manoel de Oliveira (1979)
- A Estrangeira by João Mário Grilo (1983)
- À Flor do Mar by João César Monteiro (1986)
- Doc's Kingdom by Robert Kramer (1987)
- Relação Fiel e Verdadeira by Margarida Gil (1989)
- Ricordi della casa gialla by João César Monteiro (1989)
- Conserva Acabada by João César Monteiro (1990)
- Paroles by Anne Benhaïem (1992)
- Rosa Negra by Margarida Gil (1992)
- Passeio com Johnny Guitar by João César Monteiro (1995)
- Lettera Amorosa by João César Monteiro (1995)
- O Bestiário ou o Cortejo de Orpheu by João César Monteiro (1995)
- La commedia di Dio by João César Monteiro (1995)
- Le Bassin de J.W. by João César Monteiro (1997)
- Lo sposalizio di Dio by João César Monteiro (1999)
- Va e viene by João César Monteiro (2003)
[edit] Books
- Corpo Submerso (1959)
- Morituri te Salutant (1974)
- Le Bassin de John Wayne (1998)
- As Bodas de Deus (1998)
- Uma Semana Noutra Cidade (1999)
[edit] External links
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