Ossos

Ossos
(Bones)
Directed by Pedro Costa
Produced by Paulo Branco
Written by Pedro Costa
Starring Vanda Duarte
Nuno Vaz
Mariya Lipkina
Isabel Ruth
InĂªs de Medeiros
Cinematography Emmanuel Machuel
Editing by Jackie Bastide
Release date(s) 1997 (1997)
Running time 98 min.
Country Portugal
Language Portuguese

Ossos (English: Bones) is a 1997 Portuguese film directed by Pedro Costa.

The film is set in "Estrela d'Africa", Fontainhas district of Lisbon, where disadvantaged dwellers and immigrants from former Portuguese colonies in Africa live desperate lives.

The story's focus is on a young girl and her lover who become parents of an unwanted baby. Their ambiguous tendencies keep this downbeat story moving around the shanty town. The director's ascetic style and this district's faded cityscape emphasize the depressing tone of the film.

This drama film with some documentary elements made Pedro Costa acclaimed internationally. It was nominated for Golden Lion prize at the Venice International Film Festival in 1997.

He dealt with this shanty district (totally defunct nowaday) further after Ossos. The district's depression itself was mainly featured in his next film No Quarto da Vanda (In Vanda's Room).

External links