DANSES MACABRES, SKELETONS AND OTHER FANTASIES
O.V in French subtitled in English and Spanish
The macabre dance is an ancient artistic genre, allegorical representation of death as a skeleton dancer that reminds us that mundane joys have their end. To hear Jean-Louis Schefer (writer, philosopher, critic and film theorist) speak of macabre dances is undoubtedly a mundane enjoyment, here surrounded by Portuguese landscapes, museums and abbeys. And filmed by Rita Azevedo, who composes each shot as if it were a painting, and edited by Pierre Léon, who parallels his words with a playful journey through the history of cinema, from Silly Simphonies to Renoir, Mizoguchi and Buñuel.
Direction: Pierre Léon, Rita Azevedo Gomes, Jean-Louis Schefer
Cinematography: Acacio De Almeida
Editing: Pierre Leon
Sound: Francois Mereu, Benjamin Laurent
Production: Francois Martin Saint Leon, Rita Azevedo Gomes, Consuelo Frauenfelder
Production Company: Barberousse Films, Basilisco Filmes, Garidi Films
PIERRE LÉON
French born in Moscow in 1959, he is a filmmaker, actor, musician and film critic. Some of his most renowned films are Octobre (2006), L'idiot (2008), Par exemple, Electre (2013, with Jeanne Balibar) and Deux Rémy, Deux (2015) in which he has worked with actors such as Sylvie Testud, Jeanne Balibar and Serge Bozon. As an actor, he has worked for Bonello, Bozon, Civeyrac and Virginie Despentes, among others.
RITA AZEVEDO GOMES
Her career began in the early seventies, extending to cinema, theater and opera. She has worked in the film department of the Gulbenkian Foundation and since 1993 in the Portuguese Cinémathèque. Her films have been screened at festivals like Venice, Montreal, Bafici, Turin, Viennale, Jeonju, Doc Lisboa, Marseille and Cinesul Rio, among others, and have been released in Portugal, France and Spain. In 2014, Bafici programmed a complete retrospective of her work. Some of her most recent films are La venganza de una mujer (2012), Correspondencias (2016) and La Portuguesa (2018).
JEAN-LOUIS SCHEFER
Born in 1938, the French writer Jean-Louis Schefer is a philosopher, art critic and film and image theorist. He has published more than twenty books on art and film, and has collaborated with magazines such as Tel Quel, Communications, Information sur les sciences sociales, Littérature, Critique, and Cahiers du Cinéma.