The New Waves

THE TREE

Andrè Gil Mata | Portugal, Bosnia-Herzegovina | 2018 | 104 min.
O.V. Bosnian subtitle in Spanish and English

The Tree is a minimalist Borgian tale told in a series of breathtaking framings/canvases/paintings, described as a “Bela Tarr in colour and in 16mm”. War, a town, a river and a tree: those are the elements that link the story of a little boy and an old man. At the end of the cinematic journey on which this film takes us, is the unfathomable, unprecedented link that exists between them: the eternal return, or the history of the world’s cycles told in a few masterly strokes.

Direction: André Gil Mata
Script: André Gil Mata
Cinematography: João Ribeiro
Editing: Tomás Baltazar
Sound: António Figueiredo (Copi)
Cast: Petar Fradelic, Filip Zivanovic, Sanja Vrzic, Arna
Production: Joana Ferreira, Isabel Machado
Production Company: C.R.I.M.

Andrè Gil Mata

1978, João da Madeira, Portugal. He studied mathematics and worked in photography, in theatre and as a cinema programmer. He is the founder of the Independent LabStudio Átomo47 and of the production company Bando à Parte. His short films, Arca D'Água (2009), Casa (2010) and O Coveiro (2012) were shown at numerous festivals and won several awards. He made his debut in feature films with Cativeiro (2012), which won awards at DocLisboa and also the DocAlliance Award. Como Me Apaixonei por Eva Ras (2016) was premiered at FidMarseille, where it won a Special Mention by the Jury,  and then went on to festivals such as the Viennale, Mar del Plata, Rotterdam and Jeonju. The Tree, his latest film, premiered at the Berlinale, and won the Best Director Award in the National Competition of IndieLisboa.