31ª Mostra Internacional de Cinema

Jornal da Mostra

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BRAZIL, THE SECRET OF LONGEVITY

The 61st Cannes Festival paid a full-of-surprises homage to centenary Manoel de Oliveira. The packed Grand Théâtre Lumière room had Clint Eastwood, Sean Penn and Walter Salles present, among many other filmmakers and guests. Manoel de Oliveira, about to turn 100 years old, next December, came with his wife Maria Isabel, his grandson Ricardo Trepa, the actor and director Michel Piccoli and the director of the Portuguese cinemateque João Bénard da Costa.

Gilles Jacob, president of the festival, gave a touching speech about the importance of Oliveira and his films, most of them made after 70 years of age. Tierry Frémaux, the Cannes Festival director, improvised his homage to the Portuguese filmmaker reminding us that we witness the centenary of three great personalities: “Claude Lévi-Strauss, Oscar Niemeyer and Manoel de Oliveira. Niemeyer is Brazilian, Lévi-Strauss went often to Brazil (for his anthropological studies) and Manoel de Oliveira goes often to Brazil (to the São Paulo International Film Festival); therefore, Clint Eastwood and Sean Penn, if you want to reach 100 years old, you should start going to Brazil!”, he completed.

The first surprise of the homage was the projection of a short film signed by Gilles Jacob – “A day in the life of Manoel de Oliveira”, showing the filmmaker in his apartment in Oporto. It is where Oliveira remembers his last passage in Cannes: “I received a message with no signature at the hotel. It said cinema is movement, which didn’t exist in my films. It said I made still pictures. I completed the note. I said the still picture has no movement at all. But that the fixed scene, on the other hand, has much movement within.”

The biggest surprise was the granting of a Golden Palm to Manoel de Oliveira. “I find it much better to receive a prize like that, without competing with my colleagues”, thanked Oliveira. The homage ended with the screening of the 18-minute short DOURO, FAINA FLUVIAL, which Manoel de Oliveira made in 1930 and presented in September 1931 at the international critics congress.

English version: Laura Rebessi

More infos. About Cannes Film Festival in :

	www.festival-cannes.com