Paris 2023 programme

Carte blanche to Pedro Costa

Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin offers a carte blanche to Pedro Costa, whose ascetic and radical works are marking the contemporary cinematographic landscape.

While studying history at University of Lisbon, Costa switched to film courses at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School (Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema) where he was a student of António Reis, Paulo Rocha and Alberto Seixas Santos. After working as an assistant director to several directors such as Jorge Silva Melo, Vítor Gonçalves and João Botelho, he made a first feature film O Sangue (The Blood) in 1989.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called Pedro Costa «the Samuel Beckett of cinema». He is acclaimed for using his ascetic style to depict the marginalised people in desperate living situations. Many of his films are set in a district of Lisbon inhabited by socially disadvantaged and shot in a natural and low-key way in documentary format.
In 1994, Casa de Lava was selected in the "Un certain regard" section of the Cannes Film Festival. A nurse accompanies a comatose Cape Verdean bricklayer to his island home. In 1997, Ossos won the prize for photography at the Venice mostra. He then shot Où gît votre sourire enfoui, a film in the Cinéma de notre temps series, based on the editing of a second version of Straub and Huillet's Sicilia!
He collected the France Culture Award (Foreign Cineaste of the Year) at 2002 Cannes Film Festival for directing the film In Vanda’s Room. Colossal Youth was selected for the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and earned the Independent/Experimental prize (Los Angeles Film Critics Association) in 2008.
His film Vitalina Varela wins the Golden Leopard at the 2019 Locarno International Film Festival.

Screening at the CWB Paris
Saturday 4 November, 6pm - Read more

So you don't miss anything

→ Sign up now for your accreditation or badge, which offer many benefits during the event. Deadline: 27 October 2023. To apply, click here.
→ Subscribe to our newsletter click here.
→ Follow us on social networks here.