Portuguese Cinema
Silent movies
Portuguese silent film began its course on 18 June 1896, at the Real Colyseu da Rua da Palma nº 288, in Lisbon, when Edwin Rousby presented Robert William Paul's Animatograph, using a Teatrograph projector. This machine was not the Cinematograph of the Lumière brothers, but rather one of its competitors. The machine merely projected behind the screen, where natural size images appeared for about a minute. The session was very well received and in the upcoming months, many were the machines swirling at the cinemas of Lisbon, striving for the favour of the cinema’s audience. This places the Portuguese début around six months after the Lumière brother’s inaugural presentation in Paris.
The Early days
However, the Portuguese audience was already familiar with photograph projection, first at the "cicloramas", "dioramas" and the "stereoscopic" views and, later, the magic lantern, with the projection of transparent photographs in glass plate that was afterwards coloured.
On 28 December 1894, besides the projections already familiar to the Lisbon audience, the German photographer Carlos Eisenlohr opened his "Imperial Exhibition" at the Galleries of the Avenida Palace Hotel, where he presented the great novelty: the live photograph – Elektrotachyscop or Schnellseher, an invention by Ottomar Anschutz, that A. J. Ferreira calls ElectroTachiscópio Eisenlohr. The device projected images of different actions, like a dog passing by or the gallop of a horse, contained in disks of small diameter that produced images of extremely short seconds. In the beginning of 1895, the tobacco shop Tabacaria Neves presents Edison's Kinetoscope (in fact, a copy built in London by Robert William Paul). Unlike the preceding invention, the Kinestoscope provided individual visioning and the film, with about 1380 photographs, enabled a projection of 20 seconds. At the Royal Coliseum (Real Colyseu) of the Rua da Palma of António Santos Júnior, on 18 June 1896, Edwin Rousby showed the films of the producing house of British Robert-William Paul, for whom he worked. Those are films of about a minute, "animated views" taken by the operators of the British producer: "Parisian balls", "The Pont Neuf in Paris", "The Train", "The Serpentine Dance", "A Barber and Shoeshine Store in Washington". Edwin Rousby meets Manuel Maria da Costa Veiga, a photographer with electrical and mechanical skills, who assisted him in preparing his session. Thrilled, Costa Veiga
begins acting as an exhibitor, acquiring a projectoscope from Edison that same year and showing films in Lisbon. Robert W. Paul will also send his operator, Henry Short, to Southern Europe, to record the animated views of landscapes enriching the programme of the English producing house. Henry Short also comes to Portugal, registering several views that though meant to be shown in London, would be integrated in the programme of Rousby’s Portuguese sessions, in 1897. The success is overwhelming, prolonging his stays and increasing the sessions. However, it is only when Rousby proceeds with his tour to the Teatro-Circo Príncipe Real, in Oporto, that the animated photograph gains a follower, Aurélio da Paz dos Reis. He was not only an enthusiast but also a professional, who founded the Portuguese Cinema.
Saída do Pessoal da Fábrica Confiança, the first Portuguese film, by Aurélio Paz dos Reis
Synopsis A large number of workers, mostly young women, at lunch time, leave by the front door of their work place. The building has an impressive colonnaded facade, and is located at 181, Santa Catarina St., Oporto - one of the city's main streets. A passenger horse cart crosses from right to left of the screen, and a few seconds later an ox cart carrying merchandise crosses in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, workers keep leaving the factory, giving a sense of a large work force.
The pioneers and the producing houses Three years after beginning his exhibition business, Costa Veiga purchases a movie camera and registers, in1889, his first film, "Views of the Cascais beach" (Aspectos da Praia de Cascais), with images of King D. Carlos bathing in Cascais. Costa Veiga begins recording official visits and other relevant political events of the nation. He founds the first Portuguese producing house, "Portugal Film". Jo達o Freire Correia, a photographer, begins his activity by buying a projector for the opening of the "Sal達o Ideal ao Loreto" in 1904, the first Portuguese cinema.
He founds his producing company five years later, for which he'll shoot several films, such as the "Battle of Flowers" (Batalha de Flores) that gained vast success. He was the operator of "The kidnapping of an Actress" (O Rapto de Uma Actriz), the first scripted Portuguese film, directed by Lino Ferreira in 1907. Freire Correia, however, directed two documentaries of significant success in 1909: "The Portuguese Cavalry" (A Cavalaria Portuguesa) and the "The
earthquake of Benavente" (O Terramoto de Benavente ).The first showed already some technique on image capture, displaying the expertise of Portuguese cavalry in such a way as to create fictitious situations of danger to the audience. The earthquake was filmed in April, having been shown two days later – a remarkable speed – and with the export of 22 copies abroad. It is worth mentioningthe early attempt at sound films with the incomplete Grisette (1908), using the Gaumont method but with the adaptations by Freire Correia, who attempted to synchronise image and sound. Júlio Costa, partnering with João Almeida, acquired the "Salão Ideal" and starts the "Empresa Cinematográfica Ideal", producer and distributor. Remodelled and appropriately refitted, the Salão Ideal presents a predecessor of the talkies, the Spoken Animatograph ("Animatógrafo Falado"): a group of people reads the texts and produces sound in synchronisation with the film's exhibition. Júlio Costa's company was also a pioneer for having grouped for the first time production, distribution and exhibition. In 1918, "Lusitânia Film" is born, a production company with an ambitious project. They rework the old studio of Portugália Film, in São Bento, and begin activities filming documentaries. Closed the "cycle of Lisbon", the first Oporto producer is founded, who would ensure for some years the continuous production of cinema in Portugal.
The foreign Portuguese cinematography After having founded a production company bearing his name in 1910, the Oporto exhibitor Nunes de Mattos adds "Invicta Film" to his corporate name, two years later. The company films current events and documentaries, such as The Sinking of the Silurian ("O Naufrágio do Silurian"), of which 108 copies will be shipped to Europe. In 1918 they leave for Paris, from where they will bring a technical team the Pathé studios. The team is led by Georges Pallu, the director , André
from
Lecointe, architect-decorator, Albert Durot, camera operator, and Georges and Valentine Coutable – the couple who would be, respectively, the Chief Lab and Chief Editor. Durot would later be replaced by Maurice Laumann, also from Pathé. For six years, "Invicta Film" produces several films and documentaries, enrichening the Portuguese film history. In 1924, however, the company shows severe financial distress, leading to laying off all its personnel and ensuring only the lab work. They would shut down in 1928. Rino Lupo is another milestone of cinematography. He shows up through Georges Pallu, who accepts his direction of Women from Beira ("Mulheres da Beira"), after a tale by Abel Botelho, with photography by Artur Costa de Macedo. Rino Lupo still directs The Wolves ("Os Lobos"), another precious work of the Portuguese silent cinema. Three other companies are set up in the 20s to fill in the gap from the brief existence of the Portuguese studios: "Caldevilla Film", "Fortuna Film" and "Pátria Film". These also follow the Portuguese motif, hiring foreign technicians to use their experience in the Portuguese production. In 1920, “Caldevilla Film" chooses Frenchman Maurice Mariaud as the director for The Lighthouse Men ("Os Faroleiros") and The Wards of the Dean ("As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor") for its only two productions. Virgínia de Castro e Almeida, a writer of children's books, founds in Lisbon the studio "Fortuna Film". She hires a French lawyer, Roger Lion, to direct productions based upon her books. Henrique Alegria leaves "Invicta Film", in 1922, to found "Pátria Film" with Raul Lopes Freire.
The new
generation
At the end of the roaring twenties, the "young turks" begin the regency of the cinema estates, with the return of Leitão de Barros and the uprising of young António Lopes Ribeiro (who would soon launch Manoel de Oliveira), Jorge Brum do Canto, Chianca de Garcia and Arthur Duarte. Their agenda is to move away from the previous productions, taking inspiration in the aesthetic designs of the French, German and Russian cinemas. The casts also support this disruptive move, bringing to the screen the stars of the Revista (a popular opera theatre), by contrast to the spoken theatre. A new school begins with the presence of Vasco Santana, António Silva, Maria Matos, Ribeirinho or Maria Olguim. At the same time, the relationship of the State with cinema was also to change from the end of the 20s. The installed powers understood these youngsters dominated the cinema press and influenced masses with the perspectives and the way the conveyed their messages, a privileged means of propaganda for the new regime.
“Salazar, savior of the homeland”
António Lopes Ribeiro launches his career benefiting from the 100 metres Law (this law pretended to launch the portuguese film production). He films A hunting in Malpique ("Uma Batida em Malpique") and Dancing in the Sun ("Bailando ao Sol") (1928). He will later depart with Leitão de Barros in a visit through the European studios, where he'll meet Dziga Vertov and Eiseinstein.
Leitão de Barros, who screens at Lopes Ribeiro's home the 9,5 mm film he had made with his brother-in-law in Nazaré, is spurred on to keep on producing and returns to filming with Nazaré, Beach of Fishermen ("Nazaré, Praia de Pescadores"). Again in Nazaré, Leitão de Barros films Mary of the Sea ("Maria do Mar"), the second ethno fiction in the history of cinema, a landmark for the bleak Portuguese cinematography aesthetics. He also directs Lisbon, an Anecdotal Chronicle ("Lisboa, Crónica Anedótica") (1929), where, among multiple city scenes, he displays the unforgettable Vasco Santana and Beatriz Costa.
Inspired by Marcel l'Herbier, Jorge Brum do Canto begins his career with The Dance of the Paroxisms ("A Dança dos Paroxismos") (1928). It is first released in a private session in 1930, and will only be seen again in 1984. Manoel de Oliveira shoots Working on the Douro river (1931) ("Douro, Faina Fluvial"), and António Lopes Ribeiro persuades him to take it to the V International Critics Congress, where it receives the praise of Pirandello.
But it will again be Leitão de Barros who will leave a relevant mark in the portuguese movie history, with A Severa, based upon the work by Júlio Dantas, with the direction of the first Portuguese talkie. A new era of Portuguese cinema was to begin...
Maria Severa Onofriana (Lisboa, 1820 — Lisboa, 30 de novembro de 1846) she was a mythical fado singer, regarded as the founder of Fado for the songs she sang in her mother’s Taberna.
Sound films 1930s–1940s With the beginning of the Estado Novo (new state) right-wing dictatorship, in 1933, a new genre of film started, based on theatre comedy and musical genres, The Portuguese Golden Age comedies (“A Comédia À Portuguesa"), with focus on contemporary life and more light matters, and the intention of distracting from the difficult times, that people faced. Other famous titles from this popular era are White linen village (“Aldeia da Roupa Branca”) (1938), Singing in the patio (“O Pátio das Cantigas”) and The tyrant father (“O Pai Tirano”) (1941), Costa of the castle (”O Costa do Castelo”) (1943), The radio girl (“A Menina da Rádio”) (1944) and The lion from Estrela (“O Leão da Estrela”) (1947). Curiosity: most of these movies where located in Lisbon and some titles referred to the typical and historical neighbourhoods (“Bairros: Estrela, Alfama, Bairro Alto, Sé, etc.”) placed in the seven hills of the capital. Also “Lion” refers to the adept of a football club, who lived in “Estrela”.
During this period, historic films also emerged as an important genre in the Portuguese industry, as a medium for the state party to develop its nationalist propaganda and conservative values, namely The wards of the Dean(“As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor”) (1935), Bocage (1936), Doomed Love (“Amor de Perdição”) (1943), Inês de Castro (1945), Camões (1946) and Frei Luís de Sousa (1950). A sub-genre of these nationalist films were those related to the culture of Fado and the rise to popularity of Amália Rodrigues, the greatest name of the Portuguese song. Some of those films are Black Cloacks (“Capas Negras”) and Fado, The story of a singer (”História de Uma Cantadeira”), both from 1947. Amália Rodrigues
Camões, directed by José Leitão de Barros, was in competition in the official selection at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946.
Curiosity: Following the rules of the ancient Roman and Greek epics Oneide and Odysseus, Camões wrote the classic epic Os Lusíadas that tells the Portuguese history.
1942 saw the release of Aniki-Bóbó, the first full-length non-documentary film from Manoel de Oliveira, who would only return to fiction film-making twenty-one years later. This film is a milestone in Portuguese film not only because it differs from the tone most in vogue at the time, dealing with social issues, but also because it anticipated, for a couple of years, the first italian neo-realism movies. The Golden Age, as it is known, began that same year with the release of The popular song from Lisbon (“A Canção de Lisboa”), and dominated the country for the next two decades, eventually fading away during the 1950s and giving way to the New Cinema in the 1960s.
1950s The Fifties were mainly years of stagnation with the continuity of the same movies made in the earlier decades, government censorship and glorification of the colonial empire witch Chaimite (1953) is one example for this situation (Chaimite is a portuguese military armoured vehicle); although the first signs of the winds to come were being given by films like The Mountebanks (“Saltimbancos”) (1951) and Nazaré
(1952), both directed by Manuel Guimarães and inspired by the italian neo-realism. In 1958 opens the Portuguese Cinematheque with a retrospective of American movies that inspired the french filmmakers of the Nouvelle Vague, an event praised by then new cinema review critics Alberto Seixas Santos e António Pedro Vasconcelos. In 1959 Portuguese Rhapsody, directed by João Mendes, was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival. 1960s The first year of the new decade brought a new generation, fronted by Dom Roberto (1962), The Young Years (“Os Verdes Anos”) and Birds with trimmed wings (“Pássaros de Asas Cortadas”) (1963). This new phase was named Cinema Novo or Novo Cinema (New Cinema), referring to Portuguese cinema made between 1963 and the Portuguese democratic revolution in 1974 by directors such as Fernando Lopes, Paulo Rocha or António da Cunha Telles, amongst others. In their films, the influence of Italian Neo-Realism and the burgeoning ideas of the Nouvelle Vague can be felt keenly. During the following years, films like Belarmino (1964), Sunday Afternoon, (“Domingo à Tarde”) (1965), Seven bullets for Selma (“Sete balas para Selma”) (1967) and The Siege (“O Cerco”) (1969). The term Novo Cinema is now used to avoid confusion with the Brazilian movement of the same name. This movement gains particular relevance after the
Carnation Revolution(on 25 of April 1974- the dictatorial regime ended), pursuing certain experiences of the French New Wave, both in the field of visual anthropology and of political cinema. The generation of the seventies, taking advantage of the new liberties, explores realism and legend, politics and ethnography, until the late eighties, in conjunction with some directors of the liberated colonies, such as Flora Gomes. Portugal has a notable tradition in the field of docufiction and ethnofiction since Leitão de Barros, a contemporary to Robert Flaherty. 1970s In 1973 The Vows, directed by António de Macedo, was in competition for the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival 1980s A Ilha dos Amores, directed by Paulo Rocha, was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. In 1985 Manoel de Oliveira won an Honorary Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The Cannibals, directed by Manoel de Oliveira, was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. In 1989 Remembrances of the Yellow House, (“Recordações da Casa Amarela”), directed by João César Monteiro, won the Silver Lion at the 46th Venice International Film Festival. 1990s In 1994 Maria de Medeiros won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 51st Venice International Film Festival for her work in Three Brothers, (“Três Irmãos”), directed by Teresa Villaverde. She also participated in “Henry and June” and “Pulp Fiction”, among others. The Convent, directed by Manoel de Oliveira, was in competition for the Palme
d'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. Po di Sangui, directed by Flora Gomes, was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. In 1997 Genealogies of a Crime, directed by Raúl Ruiz, was in competition for the Golden Bear at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival. The Letter, directed by Manoel de Oliveira, was in competition for the Palme d'Or and it won the Jury Prize at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Time Regained, directed by Raúl Ruiz, was also in competition for the Palme d'Or. 2000s I'm Going Home, directed by Manoel de Oliveira, was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. The Uncertainty Principle, also directed by Manoel de Oliveira, was in competition for the Palme d'Or the following year. In 2004, Manoel de Oliveira won an Honorary Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. In 2005, there were 13 Portuguese feature films released, one of them an animation co-produced with Spain, Midsummer Dream. The most successful film this year was Father Amaro’s Crime (“O Crime do Padre Amaro”), with more than 300,000 viewers, gross profiting more than 1.3 million euros. The following year, 22 feature films were released, five of them documentaries. The most successful film this year was Filme da Treta, with more than 270,000 viewers, grossing more than 1 million euros. In 2006, there were 19 feature films produced. Colossal Youth, directed by Pedro Costa, was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2009, Arena, directed by João Salaviza, won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. 2010s In 2010, Portugal produced 22 feature films. In 2011, there were a total of 19 feature films produced. The most commercially successful Portuguese film of the year was Blood of My Blood by João Canijo with 20,953 admissions and grossing €97,784.72. The share of Portuguese cinema in the Portuguese box office was 0.7%. On the artistic side, one of the most
successful films was Joaquim Sapinho's This Side of Resurrection, premiered at the Visions programme at the Toronto International Film Festival with a United States premiere at the Harvard Film Archive. At the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, in 2012, Tabu, directed by Miguel Gomes, was in competition for the Golden Bear and Rafa, directed by João Salaviza, won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film.
The Lines of Wellington was in competition for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival.
As of 11 November 2012, the highest grossing Portuguese film of the year is Bullets & Cupcakes - The Last chapter (“Balas & Bolinhos - O Último Capítulo”)
The Portuguese cinema has thus slowly gained international attention and we are very proud of having the eldest cinema director in the world: Manoel de Oliveira. This outstanding director was born in 1908. He will be 105 years old next 11 December and he is still shooting films.
Comenius Project: Working with movies – moving people and their ideas 1st meeting – Tavira, Portugal 11 to 15 November 2013
Author: Tavira’s Comenius team Editor: Escola Secundária Dr. Jorge Augusto Correia Date: November 2013