Thursday, April 25, 6:00 p.m. | In only his second feature, Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa (HORSE MONEY, IN VANDA'S ROOM) brilliantly reworked Jacques Tourneur’s classic I Walked with a Zombie into a reflection on his country’s colonial legacy. A nurse, Mariana (Inês de Medeiros), accompanies Leão (Isaach de Bankolé) to his home on the volcanic islands of Cape Verde after an accident leaves him in a coma—but he goes unrecognized by fellow denizens, leaving Mariana trapped with and eventually entranced by a mysterious community. Never before released in the U.S. and now beautifully restored, CASA DE LAVA foreshadows the masterful films that would follow, yet is an extraordinary, ravishing work in its own right. (Grasshopper Films) Followed by Costa’s aching and enthralling musical THE DAUGHTERS OF FIRE (AS FILHAS DO FOGO, 2023, 9 min., Portugal, in Portuguese with English subtitles / Format: Digital), in which sisters sing about their lives after the eruption of a volcano in Cape Verde. IN DIALOGUE: Pedro Costa in conversation with Melika Bass, Filmmaker and Associate Professor in Film Video, New Media and Animation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

Presented in collaboration with Block Cinema - Northwestern University's Radiant Shadows: The Films of Pedro Costa program.  

Awards & Nominations

CASA DE LAVA
Winner - Grand Prix, Foreign Film, Entrevues Film Festival
Winner - Special Artistic Achievement, Thessaloniki Film Festival

THE DAUGHTERS OF FIRE
Official Selection - Cannes Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival

The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu