Post-screening conversation with director Marta Mateus and Jonathan Rosenbaum.
"Mateus is surely someone who is equally attuned to working on the surface and in depth, in both visual and metaphorical terms, and her feature debut stands as a monument of gratitude towards the people who made it possible in the first place." - Savina Petkova, Cineuropa
"Mateus opts for a different approach, a different resistance: a precise way of understanding the force of a shot and a scattered pace and rhythm of almost chanted dialogue that evokes how oral cultures interpret the world, far away from the contemporary lineal, capitalistic way of making sense of things... Fire of Wind seems to be evoking history with every shot." - Lucía Requejo & Victor Morozov, Variety
"Fire of Wind feels wrought out of a profound connection with the landscape and buried history of the wine country where Mateus grew up." - Sam Wigley, BFI
Wednesday, November 5, 5:30 p.m. | The feature debut of Portuguese filmmaker Marta Mateus is a forceful collision of documentary reality and myth. In the Alentejo region of southern Portugal, where Mateus is from, a peasant community of grape-pickers become agents in an open-air ritual of remembrance and rebellion. It’s harvest time and there’s discontent in the fields. Suddenly, a black bull is on the loose, and the laborers must scramble for refuge high up in the oak trees. As the specter of the beast looms below, they share bread and wine, memories and dreams, the history of the landscape and of struggles past and present. Night begins to fall, and time swells. The wind that brings the heatwave, it burns. A fable-like film rich with language and monumental gesture, FIRE OF WIND announces a rare voice in contemporary cinema, an artist of deep political commitment steeped in the great filmmaking traditions of Portugal, all the while forging a singular new path forward. Dialogue: post-screening conversation with director Marta Mateus and Jonathan Rosenbaum.
Awards & Nominations
Official Selection - Locarno International Film Festival
Official Selection - New York 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