TRAVELLING THE ORIENT CYCLE - Cinema 

2, 6, 9, 10, 13, 17, 20, 24, 27 JULY
AUDITORIUM

CYCLE: VOYAGES IN THE ORIENT
Cinema
Co-production: Fundação Oriente Museu/Zero em Comportamento
PRICE: € 3.00

A voyage through distinct Asian landscapes and taking in some of the leading countries in the region: India, Malaysia, Thailand and China. The underlying connection between the various films making up the Voyages in the Orient cycle is the particular attention they pay to the locations and the peoples making up the background to the stories therein told. Through the medium of cinema, this program is a dive into the depths of facets to the reality and culture of these countries that, to a large extent, remain an incognito to Western audiences.

PROGRAM

2 JULY
18:00
L’INTOUCHABLE
Directed by: Benoît Jacquot
France, 2006, 82’, Colour
Language: French. Subtitles in Portuguese.
M/16

On the day of her birthday, Jeanne, a young actress, learns from her mother that her father is an Indian she met long ago on the banks of the river Ganges.
She then proceeds to abandon the rehearsals for a Brecht play that she had so longed to do in favour of a shallow role in some film or other to quickly get the money necessary to set off for India where she hopes to find but fears meeting her biological father.

6 JULY
18:00
BORN INTO BROTHELS (CALCUTTA’S RED LIGHT KIDS)
Directed by: Ross Kauffmann and Zana Briski
India, 2004, 85’, Colour
Language: Bengali/English. Subtitles in Portuguese
M/16

The most stigmatised members of Calcutta’s red light district are not the prostitutes but rather their children. Confronted by abject poverty, abuse and despair, they have little change of escaping the destiny of their mothers. The directors depict an amazing chronicle of transformation in the children they met in the red light district.

9 JULY
18:00
HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY?
Directed by: Xiaolu Guo
China/UK, 2007, 83’, Colour
Language: Chinese. Subtitles in Portuguese.
M/16

A man from the south of China who murdered his lover sets off on a lonely journey across the country heading for his “promised land”: a snowy village in the far north of the country. In the meantime, in Beijing, a man sets to writing the story of the fleeing murderer.

10 JULY
18:00
TAKING FATHER HOME
Directed by: Ying Liang
China, 2005, 100’. Colour
Language: Chinese. Subtitles in Portuguese
M/16

A 17 year old boy from a village in Sichuan province sets off for the city in search of his father who left six years ago and has not been heard of since. That his mother continues to receive sums of money monthly does nothing to temper his anger. He is not expecting a nice encounter as what really drives him is a barely disguisable rage.

13 JULY
18:00
TAKING FATHER HOME

17 JULY
18:00
A TREE IN YANJUNG MALIM
Directed by: Tan Chui Mui
Malaysia, 2004, 24’. Colour
Language: Chinese. Subtitles in Portuguese.
M/16

A woman on the verge of adulthood falls into conversation with an older man that continues throughout the night. Gradually, a bond of love and tenderness emerges and able to stand the long test of time.

COMPANY OF MUSHROOMS
Directed by: Tan Chui Mui
Malaysia, 2006, 30’. Colour
Language: Chinese/Malay. Subtitles in Portuguese.
M/16

An Italian restaurant provides the backdrop to the chat between four friends who, naturally enough, turn their attention to women.

SOUTH OF SOUTH
Directed by: Tan Chui Mui
Malaysia, 2006, 11’. Colour
Language: Hokkien. Subtitles in Portuguese.
M/16

1984, Kuantan, Malaysia. Thousands of Vietnamese refugees are arriving on the Western coast. A film about the need for human adaptation in the face of global transformations.

20 JULY
18:00
FLOWER IN THE POCKET
Directed by: Seng Tat Liew
Malaysia, 2007, 97’. Colour
Language: Malay / Mandarin / English / Cantonese. Subtitles in Portuguese.
M/16

Two brothers, Li Ahh and Li Ohm are left orphaned following the death of their mother with their father a workaholic spending his days arranging shop mannequins. With little paternal oversight, the pair grow up alone, wandering the streets and getting involved in incidents and scrapes. Running free from the adult world, the kids live out adventures and adopt a dog as a companion for their journey.

24 JULY
18:00
A ILHA DA BOAVIDA (BOAVIDA ISLAND)
Directed by: Mercês Gomes
Language: Português
M/16

Twenty four hours in the daily life of the city of Mumbai, India, through a succession of images, sounds and intense music.

PÁTRIA INCERTA (FATHERLAND UNKNOWN)
Directed by: Inês Gonçalves and Vasco Pimentel
Portugal, 2006, 52’. Colour
Language: Portuguese
M/16

A perspective on an often overlooked aspect of colonisation: the capacity of a colonised people to create a highly eclectic civilisational culture. The memory of Portuguese culture lives on in Goa and reveals the vitality of Hindu culture, never overwhelmed and present throughout the region, even among Goan Catholics, descendents of Hindu converts.

27 JULY
18:00
FLOWER IN THE POCKET