EDGAR PÊRA: RETROSPECTIVE - 09 NOV

The Misadventures of Kino-Man - Epizohdyus 111, 113 & 115 | 2 minUsing the distinctive cinematic gaze that underpins all his work, in this manifesto film, The Misadventures of Kino-Man - Epizohdyus 111, 113 & 115, Edgar Pêra adopts Dziga Vertov’s famous Man with a Movie Camera, crossing it with influences from Aurélio Paz dos Reis, Polish animation cinema and the works of Terry Gilliam, in order to implement a anthropomorphisation of the film camera, which is converted into a devouring-regurgitating machine. This is used to trace the unique visual universe in which the kino-man moves - the space where cinema is understood and empowered as a device that may be used for multiple, hallucinatory, unstable and changeable experimentation.



Reprodukta Forbidd | 8 minThe murky, apocalyptic space of the symbolic ruins of the Chiado district in Lisbon, using an ambiguous temporality, is the location of an encounter between two very unique characters in Reprodukta Forbidd: a strange mutant with teleportation powers and Penelope Kruxis, a nurse confronting a rare case of contagious mutation, resulting from the invasion of a foreign element into this catastrophe-ridden environment. The rest is a mixture of history, anticipation and significant changes in direction.



Slaughterhouse | 8 minSlaughterhouse, Edgar Pêra’s first foray into the world of video-cinema consists of fragments of episodes from the "most popular television programme of the third dark ages", in a mixture of stylized images of the violent activities of the Frigorifico Slaughterhouse in Lisbon with live footage that reveal viewers’ reactions. This unexpected shock is also, if we understand it at its most suggestive level, a sarcastic view of the relationship between the television image and the slaughterhouse – a place reserved for killing for public consumption.



Manual of Evasion LX94 | 63 minOffering a delirious filmic tension between expressionism and comedy, Manual of Evasion LX94 combines an eccentric aesthetic, inherited from the cinema of attractions and silent cinema, complemented by the attributes of stock characters from "Portuguese-style comedies." In this film, the burlesque interventions of the various actors are catalysed by philosophical discourses about trans-temporality, written by three American counter-culture writers (Terence McKenna, Robert Anton Wilson and Rudy Rucker), which explore the nature of time from the perspective of the city of Lisbon, understood herein not only as a specific space, but above all as a temporal dimension. The 35mm copy that we will present in the retrospective has only previously been projected on one occasion and results from a direct plastic intervention on the film.

THE MISADVENTURES OF KINO-MAN - EPIZOHDYUS 111, 113 & 115 REPRODUKTA FORBIDD, 1990 SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 1991 MANUAL OF EVASION LX94, 1994
Director: Edgar Pêra  Editing: Tiago Pereira  Cinematography: Daniel Neves  Sound: Inês HenriquesCast: Tiago Pereira, Daniel Neves  Coordination: João MilagreAnimation: João Dias, Catarina Ramalho, Eva Mota, João GomesSecretary: Paula FigueirinhaInterns: Nuno Barradas, Hugo Freitas, Rita Frazão Production: Akademya Lusoh-Galaktika Format: dv digital video, black and white, 2 min. 

Director, Scriptwriter and production: Edgar Pêra  Sound: Pedro BidarraProduction visual: Rosário LopesEditing: José Nascimento Director of Photography: Rui Henriques Title sequence: João Pinto Music: Pedro Bidarra, Pedro Ayres MagalhãesCast: Margarida Matos (Penelope Cruxis), Lígia Pereira (Mutex Teleportis), António Gama (Kontaminohvsk) Format: 35mm, colour, 8 min.

Original idea, director, camera, editing and production: Edgar PêraTelecinema 35mm: João PintoSupervision 35mm: Carlos AssisVideo assistant: Laurent SimõesEditing assistant: António Costa  Music: Pedro Bidarra Line production: Núcleo de Cineastas IndependentesFormat: 35mm, colour, 8 min.

Director: Edgar Pêra  Director of Photography: Michael Mandero  Soundtrack: Tiago Lopes, Paulo Abelho  Editing: Pedro RibeiroSound: Francisco Veloso, Paulo AbelhoCast: Ana Bustorff, Anabela Teixeira, Duarte Barrilaro Ruas, Fernando Candeias, João Reis, José Wallenstein, Manuel João Vieira, Margarida Marinho, Margarida Miranda, Suzie PetersonInterventions: Terence McKenna, Robert Anton Wilson, Rudy RuckerLine producer: Catarina Santos  Production: Maria João Mayer, Companhia de Filmes do Príncipe Real, for Lisboa 94 – European Capital of Culture  Format: 35mm , black and white/colour, 63 min.