Inspired by science fiction and speculative storytelling the films of Pedro Neves Marques remain deeply rooted in contemporary realities. Against the rise of authoritarian governments, the continued legacies of settler-colonialism, and amidst on-going environmental destruction, Pedro’s films offer gentle and politically charged visions of other relations. Non-binary lovers come together in a house in the forest; a lab team genetically-engineer mosquitos in an attempt to control the Zika virus; and an indigenous android talks about reproductive rights with a field of infertile corn. Through intense atmospheric soundscapes and entrancing visuals we are invited to enter a speculative world where care, love and mutual awareness are essential to our beyond-human interconnectedness.
*Please note, this screening is restricted to the following territories:
UK, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Uruguay, USA
Programme
The Bite (A Mordida) (2019, 26 mins)
Between a house in the Atlantic forest and a genetically-modified mosquito factory near São Paulo, a polyamorous, non-binary relationship struggles to survive an epidemic spreading across Brazil. While in the factory millions of mosquitos are born daily inside test tubes, the power dynamics between Helmut, Calixto, and Tao only intensifies. The Bite is a film found somewhere between horror, science fiction and a queer drama.
Exterminator Seed (Semente Exterminadora) (2017, 26 mins)
An oil spill contaminates the Brazilian coast. Capivara, an offshore oil rig worker, is evacuated back to Rio de Janeiro, where the locals remain ignorant of the incoming disaster. Despite the danger, Capivara wishes only to return to the offshore oil fields. In the city, he is aided by Ywy, a woman who convinces him to travel to her homeland of Mato Grosso do Sul, in search for work in the soya and corn monocultural plantations. There, Ywy tells him about the infertility proper to those transgenic plants and an android like her. But Capivara, a human, is incapable of understanding her.
Image credit: Exterminator Seed, dir. Pedro Neves Marques, 2017