IN VANDA’S ROOM (NO QUARTO DA VANDA), 2000

Portugal, Germany, Switzerland | DCP, Color, 171’ | Portuguese
Director: Pedro Costa
Cast: Vanda Duarte, Lena Duarte, Zita Duarte

The second film in the Fontainhas trilogy delves deep into a poor Lisbon neighbourhood and the everyday lives of its inhabitants. In the room of heroin addict Vanda Duarte, a fixed camera records her and her neighbours’ routines with fragmented, unsettling simplicity. Carrying the rawness of documentary, this approach places the people deemed invisible at the centre of cinema. Costa’s first use of digital video, the film turns the harsh reality of daily life into poetry through light reminiscent of Vermeer’s paintings. In Vanda’s Room stands as a profound record of both individual and collective solitude — one of cinema’s most unforgettable acts of confrontation.

October 16, 19.00
October 19, 17.00