Cíntia Gil
Film curator
Portugal
Voted for
| Film | Year | Director |
|---|---|---|
| In einem Jahr mit 13 Monden | 1978 | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
| Os Mutantes | 1998 | Teresa Villaverde |
| O FANTASMA | 2000 | João Pedro Rodrigues |
| RECORDAÇÕES DA CASA AMARELA | 1989 | João César Monteiro |
| In Vanda's Room | 2000 | Pedro Costa |
| Je, tu, il, elle | 1974 | Chantal Akerman |
| DEUS E O DIABO NA TERRA DO SOL | 1964 | Glauber Rocha |
| W.R. - Mysteries of the Organism | 1971 | Dusan Makavejev |
| QIANXI MANBO | 2001 | Hou Hsiao-Hsien |
| Maynila sa mga kuko ng liwanag | 1975 | Lino Brocka |
Comments
We all know these polls come from very aleatory choices and criteria. They are circumstantial, and yet pretend to define the 'greatest'. I am not very interested in 'greatest', and maybe not even in 'greatness', and so this is a choice that follows two criteria that are not distinct. I tried to pick films that gave me or renewed my desire to work in and for film today, and films that I think bring some key, some secret within them, of how we can understand each other better.
There is a particular triad of Portuguese films (Villaverde's, Rodrigues' and Costa's) that I want to highlight: together, they are (some of) the gestures that generated Portuguese (and probably not only) cinema today, and they were all made when I was trying to understand where I wanted to be. That was where I wanted to be. For me, one leads to the next and the next – and they complicate each other, while looking in the eyes of the great films that came before them.
In general, this list could be a photograph of a desire and a state of cinema (a demanding one) that will maybe help me breathe better through the 2020s.
They are not in any specific order – just as they came to my mind. Many others, as important (to myself and to the world) and as good (if not better), are missing.