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Edition 2016
Films
Sónia (Ana Moreira), a young girl from St. Petersburg, aims for a better life. After obtaining a passport, she travels through Europe until she arrives in Portugal. This journey is quickly transformed into a descent into hell and Sónia ends up entangled in the underworld of international prostitution. Kidnapping, pain, solitude, madness, violence, abjection, humiliation - these are the challenges that Sonia must overcome. More than a persistent fear that oppresses the character, there is also a massive amount of misunderstandings due to the languages and behaviours that she does not understand. But her courage remains strong and redemption seems possible in the shape of a hope in love that will never be completely destroyed.
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Cast:
Ana Moreira, Viktor Rakov, Robinson Stévenin -
Original Title:
Transe -
Country:
Italy, Russia, France, Portugal -
Year:
2006 - 126’
Director
Teresa Villaverde
Director, screenwriter and producer, Teresa Villaverde is one of the most important names of a generation of Portuguese film directors that emerged in the 1990s. She is the
author of a very personal filmography, influenced by certain paradigmatic Portuguese
characteristics, and which pays particular attention to themes such as childhood and
adolescence, inadequacy and difficulty of interpersonal communication.
She participated in several productions as an actress, set designer, screenwriter, assistant director and assistant editor, before directing a striking trio of feature films, screened at the greatest film festivals: Alex (1991), a reconstitution of Portugal in the beginning of the 1970s, marked by the Colonial War; Two Brothers, My Sister (1994) which won the Best Actress Award at the Venice Festival given to Maria de Medeiros and The Mutants (1998) selected for the Cannes Film Festival, section Un Certain Regard, which approaches the rootlessness of young teenagers coming from dysfunctional family environments.
In 2006, Teresa Villaverde directed Trance, a film portraying illegal immigration and human trafficking, which was also chosen for the Cannes Film Festival (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) and the Toronto Festival, irrevocably consolidating her international profile.
Swan (2011) assembles many subjects from her previous films, echoes of her first works, recurrences and extensions of Water and Salt, a film she directed in 2001.
Teresa Villaverde collaborated on some collective works, contributing with her segments in Visions of Europe (2004), Venice 70 – Future Reloaded (2013) and Bridges of Sarajevo (2014). In 2004 she also directed a documentary, In Favor of Light, a portrait of the artist Pedro Cabrita Reis.
In 2016, Teresa Villaverde is preparing to premiere her new film, Colo, starring Beatriz Batarda in the lead role.
The tenth edition of Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival will present a complete retrospective of her work.
She participated in several productions as an actress, set designer, screenwriter, assistant director and assistant editor, before directing a striking trio of feature films, screened at the greatest film festivals: Alex (1991), a reconstitution of Portugal in the beginning of the 1970s, marked by the Colonial War; Two Brothers, My Sister (1994) which won the Best Actress Award at the Venice Festival given to Maria de Medeiros and The Mutants (1998) selected for the Cannes Film Festival, section Un Certain Regard, which approaches the rootlessness of young teenagers coming from dysfunctional family environments.
In 2006, Teresa Villaverde directed Trance, a film portraying illegal immigration and human trafficking, which was also chosen for the Cannes Film Festival (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) and the Toronto Festival, irrevocably consolidating her international profile.
Swan (2011) assembles many subjects from her previous films, echoes of her first works, recurrences and extensions of Water and Salt, a film she directed in 2001.
Teresa Villaverde collaborated on some collective works, contributing with her segments in Visions of Europe (2004), Venice 70 – Future Reloaded (2013) and Bridges of Sarajevo (2014). In 2004 she also directed a documentary, In Favor of Light, a portrait of the artist Pedro Cabrita Reis.
In 2016, Teresa Villaverde is preparing to premiere her new film, Colo, starring Beatriz Batarda in the lead role.
The tenth edition of Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival will present a complete retrospective of her work.
Director's statement
“‘Hell is a dog barking outside’, Saint Teresa of Ávila wrote. We’re in the beginning of the twenty-first century and the dog barks everywhere” (Teresa Villaverde)
