Experiencing Interruptions?

Antonio, Dashing Antonio

Antonio, the director’s uncle, left Portugal for Brazil 50 years ago, at the age of 19 – never to return. Over the years, he has promised his mother that he would come back… but half a century later, she is still waiting.
Why did he never return? "He may believe that life lasts a lifetime, but no," says his brother Bento, indignant. His 90-year-old mother has grown bitter and resigned: "If he doesn't give a damn about me, likewise!" Between the Portuguese hamlet where the uncle was born and grew up, and the megalopolis of Rio where he lives in a self-imposed exile, there is a world of misunderstanding and things that go unsaid.

  • Ana Maria Gomes
    Director
  • Le GREC
    Producer
  • Suzana Pedro
    Editing
  • Diana Meireles and Antonio Carlos Jesus
    Sound
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Antonio, Lindo Antonio
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Portrait
  • Runtime:
    42 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 12, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    24,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    France
  • Country of Filming:
    Brazil, Portugal
  • Language:
    Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    DCR Camera
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Festival International Entrevues Belfort, France
    Belfort, France
    December 1, 2015
    World Premiere
    Grand Jury Prize & Audience Prize
  • Curtas, Vila do Conde
    Vila do Conde
    Portugal
    July 14, 2016
    Grand Jury Prize and Audience Prize
  • New York City Independent Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    April 14, 2016
  • Un festival c'est trop court !
    Nice
    France
    October 17, 2016
    Best Film Award
  • True/False
    Columbia
    United States
    March 7, 2017
Director Biography - Ana Maria Gomes

Ana Maria Gomes is a franco-portuguese filmmaker, born in 1982 in France. She lives and works in Paris. She graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris and went on to further study at Le Fresnoy, specializing in video art. Gomes’s work today focuses on the role of fiction in the construction of personal identities; her main artistic interest revolves around her inner circle and family in particular.

In 2004, she directed her first short film "Simomen", a portrait of her 14-year-old brother. Two years later she joined Le Fresnoy (from which she graduated in 2007) where she worked on several artistic projects including "Teresa", a documentary that offers a jarring portrait of her childhood friend. The following year, with support from the Gulbenkian Foundation she produced "Antichambre", a video installation in which she filmed teenagers in their bedrooms. In 2014, with financial backing from G.R.E.C (Groupe de Recherches et d’Essais Cinématographiques), she directed "Antonio, Lindo Antonio", (Antonio, Dashing Antonio) a film about her uncle who left Portugal for Brazil 50 years ago – never to return.

Her films have been shown in exhibitions and international festivals (Hors Piste at the Centre Pompidou, Locarno, Gaîté Lyrique, Jeu de Paume, Museum of Hunting and Nature in Paris, etc.). Her work has received support from artistic institutions including the G.R.E.C, the Gulbenkian Foundation, SCAM, DRAC or the Centre National des Arts Plastiques.

Her most recent work « One, two, three, die » is part of the French National Contemporary Art Fund Collection (FNAC).
Gomes is currently a resident filmmaker with « In situ » in Seine-Saint-Denis, France, working on a new production incorporating elements of an earlier film about adolescence that was shot 13 years ago.

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