Promises

An attempt to convey the emotions felt when things fall apart, this Film Poem provides a litany of the expectations and disappointments of a failed relationship. The reflections of clouds in the pond reference both dreams and a degree of narcissism and self-interest expressed in the poem.

This short film is from a quartet of Film Poems, short digital media works inspired by the poetry of my late aunt, Alice Goncalves Sousa, a first generation Portuguese-American. Alice’s poems express the challenges particular to women coming of age in mid-century America and growing old in a generation with limited options for women.

  • Jean Sousa
    Director
  • Alice Gonçalves Sousa
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 5, 2016
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Jean Sousa

Sousa's experimental films have been shown nationally and internationally at the National Film Theater in London, the Image Forum Cinematheque in Tokyo, the Funnel in Toronto, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Cinematheque in San Francisco, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Millennium, and Anthology Film Archives in New York, among other venues. Her work has been included in numerous festivals, including the International Festival of Avant-Garde Film in London, the Festival international de jeune cinema in Paris, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Big Muddy Film Festival, and the Onion City Film Festival in Chicago where she received 1st Prize for her film "Spent Moments." She is the recipient of two Artist Fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council and a Regional Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional awards include a residency at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Cliff Dwellers Fellowship for Artist Residency at Ragdale, and a Professional Artist in Residence at Oxbow in Saugatuck, Michigan. She was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome in 2014 and again in 2017. Ms. Sousa has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the MIT Summer Institute for Film, Photography, and Video at Hampshire College.

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