Morning of Saint Anthony's Day

Synopsis

Tradition says that on 13 June, Saint Anthony’s Day (the national holiday of Lisbon’s patron), lovers must offer small vases of basil with paper carnations and flags with popular poems as a token of their love.

Director's comment

João Pedro Rodrigues was born in Lisbon in 1966. After studying biology at Lisbon University he attended the Lisbon Film School, where he obtained his diploma. His film career began with the short PARABÉNS! which won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice IFF 1997. In 1997/98 he made ESTA É A MINHA CASA and VIAGEM À EXPO, a two-part documentary. In 2000, he directed his first fiction feature, O FANTASMA, which was screened in competition at the 57th Venice IFF. His 2005 feature ODETE won several awards, among them a Special Mention at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. His feature project TO DIE LIKE A MAN was selected in 2007 by the Cinéfondation for L’Atelier in Cannes and premiered at Un certain regard in 2009. His last feauture, THE LAST TIME I SAW MACAO, co-directed with João Rui Guerra da Mata, won a special jury mention at Locarno IFF 2012.

How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing?
It took more or less a month to shoot but not in consecutive days. As the film is set in the early hours of the day and it was all shot outside, we could only shoot for two to three hours a day. I also wanted the streets of the neighbourhood in Lisbon where the film is set (which is where I live) empty so we shot mostly on weekends and holidays (even like this we still had to control the traffic with the help of the police).
The film was financed by ICA, the Portuguese Cinema and Audiovisual Institute and by Le Fresnoy.

Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”?
I think it will always be a bunch of people with several different voices and points of view and that's what I like in cinema: Diversity. Perhaps in Europe there's a greater concern about letting each one express themselves with no creative restraints and that's another thing I like about cinema: Freedom.

If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen?
That's a tough question.
I would screen the films by António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro, a couple who did some of the most secretive, unknown (and beautiful) Portuguese films ever made: As a tribute to António Reis who was my teacher at film school just before he died.

What is your next project?
I'm preparing a new feature called THE ORNITHOLOGIST that I hope to shoot next summer.

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