João César Monteiro

João César Monteiro was a Portuguese film director, actor, writer and film critic . He was born in Figueira da Foz in February 2, 1939 and died of cancer in Lisbon on February 3, 2003.

Life and career

João César Monteiro was born in a family with anti-clerical and anti-fascist ideals. When he was 15 years old, in order to continue his studies, his family moved to Lisbon. In 1963, with a grant from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, João traveled to Great Britain to study at the London School of Film Technique. In 1965, back in Portugal, he starts working in his first film" Quem Espera por Sapatos de Defunto Morre Descalço" (Who Waits for the Deacesed's Shoes Dies Barefoot), which would only be finished five years later due to financial problems. In the mean time he also made the short documentary "Sophia de Mello Breyner Andersen", about a Portuguese poet. João also wrote film criticism for periodicals like "Imagem," "Diário de Lisboa" and "O Século."

His first feature film was "Fragmentos de um Filme Esmola: A Sagrada Família" (1972). In 1981 he made "Silvestre," an adaptation of traditional Portuguese folk stories. "Silvestre" was presented at the Venice Film Festival and constitutes an important step to his international projection. Afterwords "À Flor do Mar" (1986), featuring Laura Morante, was exhibited at Salsomaggiore Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize. João returned to the Venice Film Festival in 1989 with "Recordações da Casa Amarela" (Silver Lion), a film which marks the introduction of the character João de Deus. In 1992 he made "O Último Mergulho - esboço de filme", featuring Fabienne Babbe."A Comédia de Deus" (Venice Film Festival, 1995), "As Bodas de Deus" (Cannes Film Festival, 1999), "Branca de Neve" (Venice Film Festival,, 2000) and "Vai e Vem" (Cannes Film Festival, 2003) were his last works. "Branca de Neve" (Snowhite) was highly controversial due to fact that much of the film's image track consists of a black screen, although a densely composed audio track plays over top throughout.

Aesthetics

His work, polemic and hard to classify, has a lyric quality that some identify as "film-poem", however his work is often satirical and cynic. He plays the principal character in many of his films, which seems to be a biographical reference. The quality of his work has been a subject of study by Portuguese and international critics and academicians and is unanimously recognised as the most important Portuguese director alongside with Manoel de Oliveira.

Filmography

Director

* "Sophia de Mello Breyner Andersen" (documentary, 1969)
* "Quem Espera por Sapatos de Defunto Morre Descalso" (short, 1971)
* "Fragmentos de um Filme-Esmola: A Sagrada Família" (1972)
* "Que Farei com Esta Espada?" (1975)
* "Amor de Mãe" (1975)
* "Os Dois Soldados" (short, 1978)
* "Veredas" (1978)
* "O Amor das Três Romãs" (short, 1979)
* "O Rico e o Pobre" (short, 1979)
* "Silvestre" (1982)
* "À Flor do Mar" (1986)
* "Recordações da Casa Amarela" (1989)
* "O Último Mergulho" (1992)
* "Passeio com Johnny Guitar" (short, 1995)
* "Lettera amorosa" (short, 1995)
* "O Bestiário ou o Cortejo de Orpheu" (short, 1995)
* "A Comédia de Deus" (1995)
* "Le Bassin de John Wayne" (1997)
* "As Bodas de Deus" 1999
* "Branca de Neve" (2000)
* "Vai e Vêm" (2003)

Actor

* "Amor de Perdição" by Manoel de Oliveira (1979)
* "A Estrangeira" by João Mário Grilo (1983)
* "À Flor do Mar" by João César Monteiro (1986)
* "Doc's Kingdom" by Robert Kramer (1987)
* "Relação Fiel e Verdadeira" by Margarida Gil (1989)
* "Ricordi della casa gialla" by João César Monteiro (1989)
* "Conserva Acabada" by João César Monteiro (1990)
* "Paroles" by Anne Benhaïem (1992)
* "Rosa Negra" by Margarida Gil (1992)
* "Passeio com Johnny Guitar" by João César Monteiro (1995)
* "Lettera Amorosa" by João César Monteiro (1995)e
* "O Bestiário ou o Cortejo de Orpheu" by João César Monteiro (1995)
* "La commedia di Dio" by João César Monteiro (1995)
* "Le Bassin de J.W." by João César Monteiro (1997)
* "As Bodas de Deus" by João César Monteiro (1999)
* "Vai e Vêm" by João César Monteiro (2003)

Books

* "Corpo Submerso" (1959)
* "Morituri te Salutant" (1974)
* "Le Bassin de John Wayne" (1998)
* "As Bodas de Deus" (1998)
* "Uma Semana Noutra Cidade" (1999)

External links

*imdb name|id=0599214|name=João César Monteiro
* [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:103306~T1 All Movie Guide]
* [http://joaocesarmonteiro.no.sapo.pt/jcm02.html Official Site]
* [http://bibliomanias.no.sapo.pt/jcmonteiro.htm Autobiography]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0599214/ João César Monteiro]
* [http://www.madragoafilmes.com/sites/vaievem/sobre.html JCM e a Derradeira Imagem]