In Vanda's Room
Encyclopedia
No Quarto da Vanda is a three-hour fiction film by Portuguese director Pedro Costa
. The film follows the daily life of Vanda Duarte, a heroin addict
, in the shanty
outskirts of Lisbon
. The film's focus is also on the community of the district and its townscape. No Quarto da Vanda is a kind of sequel to the drama film Ossos
(1997) in which Vanda Duarte plays as an actress.
The film took a year to shoot after the (mostly) one-person crew settled in the location, Fontainhas district, where Vanda and the community including Cape Verde
an immigrants lived depressed lives.
In spite of its three-hour length, the director Pedro Costa made the film in a realist
style by using fixed shots entirely. Melancholic life of the community was shot on DV
in a low-key way. Costa said about his impression of the district:
The fact that many believe it to be a documentary attests to Costa's deceptively simple virtuosity and critically cunning approach.
The film also sees this shanty district slowly being demolished. The displaced inhabitants are featured in Costa's next film Juventude em Marcha (Colossal Youth, 2006).
Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
in 2001 "for presenting life in its near-original form".
http://imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Yamagata_International_Documentary_Festival/2001#FIPRESCI_Prize
http://www.fipresci.org/awards/awards/awards_2001.htm#yamagata
Pedro Costa collected the France Culture Award (Foreign Cineaste of the Year) for directing the film at 2002 Cannes Film Festival
.http://imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Cannes_Film_Festival/2002#France_Culture_Award
Pedro Costa
Pedro Costa is a Portuguese film director.He is acclaimed for using his ascetic style to depict the marginalised people in desperate living situations...
. The film follows the daily life of Vanda Duarte, a heroin addict
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
, in the shanty
Shanty town
A shanty town is a slum settlement of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials: often plywood, corrugated metal and sheets of plastic...
outskirts of Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. The film's focus is also on the community of the district and its townscape. No Quarto da Vanda is a kind of sequel to the drama film Ossos
Ossos
Ossos is a 1997 Portuguese film directed by Pedro Costa.The film is set in "Estrela d'Africa", Fontainhas district of Lisbon, where disadvantaged dwellers and immigrants from former Portuguese colonies in Africa live desperate lives.The story's focus is on a young girl and her lover who become...
(1997) in which Vanda Duarte plays as an actress.
The film took a year to shoot after the (mostly) one-person crew settled in the location, Fontainhas district, where Vanda and the community including Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
an immigrants lived depressed lives.
In spite of its three-hour length, the director Pedro Costa made the film in a realist
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
style by using fixed shots entirely. Melancholic life of the community was shot on DV
DV
DV is a format for the digital recording and playing back of digital video. The DV codec was launched in 1995 with joint efforts of leading producers of video camcorders....
in a low-key way. Costa said about his impression of the district:
- ""When I entered the Fontainhas area, there were colors and smells that made me remember the things and events of the past, and also ideas about people to which I am attracted. These ideas nestled close to each other, living together even as they led very solitary lives because of violent and painful separation. A form of interesting and incompatible relationships existed in this."http://www.yidff.jp/2001/cat021/01c031-e.html
The fact that many believe it to be a documentary attests to Costa's deceptively simple virtuosity and critically cunning approach.
The film also sees this shanty district slowly being demolished. The displaced inhabitants are featured in Costa's next film Juventude em Marcha (Colossal Youth, 2006).
Acclaim
Despite its highly fictional nature, its elusive classification and its documentary-like hybridization allowed it to win the FIPRESCIFIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival held biennially in Yamagata, Japan.It was first held in October 1989, which makes it one of the longest running documentary film festivals in the world and the most distinguished such festival in Asia...
in 2001 "for presenting life in its near-original form".
http://imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Yamagata_International_Documentary_Festival/2001#FIPRESCI_Prize
http://www.fipresci.org/awards/awards/awards_2001.htm#yamagata
Pedro Costa collected the France Culture Award (Foreign Cineaste of the Year) for directing the film at 2002 Cannes Film Festival
2002 Cannes Film Festival
The 2002 Cannes Film Festival started on 15 May and ran until 26 May. The Palme d'Or went to the Polish-French-German-British co-produced film The Pianist directed by Roman Polanski.-Jury:* David Lynch * Sharon Stone* Michelle Yeoh...
.http://imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Cannes_Film_Festival/2002#France_Culture_Award