Seventh session of the film and talks series A Spoken Film: Oliveira's Themes, conceived and moderated by Anabela Mota Ribeiro. This cycle, dedicated to various thematic nuclei present in Manoel de Oliveira's work, continues with the theme of Death, with a screening of the film A Case of Life or Death (1946) by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and will be followed by a conversation with filmmaker Catarina Vasconcelos and curator and researcher Guilherme Blanc, moderated by Anabela Mota Ribeiro.

5 OCTOBER | SATURDAY | 17h00

DEATH

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH | A CASE OF LIFE AND DEATH

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger | UK | 1946 | 104'

Guests: Catarina Vasconcelos (filmmaker) and Guilherme Blanc (curator and researcher).

One of the first colour films by the duo The Archers, the partnership of Englishman Michael Powell and Hungarian Emeric Pressburger, A Case of Life and Death was a project initially suggested by the British government to ease Anglo-American relations during the Second World War. In the film, Peter, a young English pilot about to crash, talks to June, an American radio operator with whom he falls in love, before jumping to his certain death in the English Channel. But due to the Channel's notorious fog, the envoy from the "other world" doesn't catch Peter, allowing him to survive and pursue his love. However, the "other world" recognises its mistake and sends an angel to escort Peter to his destination. Powell and Pressburger's light-hearted treatment of the problem of death challenges the seriousness of the subject, while offering a hopeful and beautiful point of view on a subject that can only be disturbing."