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“FADO” A documentary by Anders Leifer 59 min., b&w/colour, Denmark 2003 Nu til salg på dvd med danske tekster. Skriv til fenrisfilm@fenrisfilm.dk. Kr. 62.50 + forsendelse. Watch the film with English subtitles (and/or watch preview) on Vimeo.
If you are a commissioning editor: Link to the French TV distributor's website. Danish director Anders Leifer - who is fluent in Portuguese - has had a lifelong love affair with Portugal and Lisbon which clearly is visible in this film. “Leifer offers a loving portrait of some of the people who sing fado in a small bar in the Alfama district of Lisbon. The signature musical style of Portugal, the melancholic fado is revealed to be both a song of civic pride and a way of life. The singers speak of giving their lives over to fado and finding a community in their performance. Among the singers we meet are Zé António, scarred by the colonial wars but very much alive when he has a drink; professional singer Gonçalo whose love of the fado leads him to keep the bar open and the regulars welcome; and the elderly Suzete whose loss of a husband opened the world of fado to her. Leifer connects the singers to their neighbourhood and creates a clear sense of a cultural form born from a particular place and the experiences of its inhabitants.” From Vancouver International Film Festival’s programme, Sept. 2003 Here's a review from Chicago Reader in relation to the showings at Gene Siskel Film Center.
The following is a review in Danish from Danish newspaper, Information, by Lars Movin: "Stemninger, sindstilstande og skæbne. Sporvogne, sardiner og sange. Det er,
hvad Anders Leifers film om portugisisk fado handler om. Fado er en sand
folkemusik, en mediterran blues, der er vokset ud af Lissabons fattige
kvarterer. Siden er sangene, som det altid går, blevet en blanding af folklore
og industri, men i filmen bruger Leifer sit mangeårige kendskab til Lissabon til
at opspore fadoen som en levende tradition, en livsstil, der stadig trives og
sætter strøm på følelserne i den kakkelklædte stads maleriske nattegader. Filmen
følger primært to sangere. Den ene er den charmerende Gonçalo, tilrejsende fra
landet og indehaver af fadoværtshuset Taberna do Julião. Den anden er
krigsveteranen Zé António, en mere anløben eksistens, som synes at leve af vin
og trække vejret gennem fado. De to synger sig igennem hver en håndfuld sange og
viser på skift rundt i de stejle gyder, der har givet næring til de intense og
dybfølte fadotekster. De sort-hvide scener med Gonçalo og Zé António, samt et
par af deres kolleger, veksler med et mere poetisk lag af grynede
Super8-farveoptagelser af Lissabons sporvogne. Og i det hele taget vægter filmen
stemninger og øjeblikke højere end information og effektiv fortælling. Det er
dens styrke og særpræg, og selv om ikke alle sekvenser er stærke nok til at bære
den registrerende form, er filmen som helhed et atmosfæremættet indblik i et
stykke levende folkekultur." “FADO” is financed by Danish Film Institute (Allan Berg Nielsen) and pre-bought and shown by DR TV (Denmark), SVT (Sweden) and YLE Teema (Finland). Shown at Vancouver International Film Festival in September 2003, at Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago in March 2004 and among others sold to French tv-channel Mezzo and New Zealand's The Arts Channel.
ANDERS LEIFER, director, b. 1968 MA in film studies, University of Copenhagen. As director: “The Faithful Dead” (Danish Film Institute Workshop/Danish Broadcasting Corporation (Danmarks Radio), 1997), documentary from Mexico about the so-called Day of the Dead - shown at numerous festivals around the world. As writer: Author of book about acclaimed Danish film director, Jørgen Leth: “Også i dag oplevede jeg noget”/”Today too, I experienced something” (Informations Forlag, 1999).
FENRIS FILM & MULTIMEDIA APS, founded 1993 Producers and co-owners, Jeppe Raasthøj and Mikkel Stolt (also a director), has produced a wide range of documentaries, shorts and educational films. They also specialize in multimedia development. Photo: Henrik Bohn Ipsen Edit: Lars Bo Kimergård Sound: Jens de Place Bjørn. See Full credit list incl. music 10 FRANCS (Guy Knafo), 28 Rue de L'Équerre, 75019 Paris, France Tel: +33 (0) 1 4874 4377, Fax: +33 (0) 1 4874 8265, 10francs@10francs.fr, www.10francs.fr
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