Radar XS Interview, December 2019

TSF

Rádio Notícias

Afonso de Sousa, Jornalist

Who Trips

Jornalismo de Viagens

O Espaço da Vivência

Pedro Henrique, Journalist | in Suplemento Ípsilon, Jornal Público, 2016

Best Animation Short – Porto Femme – International Film Festival

Portugal 2019

Film Competition – Cairo International Forum for Animation Films

Egypt 2018

Animation Prize – Uppsala International Short Film Festival

Sweden 2017

Short Films Oficial Section – Cinema Jove International Film Festival

Spain 2017

Best Portuguese Film – Monstra Lisboa Animated Film Festival

Portugal 2017

Tiger Award – International Film Festival Rotterdam

Netherlands 2017

Best Short Film – Caminhos do Cinema Português

Portugal 2016

António Gaio Award – Cinanima – International Animated Film Festival of Espinho

Portugal 2016

National Animation Prize – Casa da Animação

Portugal 2016

Grand Prize – Anima Mundi – International Animation Festival of Brazil

Brazil 2016

Portugal 2016

Animation Grand Prize – Curtas Vila do Conde International Film Festival

Portugal 2016

“an excellent animation (…) of a tragic character who is, after all, seeking his freedom.”

“ (…) an animation in black and white, with a sombre environment and powerful images, which plays with shadows and dimensions of an industrial imagery (…)”

(…) An animated film with the best achieved and constructed environment I have ever seen, with a surrealist but semi-tangible touch (…). I do not think I am even doing it justice by writing in such a casual way, bearing in mind that Vígil is so loaded and sombre. Besides the respect it imposes on me, I must mention that it is the first case of a 100 % successful mixture of digital techniques in Portugal. (…) We are the second person in the journey of a man who becomes an individual when he starts questioning himself and discovering that he is in the eye of a storm called “System”.

“(…) a story about discovering humanity and memory at an individual and collective level. (…) He walks into the dark (…) as walking into the unknown when one lives outside the norm. (…)”

“VÍGIL, the name of this short’s anti-hero which is also the title of the film, is a radical (…) whose semantic load refers us to the isotopy of vigilance and of vigil, of diligent control and of insomnious zeal. That first key, in a film that plays with false clues, is translated into the range of luminous environments which the drawing, in strictly black and white, reveals: luminescence of a searchlight, pursuit projector, and beam of internal light, all materialised by a putative dust cloud suspended in the air, etc.

In fact, before revealing itself as mise en abîme narrative, (…) VÍGIL is presented as a film that favours the composition of atmospheres and the chemistry of environments Working together for that primacy of surroundings are plastic ingredients inspired by several fields of imagery: ranging from that of Lang’s METROPOLIS architecture to the machinery of Chaplin’s MODERN TIMES, including Lucas’s robotisation of humans in THX 1138, and the grey and uniform multitudes of Gilliam’s BRAZIL; from Louise Bourgeois’ gigantic spider MAMAN to Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s prisons, and from René Magritte’s little men in bowler hats to the little fellow Charlie Chaplin swallowed up by the archetypal industrial machine.

VÍGIL’s plot is clearly inscribed in the context of a forced labour-like universe where everything produced, as seen in the paper towers stamped by armies of bureaucrats is branded with the sign of the labyrinth. A compound scenography unfolds itself, made up of sets of gears, passageways, stairs, railings, time clocks, pulleys, toothed wheels, pistons, pendulums, keys… (…) VÍGIL invites us to consider a concept of chronology and to reflect on a principle of cause and effect different from those that govern conventional narrative. The volte-face also breaks with the predictable. (…)The flesh of the narrative allows itself to crack up like the shell of the inhuman man is susceptible to splitting.

Last but not least (…) VÍGIL benefits from a sound/musical track rich in subtleties which is not limited to reinforcing or mitigating the strength of the emotions but endeavours to construct an acoustic space that is physically complementary to the film space.

“The first thing that I recognised is the sound. It’s spectacular. Wonderful attention to detail. The mechanical noises have a strange dreamy, spacious and airy quality.(…) Technically it is perfect. The aesthetics are great, the cut, the camera and the perspectives are perfect as well. The pace that it develops too is very appropriate. The timing is perfect and the length too. How light and shadow reveal the gears and mechanics, especially in the spider is very well done.

The film itself is very arty, disturbing and intense. (…) It’s a very strange, hermetic masterpiece that leaves one with many questions and interpretations. Altogether the aesthetics, the story and the sound make it a definitely outstanding and memorable experience.”

In the summer of 2011 Modo Imago participated in the Wallpaper Costum Cover event, with the manufacture of a cover for the magazine, based on a original design. This event gave rise to an exhibition that toured various parts of the world.