The Absence that Moves us

By Christiane Jatahy
Video-installation/Film/Performance

SÃO LUIZ MUNICIPAL THEATRE
24th November
Saturday, from 5.30pm to 6.30am (duration: 13hrs)
Bernardo Sassetti Room
Free movement is permitted during the presentation. The bar will be in service.

The Absence that Moves us is a production that develops and unfolds over the course of time. It began in 2004 with a study for the creation of a stage play in which reality and fiction mix in an inextricable way. A play that talks of memories, of family absences, of the inseparable relationships between individual stories and the political situation of the country. The exhibition of the generation that grew up in the period of the Brazilian military dictatorship. The play debuted in 2005, and over the course of three years was performed at numerous Brazilian festivals and various festivals in Europe. In 2008, the study and the powerful encounter between the participating artists still left much to be explored. This gave rise to a new stage for an even more radical immersion to produce a film that bridged the study of theatre language and film with even stronger tension between reality and fiction. Among the ten conditions established for filming was the decision that the film would be recorded by three hand-held cameras, without cuts, in long continuous shots that would last the whole night. Christmas Eve 2008. On that night, fiction, documentary and making of, were mixed together in 13 continuous hours of filming, uninterrupted, accentuating the relationships between the actors in a surprising way. The film was edited and shown with great success in Brazilian cinemas and at international festivals.
In 2011, a cinematographic installation was created with the raw footage from filming. On three cinema screens the public watched the 13 continuous hours with everything that happened on the night of filming. The projection began at the same time that filming began, 5.30pm, and continued until 6.30 in the morning. Film, happening and party are combined in an explosive and exciting way involving the public and the film, like a live performance.

Space: Marcelo Lipiani, Christiane Jatahy; Lighting and art director: Thomas Walgrave; Video preparation: Mari Becker; Video system: Julio Parente; Video operator: Felipe Norkus; Producer and tour manager: Henrique Mariano