Picking Oranges/Apanhar Laranjas
de Sílvia Fadas
EUA, 2012, 1’41,
Experimental, 16mm, Sound/Color
I have told them I would pick oranges in California after having seen The Grapes of Wrath at the Cinematheque.
Square Dance, Los Angeles County, California, 2013
de Sílvia das Fadas
EUA, 2013, 9'
Documentary, 16mm, Som/Cor
One day, while carrying some printed photographs by Russell Lee (from the Farm Security Administration series), someone asked me about the film—the film they assumed these images belonged to.
I replied that there was no film, that the images weren’t mine.
But this question became an obsession, a ritornello.
What film could be contained within those photographs discarded by their author? What was their context, the fragment of reality captured in those people as they enjoyed a moment of leisure? What rhythm were they dancing to? Were they listening to romantic songs, political songs? What was the relationship and tension between them? How did the shirt get torn? What was that expectation in their expressions?
And why did they awaken in me such a strong desire for a narrative, even if only a fragmented one?
The House is Yet to be Built
de Sílvia das Fadas
Portugal, EUA, Austria, 2015/2018, 35'
Documentary, 16mm, Sound/Colorr
A journey through places that challenge the surface of the world. In order of appearance: an ideal palace built by a postman after his daily rounds; a red house designed by a socialist agitator; a pacifist tower erected against the tide of history; a lush garden envisioned through a feminine lens; and a joyful cemetery, conjuring a community of equals at the edges of Europe.
So that joy may be dared by those who act in their own time.