See Portugal

Since verão is just around the bend, I thought that I would post a film I made last summer about the beautiful city. I shot this film in the course of about three weeks, imagining that the camera would expose what I saw as I wandered around Lisbon.

A few things happened, one, I noticed that the sounds for me became the most interesting, from the lazy, quietness of the neighborhoods, to the creaking boats as they drag people back along the river. Second, I became almost obsessed with the trip up the Ascensor (not Elevador da Gloria, the one on the opposite side of Av. Liberdade) and in particular, a little anonymous old man, who everyone who has seen the film asks me about. I don’t know who he is, but it is certain that he is a great man.

The music at the end is just as much a snapshot of last summer as the film has become. The song, “Onça” by Ricardo Candety, was performed with me for the first, and really only time that day, filmed on the spot with no real rehearsal. Ricardo is an artist from Guinea-Bissau, who plays his music from his window looking out at the city, and anyone who has heard him sing knows that he is special. I will always be proud to know that he was a friend of mine.

I hope you enjoy the film, Verão na Cidade. I am no filmmaker, but I did make this film, and it did capture the beauty of Lisbon, in its extremely personal, rhythmical, and charming character.