Country Portugal Running Time 102 mins Format 35 mm Director/ Screenplay Marco Martins Producer Paulo Branco DoP Carlos Lopes (Cácá)
Cast Nuno Lopes, Beatriz Batarda, Miguel Guilherme, Ana Bustorff, Laura Soveral Website http://www.madragoafilmes.pt/alice/
193 days have passed since Alice was last seen. Every day Mário, her father, devastated and in grief, leaves home to repeat exactly the same steps he took on the day Alice disappeared. We realise that this obsessive-repetitive behaviour is the only thing that keeps him going. We follow Mário’s tragic routine alongside the seemingly passive ennui of Lisbon’s crowds, in their daily commute to and from the city centre. Movement and routines are repeated, but always differently, bringing more questions to a puzzle that Mário tries to put together but which constantly crumbles. Bernardo Sassetti’s subtle music score sets the pace.
The daughter's name is symbolic, reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s homonymous tale. Alice disappeared into a parallel universe which Mário tries to recover with a profusion of cameras that dissect Lisbon round the clock. The city and its inhabitants become a blur of grainy images that are blown up, so that eventually they become a collection of mere abstract dots.
The film is also evocative of Nanni Moretti's The Son's Room, in its portrayal of personal grief. Alice offers no emotional escape route, but rather leaves us longing for the resolution of all the unanswered questions that are left hanging. ER
ALL ACCESS RAINDANCE FESTIVAL PASS
All screenings take place at the CineWorld, Trocadero Centre, Piccadilly, London W1
except Opening and Closing Night - CineWorld Haymarket
Access all areas:
- ticket to the Opening Night Gala screening of BROTHERS OF THE HEAD + the After Show Party (live music, and free booze)
- 80 of the best independent feature films
*150 short films (including animation, documentary and experimental strands)
- Q & A with film producers and
directors
- networking opportunities
- meet the people who decide what movies get made: Live Ammunition! (the super pitch event)
- exclusive tickets to Stanley Kubrick screenings and events
- four monster parties (Opening - Sept 27th, Sept 29th, October 3rd and Closing Night)
- ten industry panel seminars
- a FREE commemorative Raindance Festival Tee Shirt (while supplies last)
