Parts from ‘No Quarto da Vanda’

To make the film No Quarto da Vanda, Pedro Costa followed the life of drug addict Vanda Duarte with a digital camera for a whole year. The film is primarily set in Vanda’s room, where she receives her friends and family and where she eats, deals, and shoots up. At the same time it presents the alternative, harsh life in the Fontaínhas neighborhood, an area of Lisbon where many immigrants live, and where Vanda’s room is located. One of the characters in the film says: “Life has shown me nothing but contempt. Living in ghost houses other people left empty. I’ve lived in houses not even a witch would live in! But I’ve been in houses that were worth it. … I’ve paid more for the things I didn’t do than for the things I did do.” Witte de With will be showing a selection of rushes newly compiled by Costa.

Pedro Costa’s films radically focus on life beyond the margins of society. Nonetheless they allow the dim light of tragedy to turn into radiance when it comes to the dignity and beauty of Costa’s characters. Within a carefully chosen mise en scène and stark lighting he reveals a so-called “Forth World,” where isolation and hopelessness are the only bridge between the inhabitants.