Acácio

Between 1918 and 2008, the visual artists Acácio Videira and Maria da Conceiçao lived on three continents. After a childhood in Vila Real in Portugal, they emigrated to Angola. After the Angolan war of independence in 1975, they no longer felt welcome there and left for Brazil.
Marília Rocha records the history of the couple from their marriage until the death of Videira in 2008. She used the work and the photos and films that Videira made in his life. At the start of the period of more than two years she worked on the film, Videira was groggy and forgetful, but he gradually picked up steam and and provided several anecdotes.
Acácio is a cinematographic patchwork quilt of the past of Videira and his wife. Rocha, who previously made an experimental documentary about Brazilian ‘cowboys’, was never planning to make a biography. She was interested in making a link between the three countries and their inhabitants and reflecting on colonial relations, life as an expat, the war of independence and memory.
The fact that Videira is no longer completely lucid makes the film occasionally painful to watch. Hence it is even more moving when he recognises an Angolan who felt treated as a son by him. Acácio was produced by the Brazilian film collective Teia, of which Rocha is one of the founders. (GT)