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30 Jan – 9 Feb 2025

Paulo Rocha

After studying filmmaking in Paris, Paolo ROCHA (1935, Portugal) worked as an assistant to Jean Renoir on The Elusive Corporal (1961). He made his first film Os verdes anos in 1963. Rocha became one of the main exponents of the Portuguese nouvelle vague of the 1960s. The filmmaker lived in Japan for several years and many of his later films were influenced by this experience. His first big production in colour, the Japanese-Portuguese co-production A ilha des amores was screened at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Rocha made many internationally renowned short films, feature films and documentaries. He passed away in 2012.

Filmography

(selection) Os verdes anos (1963), Mudar de vida (1965), A pousada das chagas (1971), A ilha dos amores (1983), O Desejado (1986), Mascara de ferro contra abismo azul (1989), Oliveira, o arquitecto (1992), Imamura, o livre pensador (1995), O rio do ouro (1998), Camoes − Tanta guerra, tanto engado (1998), A raiz do coraçao (2000), As sereias (2000), Vanitas (2004), Se eu fosse ladrão, roubava (2011)

Paulo Rocha at IFFR

  • As sereias

    What does this firework spectacle in Porto mean? A fresh start? An apocalypse?

    • main programme short
  • A ilha dos amores

    Ode to all the major Portuguese authors who lived in Asia and enriched Portuguese culture, including Wenceslau de Moraes.