Super Natural

It starts with two voices in the dark, although they’re hardly voices, more electronic squelching noises darting back and forth across the soundtrack, their messages subtitled, gently directing us through the film. They speak to each another with such tenderness that they could be in love, although the overlapping “yous”, “Is” and “wes” they keep repeating could also be aimed at those all around them, whether those who later take to the screen or those sitting in the auditorium watching it; guided meditation, like cinema, is a collective experience, something for everybody. Bodies of all kinds duly appear before the camera, filmed with the same tenderness and in so many shifting, shimmering textures: young performers with and without disabilities, filigree crabs and shrimps, drawings of birds, a singing mermaid princess and scuttling plastic insects. These myriad bodies are impossible to separate from the landscape they find themselves in, the waters, rocks and mountains of Madeira, its plants, flowers and fruits, an island as a body full of bodies that are full of bodies in turn; such effortless elimination of boundaries is indeed supernatural. Hug me baby, don’t let me fall.
by Jorge Jácome
with Alexis Fernandes, Bárbara Matos, Bernardo Graça, Celestine Ngantonga Ndzana, Diogo Freitas, Isabel Gomes Teixeira, Joana Caetano, Maria João Pereira, Mariana Tembe, Milton Branco
Portugal 2022 English, Portuguese 85’ Colour Documentary form

With

  • Alexis Fernandes
  • Bárbara Matos
  • Bernardo Graça
  • Celestine Ngantonga Ndzana
  • Diogo Freitas
  • Isabel Gomes Teixeira
  • Joana Caetano
  • Maria João Pereira
  • Mariana Tembe
  • Milton Branco

Crew

Director Jorge Jácome
Written by André e. Teodósio, Jorge Jácome, José Maria Vieira Mendes
Cinematography Marta Simões
Editing Jorge Jácome
Sound Design António Porém Pires
Music Raw Forest, Violet
Sound Shugo Tekina
Production Design André e. Teodósio
Producers Pandora da Cunha Telles, Pablo Iraola
Co-Producers Henrique Amoedo, Daniela Ribeiro
Co-Production Dançando com a Diferença Funchal, Portugal
Teatro Praga Lissabon, Portugal

Jorge Jácome

Born in 1988 in Portugal. Since studying film, he has made a number of short films since 2013 that have been shown and awarded prizes at international festivals and exhibitions. Past Perfect screened at the Berlinale in 2019. Super Natural is his first feature-length work as a director.

Filmography (short films)

2013 Plutão; 30 min. 2015 A GUEST + A HOST = A GHOST; 16 min. 2016 Fiesta Forever; 21 min. 2017 Flores; 26 min. 2019 Past Perfect; 23 min. 2022 Super Natural; 85 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2022