Mariphasa

"We've got tonite. Who needs tomorrow?" A man at church, seated apart from the rest. A woman looking over her shoulder. The man’s face that carries injuries inside and out. Paulo’s daughter died in tragic circumstances. He no longer lives with her mother and works by night as a security guard on a building site. When his shift is over, he often spends the night at the home of his lover Luisa and her son Rui. He regards their unstable neighbour Felipe warily, who likes to go hunting; his dog just won’t stop barking. A knife. A burglary. A nightmare. A wolf’s head. Splinters of glass in dog food. Puzzling love affairs. First aid instructions.
Light and shadow alternate to reveal and obscure what’s actually happening. Places, people and actions seem almost to run together in the darkness of the night, as well as in the deliberately blurred images. Mariphasa may explore the limits of narration, yet the lingering allusions it makes are incredibly precise. The elegant, radical montage and atmospheric sound design create an almost indescribable tension whose beauty is brutal. "The things I feel do not feel like things I've felt before."
by Sandro Aguilar
with António Júlio Duarte, Albano Jerónimo, Isabel Abreu, Eduardo Aguilar, João Pedro Bénard, Cláudia Éfe, Luísa Cruz, Gonçalo Waddington
Portugal 2018 Portuguese 86’ Colour

With

  • António Júlio Duarte (Paulo)
  • Albano Jerónimo (Filipe)
  • Isabel Abreu (Luísa)
  • Eduardo Aguilar (Rui)
  • João Pedro Bénard (Nuno)
  • Cláudia Éfe (Bia)
  • Luísa Cruz (Teacher)
  • Gonçalo Waddington (Security)

Crew

Written and Directed by Sandro Aguilar
Cinematography Rui Xavier
Editing Sandro Aguilar
Sound Miguel Moraes Cabral
Production Design Nádia Henriques
Producers Luís Urbano, Sandro Aguilar

Sandro Aguilar

Born in Portugal in 1974. He studied Film in Lisbon. Following numerous short films and the feature film A zona, Mariphasa is his second feature film.

Filmography

1998 Estou perto close; 15 min. 2000 Sem Movimento (Motionless); 17 min. 2001 Corpo e meio (In Between); 25 min. 2002 Remains; 12 min. 2005 A Serpente (The Serpent); 15 min. 2007 Arquivo (Archive); 17 min. 2008 A zona (Uprise); 99 min. 2010 Voodoo; 30 min. · Mercúrio (Mercury); 18 min. 2012 Sinais de serenidade por coisas sem sentido (Signs of Stillness out of Meaningless Things); 28 min. 2013 Jewels; 18 min. · Dive: Approach and Exit; 12 min. 2014 False Twins; 21 min. 2015 Bunker; 30 min. · Undisclosed Recipents; 15 min. 2018 Mariphasa

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018