Alis Ubbo
Paulo Abreu
2018 - 64 min - Vidéo Full HD - Couleur - Portugal

English summary
Director’s Note Alis Ubbo (safe harbour in Phoenician) came to me as a movie idea, when I was doing cameraman work for a video about the architect Carrilho da Graça. This video would be used to accompany an exhibition in São Paulo. With the tourism massificacion the city was changing with some important architectural transformation and other changes in daily life.
It inspired me to start capturing images of the city. Also, as a resident of Lisbon, I felt a need to register what was happening to my city, since these changes were also affecting my life. I decided to film once a week and started doing it from the beginning of 2016 until the beginning of October 2018. I also decided that I would only use a 70-300mm zoom lens during almost the entire movie (with only exception for the tuk-tuk scenes) because I wanted to be in the role of observer / voyeur. I could be at same time away from the action physically, but visually close, could capture images without giving in the sights, architectural details, works, the behaviour of people without anyone seeing me, thus achieving a huge naturalness in the events that the camera was recording.
I have as obvious references the films about cities such as "Porto, Faina Fluvial" by Manoel de Oliveira, "Berlin, symphony of a city" by Walter Ruttmann, "Man with a movie camera" by Dziga Vertov, "A propos de Nice" by Jean Vigo. "Lisbon, anecdotal chronicle" by Leitao de Barros but also "Playtime by Jacques Tati.
In those two years significant changes took place. The city and Lisbon city people’s life become, little by little, almost as a theme park for tourists. What interested me most, apart from the recording of changes and works, was the observation of human behaviour, a bit like Jacques Tati did in an excellent way. The film often comments with irony on the action, adding small sound elements like a radio program, the audio guides for tourists, or even the songs composed by Sérgio Pelagio and Vitor Rua. In the background the criticism comes through satire or pure observation. I did not want to make a pamphlet against gentrification, (besides some already exist) and it would not be the most interesting way to address an issue that is so much discussed today.
I added to the images of Lisbon a tuk-tuk driver: the actor / perfomer João Patricio who actually conducts a tuk-tuk in his real life and thanks to his history enriches his tours with stories of Lisbon. He is a kind of cicerone that is commenting with historical curiosities what we are seeing, but on the other hand he himself is watching, incredulous at the speed of the transformation of Lisbon. This character also symbolizes our inability to react to the voracity of global tourism.



Auteur-Réalisateur : Paulo Abreu
Image : Paulo Abreu
Son : Sérgio Gregorio
Montage : Paulo Abreu
Producteur délégué : Bando à Parte
Coproducteur : Daltonic Brothers, Paulo Abreu

Distribution


Distributeur : Bando à Parte
Disponible au Club du doc

Distinctions

2018 - Doclisboa - Festival Internacional de Cinema Documental, Lisbonne (Portugal) : Sélection