Conversation: Víctor Erice and Pedro Costa in conversation

Following the Portuguese premières of their new films at LEFFEST (Close Your Eyes, by Víctor Erice – 15th Nov., and The Daughters of Fire, by Pedro Costa – 16th Nov.) the two filmmakers will have a discussion about their craft.

Víctor Erice is one one of the greatest European directors, known for The Spirit of the Beehive (Golden Seashell at the film festival of San Sebastián, 1973), The South (1983) and Dream of Light / El Sol del Membrillo (Jury Prize, in Cannes 1992). LEFFEST organized a full retrospective of his work in 2009, in his presence. He was awarded a Golden Leopard for his career at Locarno Film Festival in 2014.

His latest film, Close Your Eyes, is his first feature for over 30 years, and was greeted with immediate acclaim at its premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival (meanwhile he had directed several shorts, some for museums, and Vidros Partidos, shot in Portugal for the project “Centro Histórico” in the context of Guimarães Capital Europeia da Cultura, in wich Pedro Costa, Manoel de Oliveira and Aki Kaurismaki directed the other segments).

Pedro Costa is a fundamental reference of contemporary cinema and is the most international Portuguese director. He started at the end of the 80s with Blood. Down to Earth (1994) is the beginning of his relationship with Cape Verde, followed by Ossos (1997), In Vanda’s Room (2000), Où gît votre sourire enfoui? (2001) with Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet [Godard referred to it as “The best film ever about cinema and editing”], Colossal Youth (2006), Ne Change rien (2009), Horse Money (2014) and Vitalina Varela (Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival in 2019). His latest short, The Daughters of Fire (2023), had its world premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival.