“A Esposa” (“The spouse”)
by Manuela Barile and Sergio Cruz
Experimental documentary film and sound installation
Sunday, December 9, 2012, 15:00
Former Sequeiros Primary School, São Pedro do Sul
Presentation to the community with which the work was conceived
Produced by Binaural / Nodar
Funded by the General Directorate of Arts
“A Esposa” (“The Spouse”) is an experimental documentary film that comes from a poetic reflection on the ancestral importance of marriage in the context of rural mountain communities, particularly the rites of passage of the day of the ceremony where the bride leaves the home where she was born and grown up towards an uncertain future where nothing will be as before. “A Esposa” was based on an investigation of multiple elements of intangible heritage connected to the theme of the wedding, developed in the village of Sequeiros (municipality of São Pedro do Sul), including first-person accounts of women who live in the village and whose voices appear in the film. The film ends with a traditional song recorded in the natural landscape of Manhouce with Isabel Silvestre and rural women.
Manuela Barile is an Italian artist who since 2006 lives and works in the rural area of Gralheira Mountain Range (S. Pedro do Sul, Portugal). She develops projects in close contact with local communities, taking into account the specifics of the territory as tradition, memory, symbols and rituals deposited on the ground as indelible marks. Her artwork combines sound and visual anthropology, documentary, video art, performance art and vocal performance, dealing with intimate issues like death, poverty, work, happiness, emigration, etc.. The art of Manuela Barile is an ongoing research on reality, on being in the world, on personal experiences. Using as a starting points her own existence and that of simple people, the work of Manuela Barile is able to transform individual experiences into a place of collective projection. As a vocal performer, in 2001 she embarked on a personal journey in the field of vocal experimentation applied to free improvisation. Her work is based on the use of “extended vocal techniques” focused on the relationship between voice, body, soundscape and acoustic properties of places. Manuela Barile is currently artistic director of Binaural/Nodar, a Portuguese cultural organization dedicated to the promotion of sound and intermediate arts in rural contexts. her films have been shown at several festivals: Australian International Experimental Film Festival, Cologne OFF, Optica, Videoholica, International Camden Film Festival (U.S.), etc..
Sérgio Cruz is a Portuguese filmmaker/artist who lives in London. Initially studied sound and image in Portugal and in the Netherlands. Later, with the aim of combining his interest in film, art and performance arts, he attended the Masters in Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins and “Dance for the Screen” at The Place, London Contemporary Dance School. Since then, his artistic practice has been devoted to film/video as a means to articulate aspects related to gesture, creating short films for this purpose which also relate to nature and humanity. Sergio Cruz won several awards including the Young Creators Arts & Ideas Club – video area, the FNAC New Talent award at the festival IndieLisboa, the best short film at the festival at Tom de Video 06, The Red Mansion Art Prize. His films have been shown internationally on television (eg as part of Three Minute Wonder series of the British Channel 4) and shown in film festivals and art galleries (including the group exhibition Figuring Landscapes at Tate Gallery, London and the individual exhibition at Claims Impulse Art gallery in Berlin).