Documentrary Film Screening: Fado and Canada Posted by João on 11:10 pm

We all know how the Portuguese are in Canada when it comes to community or communities - very tight, generally organised, although never free of all kinds of internal rift. Here in Portugal, Canadians are nowhere close to that. Why? Well we don't really have an organised community per say. We here at Canadians in Portugal, however, have been trying to change that, at least cyberly. Thinking that it would be nice to try to gather people, we have collaborated in putting together an event - the one below:   

Yes, on Tuesday, July 10th at 21:00 we are hosting the Documentary Film Screening Fado and Canada outdoors at the Quiosque do Melhor Bolo de Chocolate do Mundo smack dab in the middle of Avenida da Liberdade.

So what documentaries are these you ask? Well Os Três de Portugal (The Three of Portugal), a film by Vancouver-based filmmaker Jordan Paterson, tells the story of the fado trio going by the same name out of Vancouver. For 40 years Os Três de Portugal played and sang fado in BC's lower mainland. Quite the feat, there's no arguing that! The documentary sets out to reveal how these three Portuguese emigrant fadistas attempt to preserve the Portuguese national song in a new cultural context and to decipher what fado tradition mean for "The Three of Portugal" far from its land of origin.

Os Três de Portugal

The second documentary is one we've previously written about here on this blog. Regressa Urgente (Return Urgent) by João Sardinha (one of the two contributers of this blog) and António João Saraiva, captures the story of Marta Raposo, a Luso-Canadian fado singer who moved to Portugal in 2005 in the hopes of affirming herself as a fado singer in Portugal. Regressa Urgente catches up with Marta five years into her fado journey in Portugal, at a time when she was again preparing to return to Canada; a pivotal period that ended up triggering divided feelings of belonging, carrying with them doubts and regrets.

  Marta Raposo   

So these are our offerings. Hope to see some of you who follow this blog out on July 10th, and hey, in the end even if you don't like the docs., there'll always be the chocolate cake.  

Fado from its peripheries - Regressa Urgente / Return Urgent Posted by João on 11:03 am

As I mentioned before on this blog and on the Facebook page as well, as part of my research on Luso-descendant returnees, I recently put together a documentary with a colleague of mine by the name of António João Saraiva. After spending the Summer editing the film will Neel Naik of Ra Atelier, we are now ready to show the world the fruits of our labour and to show this little snippit of life taken from the journeys of Marta Raposo at a critical time in her life as a fadista (or fado singer) in the Portuguese world of fado.

That said, we kick off with the documentary's official launch which will take place on Friday, Dezember 9th at 9:00PM at the Fado Museum in Lisbon. We couldn't have asked for a better location and we thank the Fado Museum for having us for this one night.

As almost everybody knows by now, Fado is now on UNESCO's Intangible World Heritage list. The Portuguese music of fado has been reaching the four corners of the world of late. We are undoubtedly happy as well as lucky to be putting out our film at this time, riding the coat tales of fado's current success. Marta's story, however, is a little different from the stories often associated with fado, tied to Lisbon's traditional neighbourhouds such as Alfama and Bairro Alto. Marta's fado is peripheral in every sense of the word, and, above all, in her geographies (from the Margem Sul of Greater Lisbon or Lisbon's South Bank to her ancestral village to Montreal, land of emigration).

We started following Marta 5 years into her journey in Portugal, at a time when she was again preparing to return to Canada; a pivotal period that ended up triggering divided feelings of belonging, carrying with them doubts and regrets. The desire of wanting to succeed in the 'land of fado' was now to be left suspended, but the question that arises is why. We are inviting one and all who may be interested in this story to join us at the Fado Museum on Dezember 9th at 9:00PM. Seating is limited so we are doing a first come first serve. E-mail me at jmssardinha@gmail.com and we will put you on the list. Here's an invitation to all.

Regressa Urgente / Return Urgent Posted by João on 2:09 pm

About a year and a half ago I carried out an interview with Marta Raposo, a Portuguese-Canadian fado singer, for a project on the return to Portugal of Portuguese emigrant descendants. Marta's story and reflections on her return experience were very interesting, so much so that I decided to approach my fellow CEMRI, Universidade Aberta researcher and filmmaker António Saraiva (his works include: Gente de Fajãs, Orlando Ribeiro, among others) with the idea of filming Marta. After selling the idea on António, we appraoched Marta to see if she'd be interested in being films for a possible documentary, only to find out that she was contemplating another return, back to Montreal, Canada. This added a new twist to the story, one we definitely wanted to capture. We filmed Marta for nearly two months, leading up to her departure.

We are now happy to show the fruits of our labour in the form of Regressa Urgente (Return Urgente), a documentary on the the final days of a dream chasing emigrant descendant returnee in Portugal.

Here's the film's synopsis:

Marta Raposo emigrated to Montreal, Canada with her parents at the age of 9. Possessing an enormous passion for singing and the Portuguese language, at the age of 16 she initiated her musical career, becoming the lead singer of a Portuguese popular music group. Early on, however, Marta quickly discovered that her true musical love lied not in popular music, but instead, in the 'Portuguese national song' - fado. Thus, at the age 18, Marta stepped on stage at the Portuguese Club of Montreal to perform fado for the first time, never to look back. Since that performance - with every song, with every ovation, with every word of encouragement - her passion for the 'Portuguese national song' grew, as did her ambitions. As a result, in 2005, after 8 years of singing fado in Canada, Marta set out to accomplish a dream - to record and launch an album and make it in the world of fado in Portugal.

We catch up with Marta 5 years after her arrival in Portugal. After numerous adventures in the Portuguese fado world, including the launch of her first album in 2009, we follow her steps, observe her relationships and capture her last performances. We collect her thought, her doubts and regrets, exploring her sense of belonging and the reasons for once again emigrating, revealing that not even the strongest desires are enough to sustain this 'fadista' (fado singer) in the 'land of fado'.

And so now it's our goal to get the film out to as many people as we can. The first official showing will take place in Toronto at York University Wednesday, Oct. 12th at 17:00 (http://porcansymposium.eventbrite.com/). Future showings will be posted. Any questions, suggestions, or simply interested in finding out more, please let us know either here on the blog or on our facebook page.

Canadian music 2: Rush Posted by João on 12:27 am

Earlier this past week I watched the documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage directed by Toronto-based film-makers Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen. As heavy metal enthusiast (their previous films include: Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, Global Metal and Iron Maiden: Flight 666), in Beyond a Lighted Stage, Dunn and McFadyen look back at the 42-year history of what could arguably be considered Canada's all time biggest rock band - Rush.

Be it their progressive stylings of the 1970s or their more synth-heavy sounds of the 1980s, the truth I have never been a Rush fan. After watching Dunn and McFadyen's Beyond the Lighted Stage, however, I admit to possessing newly garnished respect for Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart (aka Rush). The film goes through the various musical life stages of the band using the commentary of fans as well as their fellow rock n'roll peers. It also delves into personal aspects of the band, with particular attention given to drummer Neil Peart's anti-rock star mannerisms and his family tragedies.

The film is flawless film-making, leaving no stone unturned on the life of Canada's biggest power-trio. Well worth a watch and listen.

Now while on the topic of documentary films, Lisbon's annual documentary film festival DocLisboa is currently running until October 24th. Here are a few Canadian themed / Canadian made movies you might want to check out:

Petropolis - Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands - as the title indicates, the film looks at the Alberta Tar Sands (the largest oil reserve in the world) from an overhead perspective;

Les Signes Vitaux (Vital Signs) - a film that questions perceptions of life and death by questioning what people really need during their last moments of life (the movie is set in Canada);

Le Souffle du Désert (Desert Wind) - during 15 days 13 men (including some from Quebec) go walking in the Tunisian desert with the aim of reflecting on their masculine identities.