DRCLAS Film Series: The Dead and the Others by Renée Nader Messora and João Salaviza

Date: 

Thursday, February 18, 2021, 6:00pm to 7:00pm


Speakers: Renée Nader Messora, Filmmaker; and João Salaviza, Filmmaker
Moderated by: Ana Laura Malmaceda, PhD student in Romance Languages, Harvard University

A conversation with filmmaker Renée Nader Messora and João Salaviza on their latest feature-length film, The Dead and the Others (Chuva é Cantoria na Aldeia dos Mortos). The movie will be offered for free through streaming two days before the event to pre-registered participants. This event is part of the DRCLAS Film Series The Present of Yesterday, curated by graduate students Rodrigo Del Rio and Ignacio Azcueta.

Renée Nader Messora was born in S. Paulo in 1979. She is a graduate in Cinematography from the Universidad del Cine – Buenos Aires. For fifteen years she worked as an assistant director in Brazil, Argentina and Portugal. In 2009 Renée Nader Messora met the Krahô indigenous people. Since then, she has been working with the community, participating in the mobilization of a local collective of Krahô filmmakers. Their work is focused in the use of cinema as a tool for self-determination and the strengthening of cultural identity. THE DEAD AND THE OTHERS (co-directed with João Salaviza) is her debut as a director. The film premiered at the Festival de Cannes 2018 and it was awarded with the Special Jury Prize – Un Certain Regard. The film was released in several countries, reaching 50.000 spectators in France.

João Salaviza was born in Lisbon, 1984. Nowadays he lives between Portugal and Brazil. He graduated from the Portuguese Film and Theater School (ESTC) and Universidad del Cine Buenos Aires. His most recent feature THE DEAD AND THE OTHERS (co-directed with Renée Nader Messora) premiered at the Festival de Cannes 2018 and it was awarded with the Special Jury Prize – Un Certain Regard. The film was released in several countries, reaching 50.000 spectators in France. His feature debut MOUNTAIN (2015) premiered at the Venice Film Festival – Critics Week. It came on the heels of the internationally award-winning short films RAFA (Golden Bear – Berlinale 2012) and ARENA (Palme d’Or Short Film – Festival de Cannes 2009). His most recent short films have world premiered at the Berlinale: HIGH CITIES OF BONE (2017) and RUSSA (2018). The films of João Salaviza have been shown in the most prestigious international film festivals and in venues as Centre Pompidou, La Biennale di Venezia of Architecture, Malba Buenos Aires, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Barbican Centre, Tabakalera, Casa de America Madrid among others.

Ana Laura Malmaceda is a writer and PhD student in Romance Languages at Harvard University, where she studies ecological thinking. She holds a master’s degree in Brazilian Studies at the University of Lisbon (2017).