“Territorio plantea dos temas relacionados con la masculinidad: la paternidad y el poder. Crecí en una sociedad que normalizó el machismo, la hostilidad y la violencia. En una época en que es imprescindible redefinir al género, esta película exhibe los vicios e inseguridades del hombre hasta vulnerarlo y confrontarlo con su oscuridad.” – Andrés Clariond Rangel
«Este proyecto que nació de un encargo (en este caso, de filmar un programa de mejoras en escuelas primarias de México) da como resultado un producto muy original y completamente alejado, uno imagina, del encargo en cuestión. Se trata de un mediometraje que, en una combinación que recuerda al mejor cine iraní, mezcla historias reales con inventadas a partir del trabajo con niños en el que se combinan, también, el documental con la ficción que ellos mismos inventan. Con la colaboración del escritor Mario Bellatín (quien actúa en el film y presta el título de la película de una historia suya), Pereda y su actor-fetiche convertido en codirector van llevando este film hacia un lugar en el que la imaginación de un chico encerrado por un supuesto problema sanitario se impone por sobre el registro documental aportando un giro dramático y tonal fascinante e inesperado.»
–Diego Lerer; Micropsia
“Costa’s fifth journey into the shantytown Fontainhas outside of Lisbon, once again showcases Costa’s masterful ability to mine cinematic poetry from a unique environment and the mournful figures who wander through its murky depths.”
– Eric Kohn: Indiwire
“Prodigal “dense” from Pedro Costa (…) One of the most corageous, obsessive and groundbreaking films in contemporary history (…) A cinematic miracle, with the certainty of light.”
– Luis Martínez: Diario El Mundo
“A dark and intransigent ode (…) Vitalina tells her story without considering the expectations of those who hear (or see her) and establishes her own laws.”
– Giorgia del Don: Cineuropa
“A hightening experience, in a mor ludic and pleassurable sense rather than religious.”
– Philip Engel: Diario El Mundo
“Bruno Dumont says goodbye to his Joanne of Arch, consolidating himself, once again, as one of the most unique filmmakers of our time (…) as some sort of miracle.”
– Victor Esquirol: FilmAffinity
“Bruno dumont, who has gone through many genres in which a relevant aspect, religion, is always important, falls under its atractive and, as always, he puts his personal mark, making this story something different, something exceptional.”
– Josefina Satora: Otroscines
“Laxe uses weather and color as to suggest a transformation just before complete bitterness, and he expresses, amongst all, a question that goes beyond gilt and resides in the misteries of identity”
– Alonso Díaz de la Vega: El Universal
“Few recent movies have such an amazing begining (…) It is Oliver Laxe’s talent (…) a contemplative cinema, but never redundant. Precise in every sequence, with no self-complacent intentions.”
– Javier Ocaña: Diario El País
«Analiza tanto la naturaleza como la naturaleza humana con la misma fascinación (…) Laxe realiza un estudio de un ecosistema que mantiene un equilibrio frágil y lánguido hasta que interviene un imprudente impulso humano.»
“Oliver Laxe’s third feature studies nature and human nature with equal fascination (…) it’s an aptly democratic study of an ecosystem that exists in languid, fragile balance until reckless human impulse intervenes.”
– Guy Lodge: Variety
“Laxe uses weather and color as to suggest a transformation just before complete bitterness, and he expresses, amongst all, a question that goes beyond gilt and resides in the misteries of identity”
– Alonso Díaz de la Vega: El Universal
“Few recent movies have such an amazing begining (…) It is Oliver Laxe’s talent (…) a contemplative cinema, but never redundant. Precise in every sequence, with no self-complacent intentions.”
– Javier Ocaña: Diario El País
«Analiza tanto la naturaleza como la naturaleza humana con la misma fascinación (…) Laxe realiza un estudio de un ecosistema que mantiene un equilibrio frágil y lánguido hasta que interviene un imprudente impulso humano.»
“Oliver Laxe’s third feature studies nature and human nature with equal fascination (…) it’s an aptly democratic study of an ecosystem that exists in languid, fragile balance until reckless human impulse intervenes.”
– Guy Lodge: Variety
“Laxe uses weather and color as to suggest a transformation just before complete bitterness, and he expresses, amongst all, a question that goes beyond gilt and resides in the misteries of identity”
– Alonso Díaz de la Vega: El Universal
“Few recent movies have such an amazing begining (…) It is Oliver Laxe’s talent (…) a contemplative cinema, but never redundant. Precise in every sequence, with no self-complacent intentions.”
– Javier Ocaña: Diario El País
«Analiza tanto la naturaleza como la naturaleza humana con la misma fascinación (…) Laxe realiza un estudio de un ecosistema que mantiene un equilibrio frágil y lánguido hasta que interviene un imprudente impulso humano.»
“Oliver Laxe’s third feature studies nature and human nature with equal fascination (…) it’s an aptly democratic study of an ecosystem that exists in languid, fragile balance until reckless human impulse intervenes.”
– Guy Lodge: Variety
“Laxe uses weather and color as to suggest a transformation just before complete bitterness, and he expresses, amongst all, a question that goes beyond gilt and resides in the misteries of identity”
– Alonso Díaz de la Vega: El Universal
“Few recent movies have such an amazing begining (…) It is Oliver Laxe’s talent (…) a contemplative cinema, but never redundant. Precise in every sequence, with no self-complacent intentions.”
– Javier Ocaña: Diario El País
«Analiza tanto la naturaleza como la naturaleza humana con la misma fascinación (…) Laxe realiza un estudio de un ecosistema que mantiene un equilibrio frágil y lánguido hasta que interviene un imprudente impulso humano.»
“Oliver Laxe’s third feature studies nature and human nature with equal fascination (…) it’s an aptly democratic study of an ecosystem that exists in languid, fragile balance until reckless human impulse intervenes.”
– Guy Lodge: Variety
“Laxe uses weather and color as to suggest a transformation just before complete bitterness, and he expresses, amongst all, a question that goes beyond gilt and resides in the misteries of identity”
– Alonso Díaz de la Vega: El Universal
“Few recent movies have such an amazing begining (…) It is Oliver Laxe’s talent (…) a contemplative cinema, but never redundant. Precise in every sequence, with no self-complacent intentions.”
– Javier Ocaña: Diario El País
«Analiza tanto la naturaleza como la naturaleza humana con la misma fascinación (…) Laxe realiza un estudio de un ecosistema que mantiene un equilibrio frágil y lánguido hasta que interviene un imprudente impulso humano.»
“Oliver Laxe’s third feature studies nature and human nature with equal fascination (…) it’s an aptly democratic study of an ecosystem that exists in languid, fragile balance until reckless human impulse intervenes.”
– Guy Lodge: Variety
“Laxe uses weather and color as to suggest a transformation just before complete bitterness, and he expresses, amongst all, a question that goes beyond gilt and resides in the misteries of identity”
– Alonso Díaz de la Vega: El Universal
“Few recent movies have such an amazing begining (…) It is Oliver Laxe’s talent (…) a contemplative cinema, but never redundant. Precise in every sequence, with no self-complacent intentions.”
– Javier Ocaña: Diario El País
«Analiza tanto la naturaleza como la naturaleza humana con la misma fascinación (…) Laxe realiza un estudio de un ecosistema que mantiene un equilibrio frágil y lánguido hasta que interviene un imprudente impulso humano.»
“Oliver Laxe’s third feature studies nature and human nature with equal fascination (…) it’s an aptly democratic study of an ecosystem that exists in languid, fragile balance until reckless human impulse intervenes.”
– Guy Lodge: Variety
“Laxe uses weather and color as to suggest a transformation just before complete bitterness, and he expresses, amongst all, a question that goes beyond gilt and resides in the misteries of identity”
– Alonso Díaz de la Vega: El Universal
“Few recent movies have such an amazing begining (…) It is Oliver Laxe’s talent (…) a contemplative cinema, but never redundant. Precise in every sequence, with no self-complacent intentions.”
– Javier Ocaña: Diario El País
«Analiza tanto la naturaleza como la naturaleza humana con la misma fascinación (…) Laxe realiza un estudio de un ecosistema que mantiene un equilibrio frágil y lánguido hasta que interviene un imprudente impulso humano.»
“Oliver Laxe’s third feature studies nature and human nature with equal fascination (…) it’s an aptly democratic study of an ecosystem that exists in languid, fragile balance until reckless human impulse intervenes.”
– Guy Lodge: Variety
“Laxe uses weather and color as to suggest a transformation just before complete bitterness, and he expresses, amongst all, a question that goes beyond gilt and resides in the misteries of identity”
– Alonso Díaz de la Vega: El Universal
“Few recent movies have such an amazing begining (…) It is Oliver Laxe’s talent (…) a contemplative cinema, but never redundant. Precise in every sequence, with no self-complacent intentions.”
– Javier Ocaña: Diario El País
«Analiza tanto la naturaleza como la naturaleza humana con la misma fascinación (…) Laxe realiza un estudio de un ecosistema que mantiene un equilibrio frágil y lánguido hasta que interviene un imprudente impulso humano.»
“Oliver Laxe’s third feature studies nature and human nature with equal fascination (…) it’s an aptly democratic study of an ecosystem that exists in languid, fragile balance until reckless human impulse intervenes.”
– Guy Lodge: Variety
In 1994, with a retro at the French Cinémathèque, I published a book entitled VARDA BY AGNÈS. 25 years later, the same title is given to my film made of moving images and words, with the same project: give keys about my body of work. I give my own keys, my thoughts, nothing pretentious, just keys.
The film is in two parts, two centuries.
The 20th century from my first feature film LA POINTE COURTE in 1954 to the last one in 1996, ONE HUNDRED AND ONE NIGHTS. In between, I made documentaries, features, short and long.
The second part starts in the 21st century, when the small digital cameras changed my approach to documentaries, from the GLEANERS AND I in 2000 to FACES PLACES, co-directed with JR in 2017. But during that time, I mostly created art installations, atypical triptychs, shacks of cinema and I kept making documentaries, such as THE BEACHES OF AGNÈS.
In the middle of the two parts, there is a little reminder about my first life as a photographer.
I’ve made a wide variety of films in my life. So I need to tell you what led me to do this work for so many years.
Three words are important to me: Inspiration, creation, sharing.
INSPIRATION is why you make a film. The motivations, ideas, circumstances and happenstance that spark a desire and you set to work to make a film.
CREATION is how you make the film. What means do you use? What structure? Alone or not alone? In colour or not in colour? Creation is a job.
The third word is SHARING. You don’t make films to watch them alone, you make films to show them. An empty cinema: a filmmaker’s nightmare!
People are at the heart of my work. Real people. That’s how I’ve always referred to the people I film in cities or the countryside.
When you film something, a place, a landscape, a group of people, even if the subject is specific, what you shot indicates your deepest project.
I like to bring together reality and its representation. But I also like to juxtapose moving images and still images, in video and in photography.
“Palestinian director Elia Suleiman continues to relish the minutiae and absurdities of daily life via vignettes of life at home and abroad.”
-Jay Weissberg: Variety
“Another love letter to Palestine from a modern Chaplin.”
– Deborah Yound: The Hollywood Reporter
“The absurdities and visual gags from It Must Be Heaven are the best ones in Suleimann’s path, which make this his better and must funny movie that makes a difference.”
– Kaleem Aftab: Cineropa
“A burlesque tale in which identity, nationality, and belonging are explored. Suleimann poses the question ‘Where can one feel at home?”
– EnFilme
“The talented rumanian filmmaker surprises (and convinces us) with his thriller noir which stands out from his previous filmography and from almost all of the cinema coming from his country.”
– Diego Lerer: Micropsiacine
“The pleasing perspective from Corneliu Porumboiu about grand theft movies has its own charm.”
– Eric Kohn: IndieWire
“Art house movie that stands out from many others within its genre.”
– Leslie Felperin: The Hollywood Reporter