Director · Screenwriter · Cinematographer · 1959

Pedro Costa

3: briefs
13:00: average
39 min: in total

On film.briefs3

Colossal Youth

Pedro Costa · 2006

Pedro Costa’s 2006 Colossal Youth is a DV-shot, static-take meditation on ageing, memory and displacement in Lisbon’s Fontainhas district. Starring non-professional Cape Verdean residents — especially the 75-year-old Ventura — it blends documentary observation with scripted recitation, refusing narrative clarity in favour of durational presence. Shot in high-contrast interiors and stark new housing blocks, it explores the aftermath of Portugal’s Carnation Revolution through quiet encounters, repeated phrases and sustained silences.

13:00

In Vanda's Room

Pedro Costa · 2000

Pedro Costa’s 2000 film In Vanda’s Room observes life in Lisbon’s Fontainhas shantytown over 170 minutes, using fixed digital shots to document Vanda Duarte and her community as their homes are demolished. Neither documentary nor fiction, it treats time, place and presence as primary materials — offering no exposition, no score, no narrative arc, only sustained attention to what remains when story is set aside.

13:00

Ossos

Pedro Costa · 1997

Pedro Costa’s 1997 debut Ossos observes life in Lisbon’s Fontainhas shanty district with austere, long-take precision. Set among residents of African descent living in precarious conditions, it follows Tina, a young mother in crisis; her unnamed partner; her sister Clotilde; and Eduarda, a woman who gradually assumes responsibility for the baby. There is little dialogue, no exposition, and no narrative resolution — only sustained attention to gesture, silence, and endurance. Emmanuel Machuel’s grainy, low-light cinematography and Jackie Bastide’s unhurried editing reinforce the film’s ethical commitment to presence over interpretation.