Living Normally

Experimental Short Film

This project is completed, release date TBC. Made as a part of the Canal180 Creative Lab 2024.

Directors Statement

Using this quote from Daniel Melo’s ‘Living Normally’: Everyday Life Under Salazarism as a starting point:

“One of [Salazar’s] most striking contributions was his advocacy of ‘living normally’, that is, people should live exclusively by preserving and reproducing the shared habits and values handed down by previous generations, now ‘contaminated’ by official intervention, social alternatives and mass culture.”

I wanted to draw inspiration from this national history of Portugal and the story of the VIC Aveiro Arts House. The film explores the idea of public oppression in all of its mundane reality; living a constrained, conformative life in the light and only feeling free to truly emote in the shadows.

Screenings

22nd June 2024: VIC // Aveiro Arts House.

Details

2024
Runtime: 5min 15sec
Sound Mix: Stereo
Format: HD
Aspect Ratio: 1:1.78 (16:9)
Country of production: Portugal, UK

Cast: Alexandre Gutta, two girls, Sam Brewster, Liliana Caetano, Ania Vouloudi, Nikos Goudas, Fiona Rennie, Balcony people

Crew:  Written & Directed by Sam Brewster, Produced by Canal180 (Beatriz Lobo, Joaquín Mora, Luís P. Fernandes) with the cooperation of VIC Averio Arts House (Hugo Branco).