Uma Conversa na Festa em Linha

24.06.2021

Foi anteontem publicada a conversa entre mim e o Rui Mota para o ciclo Conversas na Festa em Linha, com Autores Desalinhados, organizado pelas Edições Avante! e acessível aqui. Eis texto de apresentação da conversa preparado pela editora:

O Trabalho das Imagens: Estudos sobre Cinema e Marxismo é o livro que nos reúne hoje à conversa com Sérgio Dias Branco, acerca do seu trabalho de investigação sobre a estética das obras da imagem em movimento, nas suas relações com o marxismo. História e cinema, história do cinema, cinema emergente, identidade, são fios condutores de uma conversa que vem questionar as relações da arte com o processo histórico. Neste livro, Sérgio Dias Branco desenvolve uma linha de pensamento crítico que parte da obra de Marx para promover a explicação e a transformação do mundo em que vivemos, escapando ao idealismo do pensamento pós-moderno entranhado em muita da crítica cultural contemporânea.

Diasporas Studies Summer School

14.06.2021

I’m a member of the teaching team for the Diasporas Studies Summer School on the discourse and culture in the Portuguese Sephardic diaspora, taking place in July 2021 at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Coimbra. I’m presenting a talk titled “One Father, One God: On the Films of the Global Project Between the Jewish Community and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Porto” as part of the FID research network. More information about the event here.

Conversa sobre Cinco Dias, Cinco Noites em Vila Real

14.06.2021

Cinco Dias, Cinco Noites.

Amanhã estarei no Teatro de Vila Real para comentar Cinco Dias, Cinco Noites (1996) de José Fonseca e Costa, a partir da novela de Manuel Tiago (pseudónimo de Álvaro Cunhal), que será mostrado às 18h. A sessão integra as comemorações do Centenário do Partido Comunista Português (1921-2021), organizadas pela Direcção da Organização de Vila Real do PCP. Agradeço o convite que me foi dirigido já há algum tempo. A sessão esteve originalmente marcada para 9 de Março, mas teve de ser adiada devido às medidas de combate à epidemia entretanto implementadas.

The Economy of Fratricide

09.06.2021

Force of Evil.

The Working Class Studies Association 2021 Conference started on monday, the 7th, with the theme “Re-Placing Class”. This virtual conference is organized by the Working-Class Studies Association and the Center for Working Class Studies at Youngstown State University. Join us! More information here.

I present a paper today in a panel on class conflict in TV and film. It is called “The Economy of Fratricide: Class Relations and Political Filmmaking in Force of Evil (1948)”. Here is the abstract:

Force of Evil (1948), directed by later blacklisted filmmaker and screenwriter Abraham Polonsky and starring John Garfield and Thomas Gomez, remains of the most celebrated instances of American film noir. It tells the story of a lawyer, Joe Morse (Garfield), who works for a powerful gangster. The crime boss wants to control the lucrative numbers game in New York City. This means taking over the many small numbers rackets, one of which is run by Morse’s older brother Leo Morse (Gomez). The brothers have been corrupted by crime, they both live in the unlawful world, but only one of them will be indirectly responsible for the death of the other. Force of Evil has been acknowledged as a major influence on the crime films of directors such as Martin Scorsese. Yet surprisingly it has not been studied in detailed. This paper aims at doing just that. It puts the film in the context of the anti-Communist persecution in Hollywood of the 1940s and 1950s. At the same time, it also examines Force of Evil as a key example of political filmmaking. I argue that this work visually dissects the power dynamics of capitalism in the metropolis and offers a complex representation of class relations within a family. The plot alludes to the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, demonstrating a keen interest in religious narratives that are part of the collective imagination. The numbers game is a form of illegal lottery played mostly in poor and working-class neighbourhoods in the USA. These areas are contrasted with the rich, grand business district of the city.

O Prazer do Liberdade

09.06.2021

Prazer, Camaradas!.

Saiu hoje o meu texto crítico sobre o ousado e imaginativo Prazer, Camaradas! (2019) no jornal Avante! com o título “O Prazer do Liberdade”. Pode ser lido aqui.

Apresentação de Prazer, Camaradas! no CAE

07.06.2021

Porquê um 2.º Ciclo?

03.06.2021

Cinema, Aesthetics and Memory

02.06.2021


It stars today. You can follow and participate in the conference here.