If the interpreter is a (de)constructor of myths, cinema helps to (de)construct the myths that are generated around the interpreter. There have been several debates over the last two centuries which have brought into discussion the symbolic, mythical, linguistic, and phenomenological dimensions of the relationship which the human species establishes with itself and with the world. In this field, what modernity understands as art has played a fundamental role not only in fueling these debates, but also as fertile ground for these dimensions to continue to set the pace of the species’ journey.

The performer is incarnated as an agent of the mythical sphere, in whose hands an alchemy of the material (musical as well as dramatic) is effected in the production of meanings. But it is also, in certain cases, in the perception of his own existence as a person that a transmutation occurs: it is the performer himself who becomes confused with the myth, his name synonymous with the aura he evokes.

Our intention in this cycle, then, is to consider, on the one hand, examples of how the myth surrounding the performer himself (Glenn Gould and David Helfgott) is (de)constructed cinematographically, in 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould, by François Girard and Shine, by Scott Hicks, and, on the other hand, representations of the mythical construction carried out by the performer in his métier, in the documentary Becoming Traviata, by Philippe Béziat, and in the film Cold War, by Paweł Pawlikowski.

Ricardo Pereira – 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould, François Girard, 1993

15 March, 18:30h | CAN – Colégio Almada Negreitos

Nicholas McNair – Shine, Scott Hicks, 1996

13 April, 18:30h | FCSH

Teresa Projecto – Becoming Traviata, Philippe Béziat, 2012

16 May, 19:00h | FBAUL

Luís Bastos – Cold War – Guerra Fria, Paweł Pawlikowski, 2018

9 June, 19:00h | Cossoul