The Ornithologist

press release:

Portugal, France, Brazil | 2016 | DCP | 117 min. | Portuguese with English subtitles

Director: João Pedro Rodrigues

Cast: Paul Hamy, Chan Suan, João Pedro Rodrigues

When his kayak capsizes during an expedition, an ornithologist finds himself stranded in the lush forests of northern Portugal. Through a series of increasingly bizarre encounters in the wilderness, his struggle to survive morphs into a psychedelic vision quest. Drawing inspiration from the story of Saint Anthony of Lisbon, Rodrigues crafts a subversive, erotic, and wholly unpredictable odyssey, ravishingly photographed and entrancingly enigmatic.

Three from LACIS: In February and March our annual series co-sponsored by the UW’s department of Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies will represent all three regions with two great new movies and a restoration of an established masterpiece. From Brazil, the luminous Sonia Braga stars in the controversial Aquarius. Portugal’s emerging master (and LACIS series veteran) João Pedro Rodrigues has returned with the highly regarded The Ornithologist. The series ends with a new 4K restoration of Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s much-heralded 1968 classic Memories of Underdevelopment. Special thanks to our colleagues at UW LACIS: Sarah Ripp, Alberto Vargas, Sarah Wells.

All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.