Our Lady Who Burns / Nossa Senhora Que Queima, 2024
16mm video, sound, colour, 8'
Portugal’s Serra da Gardunha is a mountain known for the paranormal. Where before it was revered as a site of saintly apparitions, nowadays it is known for mysterious light sightings, with rumours of a UFO hangar hidden inside it. Atmospheric and dream-like, Our Lady Who Burns guides us through this mountain and an intergenerational lore of infatuations. In parallel, two friends lament the pregnancy of their old cat, speculating on whether the mystical energy of the mountain might be able to interrupt its gestation.
Shot on 16mm with an small and intimate crew, Our Lady Who Burns is a voyage through the biographical landscape of the director, for whom the presence of the otherworldly, the geology of the territory, and a biography of unwanted bodily gestation are expressed through acts of cinematic apparitions. - Text by Foi Bonita a Festa
Written and Directed by Alice dos Reis
Sound Design and Mixing by Marcelo Tavares
Producer Cristiana Forte
Produced by Foi Bonita a Festa
With the support of Botín Foundation