Catalogue > Un extrait vidéo au hasard

A visual and soundscaped short ambience voyage through an utopian, ghost-like city-state. In this mid twentieth century imaginary Lisbon, the power plants continue to produce energy, brand new subway network locomotives’ engines hum in standby, city lights and neon signs come alive each night and radio receivers spread Salazar’s [Portuguese Dictator] speeches - yet, nowhere is to be found the slightest human presence: there isn’t anyone to see and hear this newcomer modernity’s heartbeat. Only statues and facades inhabit the metropolis. "CINZA" is a short film made entirely from photographs that depict Lisbon during the dictatorial regime installed in Portugal from 1926 until 1974. Their authors were Mário Novais, Horácio Novais and Casimiro dos Santos Vinagre, and the photographs now belong to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Art Library Archive.

Micael was born in 1974 and graduated in ‘Directing’ at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, in 2003, where he had already obtained his bachelor degree in ‘Editing’, in 1999. He is a partner at the production company Roughcut, where he’s been developing documental projects, television series, fiction and animation short films, being also responsible for the company’s post-production of several projects and works. He co-founded with David Gabriel, in 2012, the colective "Companhia do Inferno", which dedicates itself to the development and production of videoart projects and scriptwriting, under which he already directed several experimental videos. Since 2000, Micael works regularly as a freelance editor in advertising, television, fiction, documentary and music videos, and he worked with such directors as Bruno Ramos, João Nuno Pinto, Júlio Alves, Marco Martins, Miguel Coimbra, Miguel Seabra Lopes, Pedro Cláudio, Pedro Macedo, Pedro Sena Nunes, among others. He directed the television series "KmZero" which was aired on RTP2 (2007/2008), and co-directed the cultural magazine "Câmara Clara", which also aired on RTP2 (2008/2009). Recently, he co-directed the documental series “Tradições – Retalhos da Vida de um Povo”, produced by Roughcut and broadcasted by SIC Notícias (2013/2014). He produced, directed and animated the animation short film "Black Bug", which was one of the finalists of the ZON Awards Creativity in Multimedia (2011/2012). In collaboration with the performing arts, Micael directed the video for the theatre play “Old Times”, staged by Duval Pestana, for ONIMED, and directed the video for the performance “The Lusiads” by António Fonseca, which premiered at Guimarães – European Capital of Culture, in 2012, and was already presented in Lisbon, Coimbra, Almada and Brazil (2013/2014).