Os vivos tambem choram
a film by Basil Da Cunha

Os vivos tambem choram

A film by Basil Da Cunha

  • 2012
  • Switzerland
  • 30 minutes
  • VO Portuguese – FR, DE, EN subtitles

50-year-old Ze is a dockworker in the port of Lisbon. He watches enviously the ships he will never board. He dreams of going away, of leaving his wife and the slum where they live together. For a while now, he has been saving money in secret to travel to Sweden. He knows which ship will take him and the day and time of his departure. He talks about it around him, especially to the Ukrainian – his mute colleague – the only one not to laugh out loud at his crazy ideas. But one night he gets home to discover that his wife found his savings and spent them on a brand new washing machine…

Os vivos tambem choram

A film by Basil Da Cunha

  • 2012
  • Switzerland
  • 30 minutes
  • VO Portuguese – FR, DE, EN subtitles

50-year-old Ze is a dockworker in the port of Lisbon. He watches enviously the ships he will never board. He dreams of going away, of leaving his wife and the slum where they live together. For a while now, he has been saving money in secret to travel to Sweden. He knows which ship will take him and the day and time of his departure. He talks about it around him, especially to the Ukrainian – his mute colleague – the only one not to laugh out loud at his crazy ideas. But one night he gets home to discover that his wife found his savings and spent them on a brand new washing machine…

AWARDS

Director’s Fortnight Cannes, Illy Prize

  • Jury Special mention

Curtas Vila do Conde

  • RTP2 Onda Curta Award 
  • Best film of the Portuguese Competition

Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur

  • Best Swiss Film

NexT International Short and Medium Length Film Festival

  • Next Trophy of the Best Short Film

Festival of Nations

  • Lensing Award in Silver

Max Fest : Max Cavallo Award

  • MAX CUT Award for the Best Editing

FESTIVALS

World Premiere : Director’s Fortnight

Curtas Vila do Conde
Festival International de Locarno
Festival international de court métrage de Sao Paulo
France Silhouette
Viennale
Festival Tous Écrans Genève
Torino Film Festival
Festival International du Court Métrage Winterthur
Festival international du court métrage d’Izmir Kisa
Centre PHI à Montreal, projection spéciale des courts-métrages récompensés à Cannes
Bambergen KurzfilmTage
Journées de Soleure
Clermond-Ferrand Festival International du Court-Métrage
Festival du Court-Métrage d’Akbank
Ecran Mobile Festival International du Court-Métrage de Genève
Festival Cine Uruguay, Cinemateca
Silence on Tourne
NexT IFF
Panazorean
Krakow Film Festival
Festival of Nations
FEST Film Festival
Sardinia IFF
Euganea Film Festival
Kinemastik Short Film Festival
Portobello Film Festival
Kaunas International Film Festival
Encounters Short Film And Animation Festival
Big Sur International Short Film
Max Cavallo Festival
IndieCork Film Fesival
Othermovie Luganon Film Festival
Cabo Verde International Film Festival
La Cabina

Cast & crew

With
José Pedro Gomes
Dorin Dragos
Carlos Marques
António Silva Moura
Vitor Cabral
Albertina Barbosa
Carlos Alberto Rodrigues dos Santos
Manuel Careca dos Santos
Antonio Chapinhas
Pedro Diniz
Carlos Baessa De Brito

Musicians
Amadeu Sousa
Vanessa Sousa
Jorge Mata

Written and directed by
Basil Da Cunha

Director of photography
Patrick Tresch

Sound
Filipe Tavares

Set
Francisco Garcia

Makeup
Sandra Fonseca

Production manager
Jérôme Bonzon

Location manager
Joana Cunha

Editing
Emilie Morier
Basil Da Cunha
Julien Rouyet

Sound editing and mixing
Philippe Ciompi

Production
Box Productions

In collaboration with
O som e a fùria

In coproduction with
RTS

Director’s bio

Basil Da Cunha was born on July 19th, 1985. He directed several short self-produced films before becoming a member of Thera Production, the association behind the production of « La loi du talion » in 2008 and « A côté » in 2009 (nominated for the 2010 Swiss cinema award and 2010 Best Portuguese film award, Vila do Conde). At the end of 2010, he directed Nuvem (Sunfish) in Lisbon; the film premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2011. In 2012, his latest short « Os vivos tambem choram » (The Living Also Cry) hits the festival circuit.
He is currently finishing his Cinema studies at the Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design in Geneva (HEAD) and is collaborating with Box Productions (Switzerland) and O som e a fúria (Portugal) on his next film.