(Island of flowers)
(35 mm, 12 min, color, 1989)
|
A tomato is planted, harvested and sold at
a supermarket, but it rots and ends up in the trash. Ends? No. ISLAND OF
FLOWERS follows it up until its real end, among animals, trash, women and
children. And then the difference between tomatoes, pigs and human beings
becomes clear.
PHOTO by Carlos Gerbase |
Director: Jorge Furtado
Executive
Producers: Monica Schmiedt, Giba Assis Brasil and Nora Goulart
Written
by: Jorge Furtado
Cinematographers:
Roberto
Henkin and Sérgio Amon
Art Director:
Fiapo
Barth
Music by:
Geraldo
Flach
Production
Coordinator: Nora Goulart
Editor:
Giba Assis Brasil
Assistant
Director: Ana Luiza Azevedo
A Casa de Cinema PoA Production
Main Cast:
Paulo José
(Narration)
Ciça
Reckziegel (Dona Anete)
Prizes
17th
Gramado Film Festival, 1989:
Best short
film (official jury, popular jury and critic's prize), Best Screenplay,
Best Editing and 4 Regional Prizes.
40th
International Filmfestival, Berlim, Germany, 1990:
Silver Bear.
Air
France Prize, Rio de Janeiro, 1990:
Best Brazilian
Short Film of the year.
Silver
Daisy
Prize (CNBB), Brasília, 1990:
Best Brazilian
Short Film of the year.
3rd
International Short Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 1991:
Special Jury
Prize, Best Film (Popular Jury).
American
Film and Video Festival, New York, 1991:
Blue Ribbon
Award.
7th
No-budget Kurzfilmfestival, Hamburgo, Germany, 1991:
Best Film.
Festival
International du Film de Region, France, 1994:
Best Film.
Reviews
"The best film (of the) Gramado Film Festival lasts less than 20 minutes
and tells the story of the journey of a tomato. After the showing of ILHA
DAS FLORES (ISLAND OF FLOWERS), Embaixador Theater heard the biggest ovation
this year. The directors of all the other films who had expectations of
winning the Kikito for best film had to throw in their towels. (...) There
is no doubt: ILHA DAS FLORES (ISLAND OF FLOWERS) is a masterpiece. After
it, documentary will never be the same."
(Artur Xexéo,
JORNAL DO BRASIL, Rio de Janeiro, 17/06/89)
"There has never been anything like it in the 16 previous editions of the
Gramado Film Festival: the entire audience of an overcrowded theater at
the Palácio dos Festivais stood up and applauded, hysterically,
a short film. (...) The 13 minute film ILHA DAS FLORES (ISLAND OF FLOWERS)
hit the Festival with the force of a CITIZEN KANE: it is new, original,
funny, hard hitting and, finally, moving, closing with a quote by Cecília
Meirelles: 'freedom is a word that the human dream feeds on, that no one
can explain or fail to understand."
(Edmar Pereira,
JORNAL DA TARDE, São Paulo, 17/06/89)
"The only documentary among the 13 shorts selected in the festival pokes
fun at its own gender. With originality and creative vigor, it dismantles
the patronizing discourse which is the basis of most Brazilian documentaries.
(...) an ingenious narrative building in a crescendo that takes your breath
away. (...) ISLAND OF FLOWERS is the result of a very special alchemy,
where everything works. It is full of humor, but it never turns tragedy
(...) into a laughing matter. Jorge Furtado has invented the cruelty-documentary."
(Maria do Rosário
Caetano, CORREIO BRAZILIENSE, Brasília, 17/06/89)
"ISLAND OF FLOWERS, by Jorge Furtado, winner of the Silver Bear in Berlin'90,
is a political film that makes you laugh with sarcasm from beginning to
end. In only 13 minutes, it says everything one needs to know about who
is responsible for the massacre of the planet Earth, starting from trash
and one tomato."
(Roberto Silvestri,
IL MANIFESTO, Milano, 07/03/91)
"A
powerful, unpredictable piece on man's inhumanity to man... A pungent social
satire, the visual poem reads like a comic political essay written by James
Joyce in a mock documentary style... A remarkably unconventional use of
media as parable. Recommended for film, art, social, intercultural, and
political studies."
(Choice Magazine)
"The
human disaster of poverty is brilliantly depicted here. Anyone who wishes
to stimulate an exploration of our human condition - of work and poverty,
of despair and hunger, and of moral challenge - will find this an extraordinarily
powerful and important video."
(Hospital &
Community Psychiatry)
Available versions
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 |
 |
 |
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| 35mm in portuguese |
35mm in english |
35mm in spanish |
16mm in portuguese |
DVD w/multilingual subtitles and audio ("Curtas da Casa") |
VHS in portuguese ("Historias da Cidade") |
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