The Visual Culture seminar “My name is a thing” will take place on December 15 at 6 pm. The event, to be held via Zoom, will be attended by Catarina de Sousa, João Rosmaninho and Helena Pires.
Meu Nome é Coisa addresses the bizarre world of real estate speculation that, at a furious speed, imprisons the human being. Its premise is to make the human being a pole, a poster person, well away from the dreams it announces. It is an Essay Tour by Catarina de Sousa in the scope of the Documentary Project Course of Ateliers Varan – São Paulo, Brazil, 2015.
Catarina de Sousa is a director, journalist, and film and visual arts producer. In 2021, she founded, with Pedro Neves Marques, the film, and visual arts production company Foi Bonita a Festa, based in Porto, Portugal. She is the founder of Casa do Xisto. This artist residency aims to promote connection and a sense of community through film experience, based in the village of Macieira de Rates, northern Portugal. This project is funded by ICA – Instituto de Cinema e Audiovisual, in association with Mono No Aware in New York.
In Cinema, she produced in Portugal and Brazil the films: “Becoming a Man in the Middle Ages” (2022), world premiered at the IFFR – International Film Festival Rotterdam (Winner of the Ammodo Tiger Short Award); “The Bite” (2019), world premiered at the TIFF – Toronto International Film Festival; “Art and Hurt (Toxic Image on the Street)” (2018), world premiered at DocLisboa; “Exterminator Seed” (2017), world premiered at IndieLisboa, all short-films directed by Pedro Neves Marques and “Vale das Dúvidas” (in post-production), by Francisca Manuel. She is an associate producer of “Ecstasy” (2020) by Moara Passoni and “Olmo and the Seagull” (2015) by Petra Costa and Lea Glob.
She is currently co-producing the first feature film “Gold and Grey” by Salomé Lamas with O Som e a Fúria, in Portugal, and co-producing “Dar a Luz” by Adriana Vila Guevara with Diana Toucedo Films in Spain and Horns and Tails Productions in the United States. Furthermore, she has two more projects undergoing. Pedro Neves Marques’ first feature film, “DNA at the Speed of Light”, and his next short film “, My Senses Are All I Have to Offer”, the latter is related to his feature film.
As a director, she co-directed “Tracing Utopia” (2021) with Nick Tyson at UnionDocs – Center for Documentary and Art in New York, with an international premiere at IFFR – Rotterdam International Film Festival. She is now working on researching and developing a new film, “Celestial Glitch”, a sequel to the co-directing partnership with Nick Tyson.
In television, she produced Paulo Pinto’s “Laureano Barros, Refúgio Rigoroso” (2017) and is the author of the documentary “Verdade ou Consequência” (2017) about the post-truth era, both projects funded by RTP – Rádio Televisão Portuguesa.
In Contemporary Art, she produced the Filmic Installations: “Vampires in Space” by Pedro Neves Marques, the Official Representation of Portugal, in the 59th edition of the 2022 Venice Biennale. “Cyborg Wildlife” (in production) by Mariana Silva curated by Fundació La Caixa. “The Bite is Back” (2019) by Pedro Neves Marques, curated by Pérez Art Museum in Miami. “Zoomorphic Eye/Camera Trap” (2018) by Mariana Silva, curated by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. “Catherine or 1786” (2017) by Francisca Manuel, curated by Walk and Talk in association with ARQUIPÉLAGO – Contemporary Arts Centre, Azores.
She holds a Master’s degree in Communication Sciences – Information and Journalism from the University of Minho, with training in Documentary Workshops from Ateliers Varan, France. She was an artist in residence at UnionDocs – Center for Documentary Art, in New York, with a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. As a journalist, she worked for LUSA News Agency, Rádio Clube Português, Barcelona Televisió, and is a collaborator of Mídia Ninja – Independent Narratives, Journalism, and Action – from Brazil.