Changing Tides
Encyclopedia
Changing Tides is a Portuguese
feature-length film by Ricardo Costa
, his first docufiction
, preceding Bread and Wine (1981) and Mists
(2003).
Manuel Pardal, fisherman and native poet, plays the star. This film and a book publication of his poetry, Em Cima do Mar, (On the salted sea), are the single remaining registers of his life and work .
First released by RTP
(national television) in 1975.
. Illiterate, he follows oral tradition
common to both regions, consisting in using straight rhyme and free improvisation. So the poet is an artist
and an actor
.
In the film, he plays a new role using new instruments, improvising together with a new partner, the filmmaker. He goes fishing offshore the town where he lives, Quarteira
. Solitude and long waiting «on the salted sea» make him think. He thinks a lot. He has become a philosopher.
He is now acting for you. Also those waiting for him on the beach, living together with him, his friends, their children will play the game, showing themselves together with Pardal making his exciting show (his name means Sparrow and he exploits it), telling amazing stories, reciting fine verse, asking you serious questions.
He also plays portuguese guitar
and sings romantic or “frank” fado
.
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
feature-length film by Ricardo Costa
Ricardo Costa (filmmaker)
Ricardo Costa is a Portuguese film director and producer.Most of his filmography consists of documentary films, many of them being contaminated by fiction...
, his first docufiction
Docufiction
Docufiction is a neologism which refers to the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction. More precisely, it is a documentary contaminated with fictional elements, in real time, filmed when the events take place, and in which someone - the character - plays his own role in real life...
, preceding Bread and Wine (1981) and Mists
Mists
Mists , 2003, is a Portuguese feature-length film by Ricardo Costa.It is an auto-biography, a voyage to childhood. Shot with no state funds it is an art film. Formal simplicity – associated with a non conventional, sober and fluid narrative of time and human condition – is common to most of...
(2003).
Manuel Pardal, fisherman and native poet, plays the star. This film and a book publication of his poetry, Em Cima do Mar, (On the salted sea), are the single remaining registers of his life and work .
First released by RTP
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A.,commonly known as RTP, is Portugal's public service broadcasting organization. It operates four terrestrial television channels and three national radio channels, as well as several satellite and cable offerings....
(national television) in 1975.
Synopsis
Manuel Pardal, a solitary fisherman who makes his meagre living from the sea, a native poet, is a keen observer of human and social conditions. Like some in Algarve (the southern portuguese coast), or others in Alentejo, a flat and dry close region, he is one of the last survivors of the portuguese oral literatureOral literature
Oral literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the written word. It thus forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do...
. Illiterate, he follows oral tradition
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
common to both regions, consisting in using straight rhyme and free improvisation. So the poet is an artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
.
In the film, he plays a new role using new instruments, improvising together with a new partner, the filmmaker. He goes fishing offshore the town where he lives, Quarteira
Quarteira
Quarteira is a Portuguese city and a parish, located in the municipality of Loulé. It has a population of 16,131 inhabitants and a total area of 37.78 km². Quarteira is a city since May 13 of 1999....
. Solitude and long waiting «on the salted sea» make him think. He thinks a lot. He has become a philosopher.
He is now acting for you. Also those waiting for him on the beach, living together with him, his friends, their children will play the game, showing themselves together with Pardal making his exciting show (his name means Sparrow and he exploits it), telling amazing stories, reciting fine verse, asking you serious questions.
He also plays portuguese guitar
Portuguese guitar
The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses comprising two strings each. It is one of the few musical instruments to use Preston tuners. It is most notably associated with fado.-History:The origin of the Portuguese...
and sings romantic or “frank” fado
Fado
Fado is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar, Rui Vieira Nery, states that "the only reliable information on the history of Fado was orally transmitted and goes back to the 1820s and 1830s at best...
.
Credits
- Director and producer: Ricardo Costa (filmmaker)Ricardo Costa (filmmaker)Ricardo Costa is a Portuguese film director and producer.Most of his filmography consists of documentary films, many of them being contaminated by fiction...
- Co-producer: RTPRádio e Televisão de PortugalRádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A.,commonly known as RTP, is Portugal's public service broadcasting organization. It operates four terrestrial television channels and three national radio channels, as well as several satellite and cable offerings....
- Photography, camera: Ricardo Costa
- Portuguese guitar: Manuel Pardal
- Spanish guitar: Abílio Delca
- Sound: Maurício Cunha and Jorge Melo Cardoso
- Editing: Maria Alice Cruz
- Mixing: Jorge Melo Cardoso
- Studios: RTP
- Format: 16 mm b/w
- Genre: docufictionDocufictionDocufiction is a neologism which refers to the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction. More precisely, it is a documentary contaminated with fictional elements, in real time, filmed when the events take place, and in which someone - the character - plays his own role in real life...
- Running time: 90’ aprox.
- Premiere: RTPRádio e Televisão de PortugalRádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A.,commonly known as RTP, is Portugal's public service broadcasting organization. It operates four terrestrial television channels and three national radio channels, as well as several satellite and cable offerings....
, 1977
Bibliographic references
- O Cais do Olhar by José de Matos-CruzJosé de Matos-CruzJosé de Matos-Cruz is a Portuguese writer, journalist, editor, high-school teacher, investigator, encyclopedist. From 1980 to 2010, he works at the Cinemateca Portuguesa , in Lisbon...
, Portuguese Cinematheque, 1999 - Ricardo Costa and the flowing pictures, article by José de Matos-Cruz