One day I was wandering in Feira da Ladra, from stand to stand, looking for something that was missing in my film A Metamorfose dos Pássaros. I don’t recall what I was looking for, but I remember stopping at a stand selling photographs of people whose lives were unknown to me. Among these records, I found a photograph of a friend of mine: I double-checked to be sure it was her, and to save her from that stay among strangers, I brought it back with me and I carry it now in my wallet until my friend and I meet again. Before my grandfather died, he asked his children to burn all the letters exchanged between him and my grandmother. He also made sure that the photos were well-taken care of: from family photos to ID photos. I realize today that my grandfather knew that there are photographs and letters with a life of its own that travel mysteriously to Feira da Ladra and other fairs. I realized with Metáfora ou a tristeza virada do avesso and A Metamorfose dos Pássaros that as much as we try to control our memories and keep them in places where we think we will find them, they always end up finding their ways, between reality and fiction.

biografia

Catarina Vasconcelos was born in Lisbon in 1986. She studied at the Fine Arts Academy of Lisbon. In London she made an MA in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art, where she directed her first short Metaphor or Sadness inside out. She is currently working on her next film Distant Love Affairs and Imaginary Homelands.

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