17° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
Retrospective - Portuguese Cinema (1970-1999)

TRÁFICO

TRAFFIC

by João Botelho

Country: Portugal, France, Denmark

Year: 1998

Duration: 112'

It all begins when a normal family is obliged to take their vacation off-season because of financial difficulties. This family, which doesn't like the cold very much, finds itself blessed by good luck. Jésus - the couple's son - finds a hidden and forbidden treasure buried under the sand of a deserted beach: the wealth of the Earth. That same day, not far away, two priests decide to close their church due to a lack of parishoners and to auction off their images of the saints. Their world becomes peopled by strange individuals: a banker who only talks about his money, a politician who only loves his own power, an elegant and sensual woman with a strange hairdo, a general dealing in arms.

FILM DIRECTOR

CAST & CREDITS

Biography

film director

João Botelho

João Botelho (Lamego, Portogallo, 1949) enrolled at the Film School at Lisbon's National Conservatory in 1974, and in 1976 founded the film magazine "M." He worked as a graphic artist for a number of publishers and as a film critic for several newspapers and magazines. In 1981 his short film Conversa acabada was presented in Cannes Film Festival and made him one of the leading figures of Portuguese cinema. He received international critical acclaim for his following films, Tempos difíceis (1988), Aqui na terra (1993), Tráfico (1998), Que és tu? (2001). His last film O Fatalista (2005) has been presented in competition at the last Mostra di Venezia.

FILMOGRAFIA

O alto do cobre (1976), Alexandre e Rosa (cm, 1978), Conversa acabada (1980), Um adeus português (1985), Tempos difíceis (1988), No dia dos meus anos - O ar (1992), Aqui na terra (1993), Três palmeiras (1994), Tráfico (1998), Se a memória existe (cm, 1999), Quem és tu? (2001), As mãos e as pedras (2002), Viagem ao coração do Douro, a terra onde nasci (doc., 2002), A mulher que screditava ser presidente dos Estados Unidos da America (2002), O Fatalista (2005), A luz na Ria Formosa (doc., 2005).

Cast

& Credits

Regia, soggetto e sceneggiatura: João Botelho.
Director of photography: Olivier Gueneau.
Costume designer: Silvia Grabwoski.
Art director: Fernanda Morais.
Sound: Philippe Morel.
Editor: Rodolfo Wedeles.
Cast and characters: Joaquim Castro (Jésus), Rita Blanco (madre di Jésus), Adriano Luz (padre di Jésus), Branca Camargo (la donna), João Perry (il banchiere).
Producer: Paulo Branco.
Production company: Madragoa Filmes/Gemini Films/Zentropa Productions.