Gabriel Abrantes

Saturday 22 October 2011, at 7pm NFT3

Liberdade
Gabriel Abrantes, Benjamin Crotty | Portugal-Angola 2011 | 16 min
Liberdade sketches episodes in the relationship between a domineering Chinese immigrant and her Angolan boyfriend with lavishly cinematic panache. Travelling through spectacular locations in and around Luanda, they navigate the complications of their burgeoning identities and the different cultures they represent.

Palacios de Pena (Palaces of Pity)
Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt | Portugal 2011 | 56 min
Gabriel Abrantes and his collaborators use the tropes of mainstream cinema to make works that are by turns comical, thought-provoking and transgressive. In a parable on guilt and oppression, which alludes to aspects of Portuguese colonial history, two cousins are potential heirs to their grandmother’s fortune. A new generation may be oblivious to the past, but inherits it nonetheless.

Olympia I & II
Gabriel Abrantes, Katie Widloski | Portugal-USA 2008 | 7 min
Mimicking the composition of Manet’s notorious painting, the artists play out two possible scenarios: between a prostitute and her gay brother, and between a wealthy transsexual and his devoted maid.

Mark Webber

Also screening:
Tuesday 25 October 2011, at 1:15pm NFT2