SPECIAL SCREENINGS

O Riso e a Faca

Directed by:
Pedro Pinho

Sergio travels to Guinea-Bissau to prepare an environmental report. Amid local encounters and tensions, he faces cultural and global clashes.

The title of this enormous and sprawling film refers to what is used in popular culture as a colloquial expression to describe a very lively and chaotic party that lasts until dawn, but also to denote murder or foul play. Perhaps it is these two extremes that its director, Pedro Pinho, proposes to explore, delving into certain social circles of Guinea-Bissau, following Sergio, a Portuguese environmental engineer tasked with assessing the feasibility of a road between the jungle and the desert, wandering and observing from a distance the tensions and conflicts resulting from the European colonial legacy in West Africa. The film's title also alludes to a song by the extraordinary Tom Zé, which appears at a crucial moment in the film.

Danilo Petrovich, FIDOCS 29 programmer

Direction
Pedro Pinho

Pedro Pinho (Lisbon, Portugal) has lived in Paris, Barcelona, Maputo, and Mindelo. He is the co-founder of the production company Terratreme. He co-directed the documentaries 'Bab Sebta' (awarded at FIDMarseille 2008) and 'As Cidades e as Trocas' (2014). He directed 'Um Fim do Mundo' (Berlinale, 2013) and 'The Nothing Factory' (Cannes, 2017), which received more than 20 awards. In 2025, he premiered 'O Riso ea Faca' in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.

Credits

Direction: Pedro Pinho

OTHER FILMS OF SPECIAL SCREENINGS