Arabian Nights vol. II - The Desolate One

by Miguel Gomes

Arabian Nights vol. II - The Desolate One

Synopsis

In which Scheherazade tells of how desolation invaded men: “It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that a distressed judge will cry instead of giving out her sentence on a night when all three moons are aligned. A runaway murderer will wander through the land for over forty days and will teletransport himself to escape the Police while dreaming of prostitutes and partridges. A wounded cow will reminisce about a thousand-year-old olive tree while saying what she must say, which will sound none less than sad! The residents of a tower block in the suburbs will save parrots and piss inside lifts while surrounded by dead people and ghosts; including in fact a dog that…”. And seeing the morning break, Scheherazade fell silent.

— “Damned tales! If things continue this way my daughter will surely end up with her throat slit!” — the Grand-Vizier, Scheherazade’s father, thinks in his palace in Bagdad.

 

Director

Miguel Gomes was born in Lisbon in 1972. He studied cinema and worked as film critic for the Portuguese press until the year 2000. Tabu was released at Berlinale's Competition, where it won the Alfred Bauer and FIPRESCI award ; the movie was sold to over 50 countries and won dozens of awards. Retrospectives from Miguel's work have been programmed at the Viennale, the BAFICI, the Torino Film Festival, in Germany and in the USA. Redemption, his most recent short film, premiered in 2013 at Venice Film Festival. Arabian Nights, is a three part feature film.


Filmography
2015 ARABIAN NIGHTS
2012 TABU
2008 OUR BELOVED MONTH OF AUGUST
2006 CANTICLE OF ALL CREATURES (short)
2004 THE FACE YOU DESERVE
2002 KALKITOS (short)
2002 31 MEANS TROUBLES (short)
2000 A CHRISTMAS INVENTORY (short)
1999 MEANWHILE (short)

 

Cast

Crista Alfaiate,
Adriano Luz,
Américo Silva,
Rogério Samora,
Carloto Cotta,
Fernanda Loureiro

Crew

directed by Miguel Gomes
screenwriters Miguel Gomes, Mariana Ricardo, Telmo Churro
cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Lisa Persson (The Inebriating Chorus of the Chaffinches), Mário Castanheira (The Ftory of the Cockerel and the Fire)
editing Telmo Churro, Pedro Filipe Marques, Miguel Gomes
sound Vasco Pimentel
production design Bruno Duarte, Artur Pinheiro
journalists Maria José Oliveira, Rita Ferreira, João de Almeida Dias
costumes Silvia Grabowski, Lucha D'Orey
sound editing and mix Miguel Martins
executive producer Luís Urbano
co-producers and associated producers
ARTE: Olivier Père, Remi Burah
ARTE/ZDF: France Cinéma, Meinolf Zurhorst, Alexander Bohr
RTS Radio Télévision Suisse - SRG SSR: Nuno Vaz, RTP, Françoise Mayor, Sophie Sallin, Sven Wälti, Gregory Catella
AGAT FILMS & Cie: Robert Guédiguian, Patrick Sobelman, Marc Bordure
Michel Merkt
producers
O SOM E A FÚRIA: Luís Urbano, Sandro Aguilar
SHELLAC SUD: Thomas Ordonneau
KOMPLIZEN FILMS: Jonas Dornbach, Janine, Jackowski, Maren Ade
BOX PRODUCTION: Elena Tatti, Thierry Spicher, Elodie Brunner

Technical Data

Format: DCP / 1:2.40 / color / 5.1
Length: 131 min.
Original Language: Portuguese

Arabian Nights vol. II - The Desolate One
Arabian Nights vol. II - The Desolate One

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