THE ESTADO NOVO REGIME HAD A DISLIKE FOR INGMAR BERGMAN

 

“I don’t believe god exists. If he does exist I hate him”

– Marie, Sommarlek  (1951)

This is what Marie (Britt Nilsson)  said to her uncle after having witnessed the death of first love and Swedish summer fling Henrik (Birger Malmstem) in Bergman’s film Sommarlek. Now imagine my surprise whilst watching the movie in Portugal’s Cinemateca Portuguesa, to find that this bit of dialogue had failed to be subtitled.

Well it turns out not only was the film shown in Portugal twelve years after its release, much of its dialogue was censored by the then Catholic Portuguese Estado Novo regime. In the age of the internet, this kind of censorship would be impossible and one cannot help but think about how lucky we are to live in an era where communication is much more fluid, despite its many drawbacks.

On a side note, the film was released in Portugal in the emblematic deco Cinema Império on 28 August 1963. Now, alas, this venue is currently the Portuguese headquarters of the Universal Kingdom of the Church of God – yet another devastating blow to Lisbon’s film heritage.

 

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ARE THESE BLUE BRUSH STROKES VAN GOGH’S MOST IMPORTANT?

Detail from Poplars Near Nunen by Vincent Van Gogh, Public Domain

Van Gogh was hungry, hungry for color and it wasn’t until he moved to France that his worked famously saw an explosion of bright yellows, blues and greens. We know his visit to Arles had a profound effect on his choice of palette but the shift to his mature style started earlier on.

WRITERS UNLIMITED FESTIVAL – WRITING IN TIMES OF TURMOIL

Every year the Hague plays host to the Writers Unlimited festival. It’s a small event with the ambitious mission of bringing together ‘writers, poets, thinkers, scientists’ from all over the world to debate pressing topics of international importance.

JERUSALEM’S HIDDEN VISUAL ARCHIVE

Earlier this year whilst walking through the Christian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, I came across an unassuming photoshop – Elia Photo Service. Enticed by antique photos on display I couldn’t help but peer inside. The store was lined with rows of wooden shelves filled with photos depicting everyday photos of Old Jerusalem, sat at the counter, reading a newspaper was Kevork (Kahvedjian).

CHRISTMAS FACTORY – WORLD PRESS PHOTO

CHRISTMAS FACTORY © CHEN RONGHUI

Whilst in Portugal this Xmas dad picked up a copy of Cais. Browsing through it I found the highlights of the 2015 edition of World Press Photo – which I love and try never to miss. Particularly moving and jolting were the portraits of Wei, a factory worker who coats polystyrene snowflakes with red paint by Ronghui Chen. According to WPP he wears a Christmas hat to protect his hair, and goes through at least six face masks a day. Wei is not entirely sure what Christmas is, but thinks that it is a foreigners’ form of Chinese New Year.

WPP also highlights that: ‘according to the Chinese government press agency, 600 factories in Yiwu produce around 60 percent of the world’s Christmas decorations. The factories are staffed largely by migrant laborers, who work 12-hour days for between 270 and 400 euros a month.’

JONAS BENDIKSEN – SATELLITES

Jonas Bendiksen: Russia. Altai Territory. Villagers collecting scraps from a crashed spacecraft surrounded by white butterflies (2000)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen went on a seven-year photographic journey through the countries of the former Soviet Union. Of particular interest is his work on the spacecraft crash zones between Russia and Kazakhstan, here residents salvage what they can from the abandoned spacecraft for tools and resale. The above image shows two individuals standing upon a spacecraft whilst a swarm of white butterflies flies by. The photo is an amazing contrast between a delicate natural world and the industrious space race. Yet given the dilapidated state of the spaceship in contrast with the strong presence of the butterflies one can not help but ask where vulnerability lies.

THE BEAUTY OF THE EASTERN U.S.

PITTSBURGH (MAN CUTTING GRASS), 2004 FROM A SHIMMER OF POSSIBILITY BY PAUL GRAHAM

For two years photographer Paul Graham traveled the US. The above photograph was taken  when the sun shone through clouds as it had just started to rain. The effect was that every raindrop was illuminated by the sun – it is a moment of natural beauty in the everyday.

With my departure from New York (for now) scheduled for tomorrow it is precisely these moments of the everyday natural beauty of the East Coast of the US that will stay with me. The golden light disperse by the humidity in the at sunset whilst on a bus between cities, or the surf like cloud formations before a hurricane seen from the terrace of my apartment.