After finishing his Master degree, Hugo spends his days giving his brain a rest from the endless reading of texts by unknown authors. His only company is Luisa, the cleaning lady, with whom he plays cat and mouse. To avoid the sleep of reason, Hugo exercises his lyrical vein by writing, with his friend Manuel, songs about their neighbourhood. The quiet dilettantism of our protagonist is shaken by Catarina, a young and beautiful translator who’s starting her professional life as a freelancer. Hugo is hooked and wavers. High above, a kestrel falcon hovers. It’s not the only bird of prey that can do it. —O Som e a Fúria
João Nicolau was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1975. He works as a film director, film editor, actor and musician. He has never understood (nor will he ever) a thing about the Middle East. He lives in 2010, in Lisbon, Portugal. His first feature film, The Sword and the Rose, comes after two shorts which have achieved an amazing success: Song of Love and Health (2009), after it’s premiere in Cannes’ Director’s Forthnight, has been awarded a total of 9 times in festivals such as Belfort, Brive, Recife and Rio de Janeiro and has been screened in more than 20 film festivals around the world. Bird of Prey, his first short (2006), also released in Cannes, has been selected for more than 60 international film festivals and been awarded at, among others, Milano, Belfort, Réus and Vila do Conde. —Festival Scope
