João is the only visible worker in the Morais locksmith shop. He’s also the owner’s son and so feels free to leaves the store to go listen the sigh of his own heart by endlessly feeding coins into the Love Test machine. Marta do Monte is an art student carrying an unusual order. The key that João duplicates for her opens more than just one door. —Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
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
