This is a script and shooting schedule from the 1962 Portuguese film "Dom Roberto" (aka. The Puppeteer) by Ernesto de Sousa. The shooting schedule is signed by the production assistant, Luis Filipe Monteiro. It was a gift from a friend, Pedro Mamede.
"Dom Roberto" was the director's only film, but nevertheless played an important part in Portuguese film as a whole. It is considered an innovative work, marking the beginning of the neo-realism and the "Nouvelle Vague" in Portuguese cinema, as the director had been exposed to it in Paris. When it premiered in Lisbon, in the Cinema Império, it was considered a new film from the new Portuguese cinema. It was selected for the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, and won the "Prix de la Jeune Critique" and the "Prix de l'Association du Cinéma pour la Jeunesse", but the director was prevented from appearing by PIDE, the political police of the dictatorship Portugal was living at the time.
The film also has the distinction of, since it shows strong political themes, not having received any support from the government. It was completely funded by the country's film clubs, of which the director was one of the founders. Along with the film Os Verdes Anos (1963) by Paulo Rocha, where the political issues and the neo-realist influence is less present "Dom Roberto" marks the beginning of a turning point in the aesthetics and ideas of Portuguese film-making.
It was only seen again, on the Portuguese television, after the 1974 revolution.
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| The Cannes Diploma [not in collection] |
- Wikipedia (in Portuguese)
- Ernesto de Sousa - Centro de Estudos Multidisciplinares (in Portuguese)
- "The Puppeteer" at IMDB
A small documentary with images from the film.
