Dogs Barking at Birds

(Cães que ladram aos pássaros, Leonor Teles, Portugal, 2019)

Social gentrification as defined, clinically and dispassionately, on Wikipedia: Leonor Teles starts from this information, adding a fine touch of irony.

But her aim is different: to observe what such social displacement of individuals and families (thanks to tourism) feels like from the inside, as lived experience. Especially when you are a teenager, a time when constant change, mobility and transience are the norm.

A fragmented, not-quite-narrative snapshot-chronicle of Vicente Gil (playing himself) and his friends in Porto, this refreshing, lively, 20-minute film has a Leos Carax-type ambience, bouncing between worry, anger and youthful energy.

Teles’ debut feature Baan, on which she was also cinematographer and co-writer, appeared in 2023. As well, she photographed João Canijo’s 4-part TV series, Hotel do Rio (2024), and his twin-set feature project Bad Living and Living Bad (2023).

© Adrian Martin November 2019 (+ update)