Directing

Pedro Paiva

Joao Maria Gusmao b. 1979, Pedro Paiva b. 1977. Live and work in Lisbon. The Portuguese artists Joao Maria Gusmao and Pedro Paiva have collaborated since 2001 on creating objects, installations and 16mm and 35mm short films. The duo describe their overall project as a kind of “recreational metaphysics,” a genre that to a certain extent they themselves have re-invented following the Portuguese poet…

Known For

Sleeping Flamingo

Sleeping Flamingo · 2018

Sleeping Flamingo

A silent 16mm film vertical portrait on sleeping flamingos.

Eye Eclipse

Eye Eclipse · 2007

MovieScience Fiction

The eclipse of/on an eggshell.

Spaghetti Tornado

Spaghetti Tornado · 2010

Spaghetti Tornado

16mm film, colour, no sound, 2'47" Produced by Brodbeck Foundation, Catania, Italy

Water mill

Water mill · 2012

Short film by João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva, filmed at Lohmuehle Leustetten.

Onça Geométrica

Onça Geométrica · 2013

Onça Geométrica

16mm film installation, 5 projections composition, 120 meters of silent 16mm color film

Fruit Polyhedron

Fruit Polyhedron · 2009

Fruit Polyhedron

35mm film transferred to 16mm, colour, no sound, 2'42"

Cassowary

Cassowary · 2010

MovieDocumentary

An encounter at Jardim Zoológico de Lisboa shot in 16mm by JMG+PP.

3 Sóis

3 Sóis · 2009

João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva have produced a series of silent films in 16 mm and 35 mm that, scientifically yet with a touch of irony, present small physical actions and particular optical phenomena. Their inventories of nature and their perspective respond to a physical world that is visible and yet invisible, where the concrete is always presented as something concealed. Something that the filmmakers call “abyssology, a transitory science of the indiscernible”. The simple compositions and the tricks they adopt, such as the use of slow motion or superimposed images, are reminiscent of the silent films of the early days of cinema and the chronophotography of Étienne-Jules Marey.

Filmography

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Sleeping Flamingo

Sleeping Flamingo · 2018

Sleeping Flamingo

A silent 16mm film vertical portrait on sleeping flamingos.

Director

Eye Eclipse

Eye Eclipse · 2007

MovieScience Fiction

The eclipse of/on an eggshell.

Director

Spaghetti Tornado

Spaghetti Tornado · 2010

Spaghetti Tornado

16mm film, colour, no sound, 2'47" Produced by Brodbeck Foundation, Catania, Italy

Director

Water mill

Water mill · 2012

Short film by João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva, filmed at Lohmuehle Leustetten.

Director

Onça Geométrica

Onça Geométrica · 2013

Onça Geométrica

16mm film installation, 5 projections composition, 120 meters of silent 16mm color film

Director

Fruit Polyhedron

Fruit Polyhedron · 2009

Fruit Polyhedron

35mm film transferred to 16mm, colour, no sound, 2'42"

Director

Cassowary

Cassowary · 2010

MovieDocumentary

An encounter at Jardim Zoológico de Lisboa shot in 16mm by JMG+PP.

Director

3 Sóis

3 Sóis · 2009

João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva have produced a series of silent films in 16 mm and 35 mm that, scientifically yet with a touch of irony, present small physical actions and particular optical phenomena. Their inventories of nature and their perspective respond to a physical world that is visible and yet invisible, where the concrete is always presented as something concealed. Something that the filmmakers call “abyssology, a transitory science of the indiscernible”. The simple compositions and the tricks they adopt, such as the use of slow motion or superimposed images, are reminiscent of the silent films of the early days of cinema and the chronophotography of Étienne-Jules Marey.

Director

Wheels

“Wheels” is a film about relative motion as described by Descartes: if 2 objects are moving in the same direction and speed they seem to be still between each other. Inspired by Duchampian tradition, Pedro and João filmed a short chronicle of curved means of transportation in the tropics. Overlaying directly on the negative (camera editing) the feat of paradoxically freezing a moving bicycle wheel, a car wheel and anamorphic depiction of tire, João and Pedro constate that for that to happen everything else must be perceived as a gyroscope.

Director

Proboscis

Proboscis · 2013

MovieDocumentary

An elephant’s proboscis in action.

Director

Turtle

The head of a turtle coming out of her shell. The slow motion provides for bizarre analogies: a child coming out of her mother’s wombs, an alien birth, as if you could only speak of an absolute stranger being born. 16mm film, colour, no sound, 2'40" Produced by Frac Île-de-France/Le Plateau, Paris

Director

Pipe

A profile portrait on a “nicotine dream” travels along with the frame of the camera while everything else is moving. The hair fashions a trimmed motive of a pipe, or is it Nike’s logo? the immobile head puffs away the smoke from a lit cigarette butt. 16mm film, colour, no sound, 2'29" Produced by Fondazione HangarBicocca, Milan.

Director

Cowfish

Cowfish · 2011

16mm film, colour, no sound, 2’25” colaboration with lamu palm oil factory, production museo marino marini

Director

The Initiate

The Initiate · 2008

MovieDocumentary

A rite of passage.

Director

Wave

A wave filmed in slow motion. 16mm film, colour, no sound, 2'43"

Director

Meteoritica

Meteoritica · 2008

A glassmaker removes an amber piece of molten glass from a high-temperature oven, rolls the glass in a tube, and lets a drop fall down in one continuous stretch to the floor.

Director

Glossolalia

Glossolalia · 2014

It's Sunday morning. The Proud Man likes to visit the zoo. Rising early, he plots a persuasive plea to convince his wife that gardens are only glorious if graced by creatures. Produced by Fondazione HangarBicocca, Milan.

Director

Donkey

16mm film, colour, no sound, 2'00"

Director

Hairy Stone

Hairy Stone · 2009

35mm film transferred to 16mm, colour, no sound, 1'19"

Director

Fried Egg

Fried Egg · 2008

MovieScience Fiction

Fried eggs as a cosmic event.

Director

The Soup

The Soup · 2009

MovieDocumentary

Short silent film.

Director

Salto no Vazio

Salto no Vazio · 2017

MovieDocumentary

The memories of the trip made by the couple of artists Cavi Borges and Patrícia Niedermeier are transformed into an essay film. The scenery consists of landscapes located in Brazil, the United States, Germany, Syria, France and Hungary, where a series of choreographies and other performances created by the two are recorded.

Cinematography

Ventriloquismo

Ventriloquismo · 2009

João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva have produced a series of silent films in 16 mm and 35 mm that, scientifically yet with a touch of irony, present small physical actions and particular optical phenomena. Their inventories of nature and their perspective respond to a physical world that is visible and yet invisible, where the concrete is always presented as something concealed. Something that the filmmakers call “abyssology, a transitory science of the indiscernible”. The simple compositions and the tricks they adopt, such as the use of slow motion or superimposed images, are reminiscent of the silent films of the early days of cinema and the chronophotography of Étienne-Jules Marey.

Director

A Moeda-Viva

A Moeda-Viva · 2024

Victor is a poor and submissive man who serves his general and the palace of an aristocratic family. Haunted by the red lips of his beloved Maria, he suffers unbearable hallucinations that lead him to the great precipice of death. “Illicit Trade” explores 3 texts by Georg Büchner - "Woyzeck", "Leonce and Lena" and “The Hessian Courier". A film adaptation of the German author's literary universe that is as anachronistic as imminently actual.

Director