Pedro Costa and the Temporal Freedom of Filmmaking

Pedro Costa became a household name of European auteur cinema with his raw and slow films portraying Fontainhas, an illegal shantytown on the outskirts of Lisbon. It is where the rejects of modern society – junkies, prostitutes and immigrants from former Portuguese colonies – live in utter poverty and deprivation. The appearance of digital technology enabled Costa to start filming unlimited amounts of mate­rial, and this kind of work made him one of the most visible representatives of the co-called slow cinema. But Costa went even further and applied the full use of time also to the slow process of filmmaking itself.

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