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MAY A HUNDRED BOLTS OF LIGHTNING OPEN YOU 2014. PT. 14 min
a film by Cem Raios t’Abram.
Cem Raios t’Abram was born out of a communal celebration that took place in the village of Pitões das Júnias, in the North of Portugal.
“On our face, the bread we knead/In our mouth, the bread we all are / The sun on the snowy night. / From the cold spring to the warm bonfire/The earthworm searches for the earth-hole/ The furze surrounds the white birch/In a spiralling life / The cold kept us warm. / And a hundred bolts of lightning opened us. / We left sad but happy. / In three days plus three, / plus one that everyone is. / We are three plus three / plus three plus three / plus three plus three, / minus one that everyone is."
Cem Raios t’Abram was born out of a communal celebration that took place in the village of Pitões das Júnias, in the North of Portugal.
“On our face, the bread we knead/In our mouth, the bread we all are / The sun on the snowy night. / From the cold spring to the warm bonfire/The earthworm searches for the earth-hole/ The furze surrounds the white birch/In a spiralling life / The cold kept us warm. / And a hundred bolts of lightning opened us. / We left sad but happy. / In three days plus three, / plus one that everyone is. / We are three plus three / plus three plus three / plus three plus three, / minus one that everyone is."
Novocine: What is the history behind May a Hundred Bolts of Lightning Open You, film and group?
Cem Raios t'Abram: May a Hundred Bolts of Lightning Open You is a film, it's a film about people, friends and the inhabitants of Pitões das Júnias, it's also that kind of spell that can be cast on shoelaces that can't be tied.
This film/experience was built up over three years between 2012 and 2015, like a cadavre exquis that, both blindly and clearly, rose from the mountains we honor and the bread we knead. Shot between Porto and Pitões, on 16mm film and developed manually in an artisanal way, the film has imprinted what we saw and filmed and the dream while we slept.
The film is a collective effort by Bruno Borges, Dayana Lucas, Emily King, Filipe Silva, Francisco Queimadela, Frankão, Frederico Lobo, Jean-Baptiste, Maria João, Mariana Caló, Marta Baptista, Miguel Carneiro, Mónica Baptista, Nuno Marques Pinto, Patorro, Pedro Nora and Rita Braga
NC: That's 17 people. How did so many people come together to make this film shot by many hands? Did the collective come about in the first instance through affinities and friendship?
CRT: poetry should be made by all, not by one
poetry is made against poetry
NC: What is the difference between the artistic and individual practices of each of you?
CRT: Our practices include the visual arts, music, cinema, design, dance and massage, as some of us do more than one thing.
NC:We are going through a phase in which associationism and cooperativism in the arts is increasingly becoming a solution and a practical response to the difficulties we are experiencing in Portugal today, just as it was in the years following April 25, 1974. Almost 10 years have passed since the making of this film. What are the great advantages of collaborative artistic work? What do you feel has changed in 10 years?
We doubt that we are living through a specific period of return to associationism and cooperativism in Portugal. In the case of May a Hundred Bolts, association was essentially made by the friendly relations between each of us and between us and Pitões, the inhabitants of Pitões and the mountains of Pitões.
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This film is a colective endeavour of:
Bruno Borges, Dayana Lucas, Emily King, Filipe Silva, Francisco Queimadela, Frankão, Frederico Lobo, Jean-Baptiste, Maria João, Mariana Caló, Marta Baptista, Miguel Carneiro, Mónica Baptista, Nuno Marques Pinto, Patorro,Pedro Nora and Rita Braga.
Cem Raios t'Abram: May a Hundred Bolts of Lightning Open You is a film, it's a film about people, friends and the inhabitants of Pitões das Júnias, it's also that kind of spell that can be cast on shoelaces that can't be tied.
This film/experience was built up over three years between 2012 and 2015, like a cadavre exquis that, both blindly and clearly, rose from the mountains we honor and the bread we knead. Shot between Porto and Pitões, on 16mm film and developed manually in an artisanal way, the film has imprinted what we saw and filmed and the dream while we slept.
The film is a collective effort by Bruno Borges, Dayana Lucas, Emily King, Filipe Silva, Francisco Queimadela, Frankão, Frederico Lobo, Jean-Baptiste, Maria João, Mariana Caló, Marta Baptista, Miguel Carneiro, Mónica Baptista, Nuno Marques Pinto, Patorro, Pedro Nora and Rita Braga
NC: That's 17 people. How did so many people come together to make this film shot by many hands? Did the collective come about in the first instance through affinities and friendship?
CRT: poetry should be made by all, not by one
poetry is made against poetry
NC: What is the difference between the artistic and individual practices of each of you?
CRT: Our practices include the visual arts, music, cinema, design, dance and massage, as some of us do more than one thing.
NC:We are going through a phase in which associationism and cooperativism in the arts is increasingly becoming a solution and a practical response to the difficulties we are experiencing in Portugal today, just as it was in the years following April 25, 1974. Almost 10 years have passed since the making of this film. What are the great advantages of collaborative artistic work? What do you feel has changed in 10 years?
We doubt that we are living through a specific period of return to associationism and cooperativism in Portugal. In the case of May a Hundred Bolts, association was essentially made by the friendly relations between each of us and between us and Pitões, the inhabitants of Pitões and the mountains of Pitões.
This film is a colective endeavour of:
Bruno Borges, Dayana Lucas, Emily King, Filipe Silva, Francisco Queimadela, Frankão, Frederico Lobo, Jean-Baptiste, Maria João, Mariana Caló, Marta Baptista, Miguel Carneiro, Mónica Baptista, Nuno Marques Pinto, Patorro,Pedro Nora and Rita Braga.