Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb dim-bulb soccer star (Carloto Cotta) takes extreme measures to return to his former state of glory in Diamantino You can tell something is off about fictional Portuguese soccer star Diamantino who looks an awful lot like actual Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is quick to bring up that when he's on the field flopping around in a mist of sparkling pink clouds though a scientist's computer confirms his brain works at 10% normal levels someone who sees the world often for what it is and what it should be Diamantino is compassionate and loving and innocent Two agents from the Portuguese Secret Service are surveilling him with a drone easily the best fictional doctor's name since Dr is carrying on a questionable-at-best genetic experiment And the whole country is plunged in debate over borders and migrants and making "Portugal great again," which seems just a little reminiscent of a certain strain of nationalism weaving its way through European and American politics This makes Diamantino's place as a national figure all rather precarious and his newfound interest in helping African refugees after he encounters a raft while on his yacht are directly at odds with the scheming forces around him First-time directors Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt ensure that Diamantino isn't dire; it sizzles with a comic energy rare for a movie with such blunt and weighty political commentary Our star's oh-shucks voiceover underscores the contrast between his purity and the world's villainy When a skeptical television host presses him on his plan to adopt a refugee eventually offering that he would adopt someone from Canada Just the recurring sight of one of the Secret Service agents posing as a nun adopts an expression that's a perfect mix of guilelessness both in its specificity (he ably inhabits the role of a soccer star Try to resist laughing when you see him lying in his bed with his face plastered across the pillow as if he's deep in a passionate kiss with himself who play Diamantino's twin sisters with identical black hairdos and complementary dresses enliven sinister roles that otherwise could have come off as rote And his offbeat romance with another character feels tender and the montages that show the two playing in the waves and driving through the Portuguese countryside are nothing short of euphoric which is as messy as the genetic experiments in which Diamantino finds himself like his cloning and the place of migrants in Portugal are picked up and quickly abandoned before anything of substance can pierce its way through to an audience not fully tuned into the ups and downs of Portuguese politics is the overall sense of dismay with the growing far-right movement in Europe and the film acts as a sort of primal scream It reminded me of last year's Sorry to Bother You another film that swung for the fences while maintaining a fresh comedic voice the messages of capitalism and racism were more strongly intertwined I wish nationalism and racism and masculinity had been bundled more neatly that we'll look back on it in 20 or 30 years and note that it nailed a certain anxiety about our present day and that it was prescient about an overlap between genetic science and nationalism which combines a future-tech aesthetic with grainy film stock to make everything a bit more tangible it feels crowded and unsure of itself at times unwilling to fully commit to any specific message beyond pointing out the general hoopla of contemporary European politics Become an NPR sponsor This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page A disgraced world-class striker’s life descends into chaos as he adopts a child refugee becomes a vote-leave poster boy – and gets cloned by the government If Cristiano Ronaldo fell asleep after gorging on year-old camembert his dreams could not match the bizarre bonkersness of this enjoyably throwaway romantic sci-fi satire from Portugal about a megastar footballer who falls victim of a government cloning plot adopts a child refugee and inadvertently becomes the poster boy for a “vote leave” campaign in a fictional EU referendum so famous he’s known simply by his first name It’s a nicely comic performance by Carloto Cotta who plays the footballer like a ripped Forrest Gump: empty-headed but adorable Even his narcissism is sweet – Diamantino sleeps under duvet covers printed with his own face and has the inner life of a bunny rabbit in the four or five seconds it takes to score a goal he has visions of a giant pekinese puppies invading the pitch After fluffing a title-deciding penalty in the World Cup This “boy” is actually a female undercover secret service agent called Aisha who is looking for evidence of money-laundering it’s Diamantino’s pantomime-evil twin sisters who are the real criminals The pair have volunteered their gullible brother for a top-secret ministry of propaganda cloning programme to produce a football team of top strikers unwitting Diamantino is pumped full hormones that have seriously freaky side effects: he wakes up one morning to find he’s grown female breasts right-wingers try turning a soccer star into “the Christian savior of the Portuguese race.” written and directed by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt •   •   • In his 1994 essay “How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart,” David Foster Wallace grapples with the profound disappointments of reading the former tennis phenom’s coauthored memoir the story of a prodigally gifted teen athlete derailed by injury and accident is articulated through a deadening parade of clichés that also betrays a stunning naivete about the flows of corruption streaming through professional sports to be let down by the fact that Austin’s brilliance on the court doesn’t translate to the page would be as ridiculous as lamenting Kant’s lack of boxing prowess Yet in this most banal of autobiographies he arrives at a deeper revelation “that those who receive and act out the gift of athletic genius must be blind and dumb about it—and not because blindness and dumbness are the price of the gift Carloto Cotta as Diamantino Matamouros in Diamantino The piece would serve as a key inspiration for Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s remarkable satire Diamantino a fool’s journey narrated by its eponymous protagonist a figure possessed with preternatural physical grace and the mind of a child charismatic main character—like Balthazar in Au Hasard Balthazar,” Abrantes has explained and Carloto Cotta deftly embodies the leading role as guileless emblem: a man of extravagant wealth who doesn’t realize he’s being fleeced a sex symbol who’s fully unaware of carnal appetites ripe for easy manipulation and ready for mass distribution a symbol ubiquitous but almost entirely outside his own control Cotta brings to the performance a considerable wide-eyed pathos (though while the star of Diamantino has frequently collaborated with great auteurs such as Miguel Gomes and João Pedro Rodrigues in strict adherence to the director’s philosophy of working with non-actors The film begins with the Ronaldo-ian champion in his element It’s a familiar scene—indeed the most familiar scene in every sports movie—yet what follows immediately announces Abrantes and Schmidt’s delirious style their ability to weld together disparate genres and deform hackneyed tropes into an idiom all their own the roaring crowds and field of competitors fade away all he can see are “the puppies”—a pack of gigantic stampeding Pekingese kicking up a cotton candy–pink dust storm—which he dribbles around in a state of innocent reverie which are all the more impressive given the limited resources at hand Along with the film’s many Hackers-esque renderings of computer interfaces these goofy interventions are a vital reminder that ingenious digital effects in narrative feature filmmaking are not the exclusive domain of Marvel Cinematic Universe dreck and Cleo Tavares as Aisha Brito in Diamantino While relaxing on his yacht after the recent victory the champ rescues a drifting boat of refugees and his freshly awakened compassion shakes him so thoroughly that he later chokes during a decisive penalty kick losing Portugal the World Cup and becoming an endlessly ridiculed meme sensation in the process (“TFW SHE / FRIENDZONES YOU,” reads the text on a post of the hero’s weeping visage) compounded by the sudden death of his beloved father finding solace only in Bongo juice and his kitten because everyone else in the film has plans for him Anabela and Margarida Moreira as Sonia and Natasha Matamouros in Diamantino His twin sisters (played by Anabela and Margarida Moreira) are so deliciously vile that they rival the smug self-serving siblings in another great fairy-tale picture Jean Cocteau’s La belle et la bête and they jump at the opportunity to sell him out to a right-wing movement that seeks to make Diamantino the unwitting face of its propaganda This elaborate initiative involves casting him as King Sebastião “the Christian savior of the Portuguese race,” in a xenophobic with the help of “Lamborghini Genetics,” to cultivate an unbeatable which entail pumping him full of clownfish hormones have the unexpected side effect of making him grow breasts a pair of sapphic intelligence agents investigating Diamantino for money laundering decide to go undercover as a nun and an orphaned Mozambican boy in an effort to get inside his mansion after he announces on a talk show that he’d like to adopt a refugee (“Where will the ‘fugee’ come from?” the host asks the politics of immigration—Diamantino is through its expansive menagerie of subjects as well as its formal maneuvers of trying to capture so thoroughly the particulars of a moment that they deliquesce rapidly into damp period curiosities a work whose baroque designs belie an elegant coherence of purpose offered an ageless parody while being caught up in the crises of his era (the “beautiful auto-da-fé” in response to the Lisbon earthquake) but it’s also a fever dream of a present wrecked by capitalism and its attendant calamities a nightmare we’ll likely be living with Thomas Beard is a founder and director of Light Industry a venue for film and electronic art in Brooklyn and a programmer at large for Film at Lincoln Center He was the co-curator for the cinema programs at the 2012 Whitney Biennial and Greater New York 2010 at MoMA PS1 and has organized screenings for Artists Space Reviews The results are uneven—how could they not be?—but the sheer weirdness of the whole enterprise has a charm to it and it certainly is never boring Let us go back to those fluffy dogs for a minute. They are manifestations in the mind of Diamantino (Carloto Cotta) the star striker for Portugal’s soccer team that allow him to filter out all distractions and hit the shots that have made him an idol on the level of real-life Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo the power of the fluffy dogs fails Diamantino and he misses a crucial shot that prevents his team from advancing to the World Cup final and he becomes a pariah in his home country and a laughing stock around the world This would be hard enough for most people to bear but we soon realize that Diamantino is basically a big kid himself who is innocent in most of the ways of the world—not only do the sheets on his bed have his face and logo emblazoned on them it is evident that he has never had anyone into his room to share them with him In an attempt to do some good and honor his recently deceased father, Diamantino decides to take in a refugee to live at his palatial estate, much to the consternation of his cruel and abusive twin sisters (Anabella and Margarida Moreira), who mistreat him even as they are robbing him blind. The “refugee” turns out to be Aisha (Cleo Tavares) a lesbian Secret Service agent working undercover as a teenage boy from Mozambique to investigate suspicions that Diamantino is involved with a money-laundering scheme is the work of his sisters and if that were not enough the two have embroiled their uncomprehending brother into a plot by Portuguese nationalists to leave the EU Such a scheme includes an elaborate ad campaign focused on Diamantino as the epitome of Portuguese manhood as well as machinations from a mad scientist determined to harvest the source of his greatness that winds up calling certain aspects of his manhood into question.  the more overtly political material involving the nationalists duping Diamantino into participating in their anti-EU campaign leans a little more towards the innocuous than the incisive The stuff involving the mad scientist and the unexpected results of her experiments on Diamantino are absurd enough but enter the proceedings inn such an arbitrary manner that it fails to land the impact that it might have had with a more focused screenplay even though “Diamantino” never quite digs beneath its aggressively goofy candy-colored surfaces to deliver truly penetrating satire it still manages to hold one’s interest for the most part As a comedic collision between the not entirely dissimilar worlds of political and popular culture and the mayhem that can ensue when the two intertwine the film has a likable oddball energy that is further boosted by an outlandish visual style that’s reminiscent of what the legendarily over-the-top 1967 version of “Casino Royale” is like at its best moments “Diamantino” is also blessed with a number of random bits of strange humor that wind up hitting more than they miss ranging from the aforementioned bed linen to several hilarious needle drops on the soundtrack it has a performance by Cotta as Diamantino that is perfectly calibrated so that he comes across less as a moron which is what might have resulted in the hands of lesser actors than as a genuine innocent—a Candide of the soccer pitch—who we find ourselves laughing with instead of at but those with a taste for the silly and the strange should get a kick out of it full-on Swiftie and all-around bon vivant is also a contributor to The Spool and can be heard weekly discussing new Blu-Ray releases on the Movie Madness podcast on the Now Playing network Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker That's a whole lot of ground to cover within the confines of an hour and a half and after seeing the first assembly of their cut the duo was dismayed and ready to throw in the towel Schmidt felt as if they had bit off a little more than they could chew they walked away from the project and decided to regroup at a later date Please subscribe and rate us on iTunes, Soundcloud You can play all of our No Film School interview episodes right here: Hollywood is worried about the rising costs of making movies Trump put up a post on Truth Social that said he instructed the Commerce Department and the US Trade Representative to add a 100% tariff on films that are produced outside the United States and for films that are imported into America This is an unprecedented move that Hollywood is still figuring out in real time "The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States This is a concerted effort by other Nations and I am authorizing the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands The post has no new information on how this would be imposed so treating them that way is a completely new concept And we have really no idea without specifics which movies this applies to can we not bring in foreign movies to be released here Or will the tariff apply to studio productions who shoot outside the country to take advantage of those tax incentives there If it does apply to studios shooting elsewhere that would drastically change the plans Hollywood has right now to make movies and TV shows and make ones in production in other countries already more expensive We have states within the US who have substantial tax credits And places like California are proposing a substantial tax credit aimed at bringing production back to Hollywood merely placing a 100% tariff on shooting elsewhere will just force Hollywod to make fewer films Trump called these outside productions a national security threat but I get wanting money to come back to the US I wouldn't make a tariff on importing films I would just subsidize movies that shot 100% in the US and who employed like 75% of American workers That way you're not driving budgets higher and you're encouraging people to stay and shoot in America by offsetting budgets I guess those incentives are up to the states so the president could also incentivize states to boost them When we get the details on how they'll work and what it'll apply to I'll write another article updating you Let me know what you think in the comments The film is at its strongest when depicting how Diamantino becomes a tool of politicians hoping to oust Portugal from the EU part satire of various European political crises Diamantino envisions a Candide-like soccer megastar possessed of naïve but intense imaginations He lives in a colossal chateau and sleeps on pillows and sheets with his face printed on them and spends much of his waking life riding the seas on a yacht that’s big enough to ferry a small army Despite being arguably the most famous person in Portugal he’s oblivious to his star power and the weighty expectations placed on him by soccer fans writer-directors Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt delight in playing up the precarious balance between Diamantino’s self-absorption and his sweet absent-mindedness Diamantino rarely interacts with anyone besides his loving whose humble kindness is rather jarring when set against the palatial trappings of the family’s digs Diamantino doesn’t exude the focus one associates with an elite athlete as he spends matches fantasizing about running with colossal fluffy puppies—playful daydreams that somehow guide his movements as he slips past other players and scores goals is disrupted when he spots a raft of refugees while boating and his glimpse at real human misery shakes him to the core—so much so that during a make-or-break penalty kick that will decide the World Cup final The film’s manic tone swings into overdrive at this point as Diamantino’s daydreams of haunted refugees are contrasted with his tear-streaked face when it’s blown up on jumbotrons effectively positioning him as a symbol of his country’s spectacular defeat And all the while his evil twin sisters (Anabela Moreira and Margarida Moreira) scream at the television set playing the game inside the family’s living room touching on a celebrity’s political preoccupation and viral media culture exhibits an audaciousness that’s disappeared from much contemporary comedy and it sets the tone for the film’s freewheeling style Diamantino announces his embrace of the sort of celebrity activism that regularly comes in for ridicule declaring that he will adopt a refugee child to honor both the humanitarian crisis and his late father already investigating him for suspected money laundering uses Diamantino’s proclamation to set up an undercover agent in order to get into his house to gather clues for their case And while Aisha only finds hilarious evidence of the player’s innocence (his computer files consist of nothing but pet photos) if only for the filmmakers to add yet another wrinkle—a lesbian relationship with her colleague Lucia (Maria Leite)—to the film’s already dense array of plots and themes Aisha and Lucia’s presence in Diamantino may turn the dial up on the film’s hijinks but in the process stalls its satirical thrust the film wrings much humor from Aisha’s infiltration of Diamantino’s home mostly from how quickly she discovers that his innocence is beyond a doubt and that his cruel sisters are comically guilty as they keep their offshore accounts on a desktop shortcut Diamantino’s interactions with Aisha are amusing insofar as Cotta commits fully to his character’s over-eager treatment of “Rahim,” serving his adopted child breakfast in bed and getting into tickle fights that underscore the man’s emotional stuntedness Yet these moments soon come to feel redundant leaning too much on Lucia’s petulant anger for comic effect as Aisha grows increasingly close to Diamantino That Diamantino and Aisha’s relationship comes to define the last act of the film ultimately detracts from the riotous vision that Abrantes and Schmidt sketch of roiling EU tensions and the way celebrity culture can be just another element in the viral branding of extreme politics Diamantino is on its strongest footing when depicting how its main character becomes a tool of politicians hoping to oust Portugal from the EU One scene sees him starring in “Pexit” commercial as a folk hero from the Reconquista during which Muslims were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula The right-wing politicians who fund the ad clearly pledge allegiance to the historical figure’s Islamophobia though it’s also obvious that they hope that the pleasure Diamantino takes in dancing around in his costume will undercut that impression Diamantino is used as a lab rat for a company that attempts to clone him in order to produce the world’s best soccer team This stretch finds the film at its most profound in part because it’s impossible to believe that scientists and supercomputers fail to fathom how a man who lives on an all-sugar diet and daydreams about puppies on the pitch could be the world’s best athlete The filmmakers draw a line between the absurdity of these experiments and the insidious quest for racial purity behind most eugenics movements suggesting that neo-fascists are so prone to celebrity worship that they might mistake their favorite star for the master race so it’s a shame that the film pivots away from it to resolve around Diamantino’s relatively straightforward pursuit of happiness Jake Cole is an Atlanta-based film critic whose work has appeared in MTV News and Little White Lies He is a member of the Atlanta Film Critics Circle and the Online Film Critics Society document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "ad7dd946d8b421555a2210acff29fd18" );document.getElementById("facec42938").setAttribute( "id" and website in this browser for the next time I comment Welcome to our latest Cape Cod and Islands High School Player of the Week Poll. High school sports fans can vote for which boys soccer players they think were standouts during the previous week The polls will be open from Wednesday through Tuesday The winners will be announced every Wednesday along with the new poll Votes must be cast via the Cape Cod Times website/mobile sites Votes submitted via email and social media will NOT be accepted To vote for this week’s Player of the Week Ellis dished out two assists and added a goal in a 5-5 tie with Cape Cod Academy NantucketAlanzo had one goal and one assist in a win over Falmouth Academy Armaczuk recorded a hat trick in a 6-0 win over Sturgis East Codjoe scored twice in a 3-2 win over Monomoy and contributed a goal and two assists in a win over Sturgis East Diamantino scored twice in a 3-1 win over Nauset Johnson recorded one goal and one assist in a 3-2 win over Dennis-Yarmouth and recorded a hat trick in a win over Falmouth Academy Lemus scored a goal and dished out one assist in a win over D-Y Martins scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Upper Cape and scored once with two assists in a 4-0 win over Old Colony Pavlo scored a goal and dished out an assist in a loss to Cohasset Ramos tallied a goal and an assist in a win over Monomoy Sheehan scored a goal and had an assist in a loss to Rising Tide Valois finished with one goal and one assist Courtney Jacobs is the Sports Editor for the Cape Cod Times. You can contact him at cjacobs@capecodonline.com and follow him on X: @CJ_Journalist Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans “Diamantino,” a new film written and directed by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt human-cloning refugee-crisis soccer comedy I’ve ever seen It begins with intimations of the otherworldly gazing serenely down at the Earth from outer space then descends on a giant soccer stadium whose field is soon crawling with giant Pekingese puppies though for 96 minutes this cheerfully demented movie erases any real distinction Those puppies are the joyous hallucination of a simple-minded Portuguese soccer star named Diamantino Matamouros (Carloto Cotta) fluffy good-luck charms that appear at the climactic moments of a match and guide him to victory and I could have happily watched them scamper about for 96 minutes without complaint But “Diamantino” has much more on its mind even if Diamantino himself initially doesn’t signaling the loss of his athletic mojo and his carefree spirit as he comes to realize what a deeply sad place the world can be whose uncanny resemblance to the real-life soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is likely no coincidence a Speedo-clad mega-celebrity whose extraordinary athleticism stands in stark contrast with his severely limited cognitive abilities least appreciated talent may well be his capacity for empathy When his yacht crosses paths with a small boat carrying several African migrants Diamantino is so pierced by their tragedy that he ends up costing Portugal the World Cup collapsing in tears on the field and becoming a social-media laughingstock If I were to tell you that Diamantino loses his beloved father (Chico Chapas) the same night he loses the World Cup final then rashly decides to quit soccer and adopt a “fugee,” you might well mistake this movie for a cringe-inducing exercise in First World bathos But nothing about “Diamantino” — from its inventive satire of sport celebrity and the media to its gently mocking but utterly sincere love for its hero — is quite so easy to nail down Part of this is due to the irreverent and eclectic sensibility of Abrantes and Schmidt longtime collaborators who think nothing of mixing visual effects and 16-millimeter celluloid or putting Donna Lewis’ “I Love You Always Forever” and Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” on the same soundtrack But it also has to do with the sheer amount and variety of plot that they keep hurling at you starting with Diamantino’s monstrous twin sisters (Anabela and Margarida Moreira) who spend every minute verbally abusing their little brother and conspiring to steal his fortune which range from money laundering to having a mad scientist named Dr Lamborghini (Carla Maciel) replicate his DNA are thrown into jeopardy by the appearance of Rahim turns out to be not a boy from Mozambique but a female Portuguese secret-service agent named Aisha (Cleo Tavares) who has been spying on Diamantino along with her professional and romantic partner Rest assured that I’ve given away next to nothing; we are in on Aisha’s ruse from the start because Diamantino also serves as the story’s omniscient narrator a willing and good-natured victim of everyone else’s jokes and schemes Diamantino becomes the pawn of a vast and nefarious right-wing government conspiracy one that seeks to make him the handsome face of a new Portugal swollen with master-race rhetoric and determined to follow the U.K All this might make the movie sound like an unusually zany albeit topical riff on the holy-fool narrative the tale of a beatific soul who is too stupid and too saintly for this world turns out to be a improbably great hero for his times as well as ours He may be an over-privileged and dunderheaded celebrity the kind who has his own blank mug proudly emblazoned on his pillows but in Cotta’s entirely persuasive performance he is also a disarmingly sweet and guileless one His appetites are those of a child — he appears to subsist on a diet of waffles and he has never had sex or expressed interest in it — but he is a surprisingly good The story eventually takes a daring turn that mixes hot gender-fluid romanticism with a splash of body horror cleverly dismantling the stereotype of white European masculinity that his antagonists want Diamantino to embody When the movie premiered last year at Cannes (where it won the Palm Dog award for its canine performances) it was widely received as a welcome blast of escapism solemn art cinema that proliferates at international film festivals But its madcap delirium can’t hide its insistent politics its disdain for sham populism and its compassion for the disenfranchised “Diamantino” is no less committed to these ideas than it is to its own uneven The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.) Follow TFE on Substackd  Nathaniel's Top Ten ... and the Film Bitch Awards We're looking for 500... no 390 Subscribers! If you read us daily by Murtada Elfadl Let’s see if we can get it straight with the help of the official synopsis:  Portuguese soccer hunk Diamantino (Carloto Cotta he goes from superstar to laughing stock overnight His sheltered worldview is further shattered after learning about the European refugee crisis and he resolves to make amends by adopting an African refugee – only to find that his new “son” is actually an undercover lesbian tax auditor investigating him on the suspicion of corruption Diamantino gets swept up in a gonzo comic odyssey involving cigarette-smoking evil twins This doesn’t even include the fluffy giant Pekingese puppies that make the best co-stars have been in love since the film premiered at Cannes last year winning the Critics' Week Grand Prize. We recently had the chance to speak to the co-directors in New York The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.. Murtada: What ideas did you want to push with this story The initial ideas came maybe seven years ago and they were building off previous film ideas Gabriel and I have always been interested in films especially from this sort of Hollywood language But our ideas don't really fit into the sort of allowances that Our films are more playful or more subversive what better way than a celebrity who has that intersection of all of these different cultural spheres At first we wanted to look at the hypocrisies and exploitations done by celebrities Kim Kardashian or Donald Trump in the White House Then we started shifting more towards looking at how a certain celebrity one who is very naive and sort of ambiguous might be exploited by those things and his naiveté would have a distorting quality to the story Adoption and filial relationships and family relationships were always in the DNA of any kind of script that we wrote The idea sharpened and one of the main turning points was a shifting the film towards being in Portugal and working with Carloto (to Gabriel) I don't know if you want to speak to that GABRIEL ABRANTES: At a certain point we decided to shoot in Portugal. We had written various versions of the script and around the fourth or fifth rewrite I thought let's write something for Carloto Cotta I'd worked with him three times before on shorts and he's hyper-inventive We still wanted to do the same architecture as the script we had which is about a very wealthy person that tries to justify their life politically by adopting somebody We were thinking what sort of very wealthy icon will be interesting for Portugal and Carloto could play Very quickly we came to the idea of this soccer stud a Portuguese icon that could represent extreme wealth We wrote right after Brexit and we shot during the election of Trump Trump was elected during one of the shoot days So we were writing and directing during the events that informed the film Did you change things as you went along since events were happening live Especially our last rewrite was a huge one where a lot of things changed the skeleton is always the same but the surface really morphs We wrote two months before shooting and kept changing it throughout the shoot Schmidt and AbrantesHow do you work together Are there things one of you is better at than the other We both read it while we were starting to write the script Daniel showed me Au Hasard Balthazar which ended up influencing this film And us watching each other watch these things helps build a conversation a lot of times when we were writing versions we were a little late for a deadline and so we'd split scenes up sometimes we're right together speaking in unison GABRIEL: It's not that Daniel's is the visual person We are a team from the idea to color to whatever There's a lot of different things happening Were you ever afraid people will be confused When we feel like we're doing something that might be a little confusing or hard We wanted to make something that could be open to a broader audience Let's do something that is a bit complicated and a bit confusing and a bit ambiguous at times But also something in a language that my friends or my mom who has nothing to do with movies She can watch this rom-com and also get strange ideas about certain topics and subjectivities that she might not usually have access to We touch on a lot of touchy stuff from gender to sexuality to politics and that's risky but also what we're most interested in DANIEL: We wanted to make a film that definitely touches on the real world they're in a safe remove like a castle for wizards or whatever I love those movies but we wanted to map a sort of fairytale like language which Hollywood has so forcefully blanketed the world We were also hoping that the film is something that can be open to interpretation that it doesn't have a resolute idea or thesis But we want the film to provide questions rather than answers and we didn't want it to fully capitulate to the hegemony of realism which is the main mode in which a lot of the subjects we touch are often treated How did that work on set when working with the actors For instance the actors who played the evil sisters have to be very hilarious and over the top while the romance has to be more grounded and believable GABRIEL: A lot of It is in the script and also we were really blown away by what the actors were doing Then these twins came in for casting and were so funny Some people think they're one note or too much but we love them They were finishing each other's sentences They spent a lot of time after rehearsal and after shoots fooling around together They'd reorganize the script to their own rhythm DANIEL: Cleo Tavares who plays Aisha and Carloto who plays Diamantino We filmed out of narrative sequence like most films so we ended up filming their most tender scenes first scenes That ended up giving them a degree of nervousness and tenderness that befit those scenes well And then by the end of the film they're closer And that helped infuse the scenes where he's playing her father her playing someone who's pretending to be his son Other actors were hired to play one character but ended up playing a different one once we saw what they could do in rehearsals and their chemistry with each other There was just a lot of responding to the actors There was definitely a variety of acting modes or skills This sort of things happens a bit more in Portugal which is a smaller film economy than America So they were happy to take on the different tones that the film traverses rather than being rigid in one style The lead character is so guileless and asexual at the beginning It could be Dostoevsky’s "The Idiot" or Peter Sellers in Being There or even a recent film like Alice Rohrwacher’s Lazzaro Felice DANIEL:I thought that film really rhymed with our film It's a very different film but I see the connection DANIEL: Candide is sort of the cornerstone And then this text by David Foster Wallace about Tracy Austin the tennis player that he describes as depressingly vapid He was expecting the secret to genius to be revealed she's only talking about the importance of family how money never factored into her playing tennis or whatever So his reading of her was also a big inspiration Obviously also famous soccer players from Portugal His interview on Oprah was a big inspiration DANIEL: These were all absolutely true inspirations but I think the main thing is that Gabriel and I are often trying to twist or explode stereotypes And so this idea of celebrities being operators who are using every single aspect of their platform to exploit things And this is someone who's basically the inverse of that He suspected of that but he's totally unaware and innocent GABRIEL: A big inspiration for a lot of the shorts I've done comes from Judith Butler’s idea about masquerade and how drag is a form of emancipatory mask And that's why we were interested in crossdressing and gender bending which goes back to Shakespeare there's a little bit of Warhol but more of Kenneth Anger and what he does with traditionally hetero macho arch conservative stereotypes like the homophobic motorcycle gangs in Scorpio Rising What I understand is most of these guys were Long Island hetero jocks and Kenneth Anger transformed them into queer icons I always appreciated how he subverted these fascist characters against their will into these fantastical queer heroes I thought that was really beautiful and perverse at the same time Cristiano Ronaldo is definitely fetishized by a lot of queer men But he himself and for the majority of the world is seen as a massive hetero icon And for us it was interesting to subvert that and play with that and deconstruct it Also surprisingly make Diamantino the person who's most open to accepting that We were lucky because we didn't ask for pekingese They brought twelve of them because they get very tired They had names like Betty who was the most active one The trainer was fluffing them and hairdressing them and spraying them with Chanel No DANIEL: The dogs we filmed in green screen and then put them against the filmed footage of or soccer stadiums and the smoke which was generated by an effects house that we worked with the takeaway for me with the effects was that we had set out a somewhat finite amount of effects And then through working with that footage and the flexibility of having that green screen imagery we started to have the flexibility of being able to rewrite things at the end so are you intending to continue collaborating together GABRIEL: We've made three films together and then Daniel made another two films with another director I've done two films with another director and then we keep switching We definitely enjoy working with each other a lot which is inspired by James Cameron saying that like he'll do Avatar 18 when the technology catches up and Daniel says that we will take a chance when the technology catches up DANIEL: I changed my saying to 'when they offer us Star Trek 9' or something (laughs) You said earlier that you were affected by current events Do you think that artists have a responsibility to reflect society or to push forward socio political commentary in their art The question of responsibility is for me quite difficult because there are so many ways to attack what you should or shouldn't do I had parents who worked in politics in a certain way and so I always mistrusted that approach towards the world And I always thought art was actually a far more profound way to do philosophy and politics and I may be totally wrong about that That might be a slightly bourgeois privileged perspective of the world I've always been interested in trying to make films or paintings that engaged what's going on in the world in some way I thought that was the best way to engage rather than starting a foundation or trying to work at it from a different angle I agree with you that I think my favorite work engages with some sort of responsibility or attention to the world However it all changes so much in the context of interpretation by audiences and critics and as times passes I think nowadays I have a big interest in what we could call outsider art which might be coming from a space of not sort of knowing the larger world or the current discourse But for Gabe and I who are privileged - anyone making movies has a privileged position I think the responsibility is to be aware of that privilege Bring aware of the history of cinema and how it has operated as an unwieldy force in cultural discourse Where you go with that and where the audience takes the work is up to you as a critic and up to them GABRIEL: I think I responded poorly to the responsibility question I think I'm old fashioned in a sense that the filmmakers that inspired me were the ones who advocated for a sort of irresponsibility Like what I was saying about Anger or Warhol DANIEL: Or the To be Or Not to Be reference that you bring up Making this goofy slapstick anti Nazi film during the war was just insane Diamantino is currently playing at Metrograph and BAM in New York. Here's a list of future dates in additional markets as well View Printer Friendly Version Email Article to Friend This movie is brilliant: one of my TOP 5 movies of the year so far Conan Osíris in Eurovision and now this movie A scattershot mix of camp and political sensibilities this bizarre movie certainly doesn’t play by the rules Points for originality should go to “Diamantino,” an amusing but scattershot comedy that revolves around a world-famous Portuguese soccer star patterned in part on Cristiano Ronaldo Co-directed and written by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt this is a film that takes a lot of chances with its tone as it moves from farcical moments to scenes with earnest political messages Diamantino (Carloto Cotta) is a national idol on the soccer field and whenever he scores a goal he sees enormous fluffy puppies surrounding him This imagery of the giant puppies is funny because they’re so obviously meant to be small and harmless pets and here they’re seen stomping around like dinosaurs (Part of what makes this work is Irma Lucia’s lo-fi effects which would probably not be as funny if they were slicker and more professional.) These giant fluffy puppies are an apt symbol of Diamantino himself a sports God who is so absurdly innocent that he can be used by anyone around him for either good or bad purposes Diamantino is inspired by his kindly father and beset by a pair of ever-angry twin sisters Sonia (Anabela Moreira) and Natasha (Margarida Moreira) who constantly berate him as soft and unmanly Diamantino sees a boat filled with refugees and when he makes eye contact with a woman who has lost her child at sea the imagery goes into slow motion as she screams at him silently Cut deeply by this encounter with the refugee woman Diamantino is so upset that he loses the World Cup game he is playing soon afterward; the giant fluffy puppies that usually accompany his victories disappear and fans soon flood the internet with memes of Diamantino as a crybaby and the wicked sisters make a deal with the Portuguese government to clone him Lucia (Maria Leite) and Aisha (Cleo Tavares) a pair of female lovers from the Portuguese secret service are monitoring Diamantino to catch him in a money-laundering scheme started by his sisters When Diamantino tells a talk-show host that he wants to adopt a refugee Aisha poses as a refugee in order to get inside Diamantino’s estate; if this sounds like too much plot for one movie to handle particularly when Abrantes and Schmidt start to pile on issue after issue and to show how Diamantino is used as a right-wing pawn to get Portugal to leave the European Union This is a movie that is at its best when it’s at its silliest and Cotta gets a lot of laughs with “just how dumb is he?” jokes where he makes his face as blank as it can possibly be Diamantino is a narcissist who has images of himself all over his house: On his bed there are two pillowcases facing each other with his image in profile on them so that it looks like they’re about to kiss each other like a fish,” he tells Aisha before posing for a pouty selfie we learn that he has never had sex: “Must be cool and she probably laughs at him too much in the mid-section of the movie as if the filmmakers are worried that we need some extra prodding to find him funny The switches in tone really start to slip towards the end; we are meant to laugh at the wicked sisters but then also to take them somewhat seriously as a threat Diamantino begins to grow breasts after his clone treatment and this seems to be what finally makes Aisha fall in love with him “Diamantino” takes place in a world where traditional masculinity is either absent or off-stage and the filmmakers never resolve what they are trying to say about gender and innocence and good and evil but all this can be forgiven once Cotta walks among his giant fluffy puppies again This picture feels fated to be remembered as the “giant fluffy puppy soccer movie,” and both the giant fluffy puppies and Cotta provide enough laughs to make it worthwhile At the 2020 CDI-W Wellington on 11 - 13 December a new interesting duo made its international show debut in the Under 25 division: Kendall Cox on Tina Konyot's former Grand Prix ride Diamantino II is an 11-year old Hanoverian gelding by Desperados out of Laura (by Lauries Crusador xx x Lemon Tree x Wendekreis) He is bred in Germany by Rolf and Maria Dinklage The 22-year old Kendall Cox is originally from  St Missouri and majored in English Equestrian Studies at the University of Findlay in Ohio She began riding at the age of 5 and competed in Saddlebred shows for 12 years before switching to dressage she attended the three-month Winter Intensive Training Program with Olympian Lendon Gray in Wellington The experience made her decide to fully go for a career with horses Cox rode the first time down the centerline at an international competition in September 2019 at Dressage at Devon Aboard Lendon Gray's Hanoverian gelding Davidor (by Davignon I x Espri) she rode in the Young Riders classes Cox spent three months riding horses for the Hanoverian Breed Society in Verden "I would have loved to stay in Europe but I had to come back to the states to finish my college degree," said Cox "Shortly after I had the awesome opportunity to work for Robert so I am super happy to stay in the states!" In April 2020 Cox was hired as an assistant rider for Olympian and former U.S One of the perks of the job is that Kendall gets to ride high quality dressage horses including Bruce Grivetti's Grand Prix horse Diamantino II and the 6-year old Oldenburg stallion Doutano (by Don Noblesse x Dolany) The New York based Grivetti acquired Doutano upon Tina's recommendation at the 2017 PSI Auction in Germany "Bruce asked Robert to help him find a Young Rider for his horses," Kendall explained "I was lucky enough to have been selected as their new rider under Robert’s direction." Tina Konyot trained Diamantino for 6 yearsThe Grand Prix horse Diamantino II came from the stables of Heinrich Giesselmann and was once competed by Angelica Bystrom in Germany in 2013 The Roman number "II" behind his name is in fact a misreading from the number 11 The horse is registered with the German Equestrian Federation as "Diamantino 11 the 11th horse with that name in the FN database "At the end of 2013 Diamantino was scouted by U.S Team rider Tina Konyot and acquired by her business partner Konyot developed the gelding from novice level to Grand Prix Tina and Diamantino made their national show debut in January 2017 at small tour level at the CDN Wellington At the time Konyot told Eurodressage that their show debut took a while as the horse was difficult to ride "He had some delay in his upbringing because of some terrible behavioral issues," she said in 2017 "He broke my knee the summer of 2015 and the summer of 2016 he has come into himself Everyone told me to never ride him again but I'm my father's daughter and never give-up So dreams do come true and Diamond and I are on a new adventure together." Konyot and Diamantino rode into the CDI ring for the first time in January 2018 They actively competed at small tour level during the three months of the 2018 Global Dressage Festival in Wellington They won two international classes and placed five more times in the top five Konyot and Diamantino in 2017In 2019 Denton wanted to relinquish her involvement in horses and sold Diamantino to Konyot's long-time friend and business partner Bruce Grivetti (it) was a very difficult road to travel but we developed a happy successful relationship," Konyot told Eurodressage "At 80 years old Patsy Denton wanted to get out of the horse business and decided to sell Diamantino With that knowledge I started to put a syndicate together and I raised $360,000 to pay for Diamantino but Patsy decided to go another avenue and sell the horse to a friend of mine whom she had meet through me." Konyot and the chestnut travelled to Europe that autumn and made their international Grand Prix debut at the CDI Ornago in Italy in September 2019 where they scored 65.326% in the Grand Prix and 68.681% in the Special They spent two months in total training with Jan Bemelmans in Germany "Bruce Grivetti owned the horse four months then decided to pull the horse from me without reason," said a saddened Konyot Diamantino as well as Doutano were moved to Robert Dover's base in Wellington "Kendall is a lucky girl to benefit from a well trained horse and I’m happy that he is being loved by her," said Konyot who added that she was "was damaged and heart broken" and" trying to put it all behind" her Kendall and Diamantino at the CDN WellingtonKendall and Diamantino II made their national show debut at Under 25 level on 12-13 June 2020 at the rescheduled "Gold Coast May Dressage" national show scoring 70.588% in the Inter II and 66.026% in the Short Grand Prix Their second national show was 12 - 15 November at the Global Dressage Fall Festival where they earned 71.324% in the Inter II and 67.179% in the Short Grand Prix At their first international on 11 - 13 December they were third in the Intermediaire II with 65.294% and third in the Short Grand Prix with 63.821% I have learned so much from Robert and I am very blessed to have the ride on such an amazing horse "I had a great experience at our first CDI," said Kendall "This horse gives his whole heart each and every day and I am so grateful to Bruce Grivetti for the ride on this wonderful horse." Stalls for Rent at Durondeau Dressage in Peer, Belgium Exceptionally Well Located Equestrian Facility in Wellington, Florida Well-built Equestrian Estate With Multiple Business Opportunities in Sweden Stable Units for Rent at Lotje Schoots' Equestrian Center in Houten (NED) For Rent: Several Apartments and Stable Wing at High-End Equestrian Facility Stable Wing Available at Reiterhof Wensing on Dutch/German border Real Estate: Well-Appointed Country House with Extensive Equestrian Facility in the U.K. Rémi Blot Can a comedy about a footballer keep our attention It absolutely can if it involves giant puppies and cloning The world’s greatest footballer suffers a crisis of confidence in this colourful fantasy satire A footballer runs across the pitch towards the goal at a packed out The world melts away as he approaches to strike… and the pitch is filled with giant fluffy puppies surrounded by a sparkly pink mist This is just the opening scene of Diamantino an utterly bizarre yet charming fantasy comedy from directing duo Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt the film follows the handsome Diamantino Matamouros (Carloto Cotta) as he embarks on a mission to regain his glory after an embarrassing defeat at the World Cup finals Manipulated by his wicked twin sisters (Anabela Moreira and Margarida Moreira) who seek to profit from their talented and doltish brother Diamantino’s narrow worldview is blown wide open forcing him to encounter – among other things – refugees The plot promptly heads off in several different directions at once each storyline tie together surprisingly neatly Everyone Diamantino comes into contact with uses him for their own personal agenda and the constant manipulation of such a sweet entirely naïve character is painful to watch – at one point a TV host shows the star pictures of his recently deceased father on live TV This isn’t a film that rests on realism though who beat him and rarely speak a kind or quiet word making him the princess in need of rescuing It’s this harsh treatment of Diamantino that makes the film so heartfelt and amusing – it’s easy to feel sorry for the oblivious star while simultaneously laughing at him as he makes piles of Nutella crêpes (his favourite food) for the refugee he adopts as his son The idea of a fully grown man at the peak of physical fitness with a head so full of football that he has no real awareness or experience of adult life and Cotta plays the part with a winning sensitivity It also works to undermine and question the idols of pop culture that are presented to the public – what do we really know about them other than what their public image tells us Also memorable is the film’s distinct imagery Composite shots of a football stadium filling with ocean water Diamantino running naked through a candy-coloured galaxy and those giant puppies bounding through pink mist combine to create a strong visual tone that visualises the footballer’s new experiences in a world he’s entirely unfamiliar with the film appears a little scatterbrained at first but Abrantes and Schmidt connect multiple themes and character arcs to form an intelligent They have created a beautifully made curio that captures the heart and takes us on a bewildering LWLies 107: The Sinners issue – Out now! Ryan Coogler: ‘I’m more confident in my film language than I am in my English’ I’m Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today: The Video Shop at the End of the World The 2025 Cannes Film Festival line-up is here! The empty showboat of cinematic one-shots Inside the academic conference taking Terrifier back to school By David Whelan A new documentary charts the life and career of one of professional sport’s greatest con men By Adam Woodward This evocative documentary celebrates the life and career of one of football’s true greats Tim Roth stars as Sepp Blatter (no, really) in this prestige biopic on the football governing body we love to hate. Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. 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Inverse/Syndrome FilmsFound in TranslationAdorable himbo Diamantino Matamouros (Carloto Cotta) is the most famous soccer player in the world that’s the case in co-directors Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s delightfully bizarre Portuguese-language first feature that bears his name His handsome squared-jawed mug and chiseled physique are monuments carved in honor of the most traditionally idealized form of the male body This hunk behaves with the wide-eyed innocence of a child whose only concern is to make his loving father proud but even that won’t stop nefarious forces from trying to use his image as a symbol of toxic white masculinity As it unspools into increasingly zanier occurrences Diamnatino reveals itself at once heartwarming and thought-provoking as it grapples with the refugee crisis It blends elements of science fiction and fairytale into an irreverent concoction Abrantes and Schmidt use dreamlike VFX here to bring us inside Diamantino’s colorfully infantile headspace Although the filmmakers claim they didn’t base any characters on real people it’s impossible not to associate Diamantino with Portugal’s soccer prodigy Diamantino doesn’t see his teammates nor his opponents In his mind he is the lone player kicking the ball among giant fluffy puppies enveloped in a cloud of pink fuzz That reassuring fantasy enables him to remain calm and score with ease a future version of Dimantino narrates the series of ordeals we are about to witness Portugal and Sweden make it to the final match of the 2018 World Cup Diamantino’s rose-colored outlook on the world is shattered after witnessing the suffering of refugees at sea Diamantino’s crying face of defeat becomes a humiliating meme Diamantino goes viral for all the wrong reasons the unsuspecting Diamantino falls prey to multiple entities eager to take advantage of his lowest point his greedy sisters — twins Sonia (Anabela Moreira) and Natasha (Margarida Moreira) — abuse him and steal his fortune acting about as subtle as the villains in a Disney movie But that’s not the worst of Diamantino’s problems The directors decisively critique far-right ideologies by introducing a nationalist political organization’s plan to clone Diamantino and create an invincible soccer team that can keep the masses happy with their victories In addition to subjecting him to numerous tests (which include mixing his DNA with that of a clown fish) the radical conservative group uses Diamantino as the face of a publicity campaign exalting Portugal’s colonial past which feature the player dressed in conquistador attire encourage the population to vote in favor of leaving the EU The anti-immigrant rhetoric takes a page from the Trump administration and promises to build a wall in order to halt the refugee influx Diamantino imagines himself totally alone in a calm Cotta’s radiant charisma holds the absurdist elements together His performance registers on the same wavelength as Ryan Gosling in Barbie — lovable simpletons played without cynicism but instead unabashed sincerity present a challenge few actors excel at Thanks to Cotta’s excitable and naïve demeanor there’s never doubt in our minds that Diamantino is exactly who he seems to be also recently seen in the Macedonia-set witch saga conveys such a disarming energy it manages to make us care deeply for this muscly idiot Diamantino’s finances are also the subject of an investigation by Portugal’s Secret Service dresses up in juvenile clothing and pretends to be a refugee boy named Rahim Dimantino takes on the role of a devoted father just as the cloning process begins to alter his body in ways that confuse him Diamantino’s relationship with Aisha feels worthy of laughter but as she discovers the endless compassion within him That Aisha (a lesbian presumably with ties to the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde) and Diamantino (now living in an androgynous body) eventually triumph over the conservative antagonists who want to weaponize him to advance their cause reads like a bold statement Overstuffed with ingenuity as Abrantes and Schmidt’s one-of-a-kind satire is its core themes have sadly become even more timely Only a year after the 2018 release of Diamantino the alarmingly populist Chega party was founded in Portugal Chega has surged as a strong force in the country Scary times loom in a world that doesn’t have giant fluffy puppies running around may all learn to love a bit more selflessly (and Bell UK CEO to MPI to Strengthen International Cooperation In order to strengthen international cooperation in English education They were warmly welcomed by President Im Sio Kei and the management of MPI-Bell The MPI-Bell Centre of English is a cooperation of 15 years between MPI and Bell UK which has provided high quality English college courses  to MPI students and teachers as well as professional training to the wider communities in Macao and Mainland China More than 50,000 people have benefited from these widely acclaimed programs President Im Sio Kei recalled the close cooperation and mutual support between MPI and Bell and introduced the latest developments at MPI Catrin Diamantino expressed her satisfaction in the successful work of the MPI-Bell Centre and her hopes for greater mutual cooperation in the near future including offering new opportunities for MPI students to take part in academic English study in Cambridge for Macao teachers of English to benefit from the teacher development expertise of Bell UK trainers and for strengthening the exchange of teaching experiences from both sides to continue to assure effective teaching quality Ennis toured the MPI-Bell Centre on the MPI campus and were introduced to the latest facilities and ideas the Centre uses to develop and maintain its high quality English teaching and learning This article was published more than 6 years ago Carloto Cotta is pictured in a still from Diamantino.Maria & Mayer The film starts to make a perfect sort of nonsense-sense perfectly in line with the cult-friendly sensibilities of TIFF’s after-dark program.Maria & Mayer Watching the first few minutes of Diamantino at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September I was genuinely puzzled as to why this sports film was acting as that year’s Midnight Madness closer Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s feature opens on a Portuguese soccer star (Carloto Cotta) in the middle of a World Cup match all the country’s eyes on the Ronaldo-esque hunk But then a bunch of giant puppies appear to the title character in a dreamy haze his evil twin sisters start to conspire against him a genetic engineer starts messing around with clown fish DNA a pair of lesbian-lover cops hatch a plan involving a nun’s habit and offshore bank accounts It all starts to make a perfect sort of nonsense-sense perfectly in line with the cult-friendly sensibilities of TIFF’s after-dark program Diamantino is exactly the type of surreal concoction that begs to be discovered by unsuspecting audiences The fact that it includes one of the best punchlines involving the word “Canada” in recent memory is simply a delightful bonus Diamantino opens April 4 at The Cinematheque in Vancouver Report an editorial error Report a technical issue Editorial code of conduct Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following Barry Hertz is the Deputy Arts Editor and Film Editor for The Globe and Mail He previously served as the Executive Producer of Features for the National Post and was a manager and writer at Maclean’s before that Barry’s arts and culture writing has also been featured in several publications, including Reader’s Digest and NOW Magazine. 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For more information on our commenting policies and how our community-based moderation works, please read our Community Guidelines and our Terms and Conditions by Chris Feil Plenty of the quasi mainstream queer movies are quickly labeled as not queer enough the queer intelligencia (however rightfully) upset if gay life is reduced for the straight masses nor is it all that interested in your intellectual approval either And still it delivers something batty enough (and honestly flat out sweet enough) to knock potential naysayers off of their pretentious perch while delivering something foaming with queerness to fill all of its corners Get ready for a fantasia of giddy gender confusion to glitterbomb the square conformity delusion all set to Donna Lewis' "I Love You Always Forever" Diamantino is an absolute gas.Our titular hero is quite the lovable dope a Portugese futbol star whose grand failure at the World Cup sets into motion a series of increasingly delirious events First there’s Diamantino’s existential crisis at the death of his father resulting in his newfound desire to become an adoptive parent himself one dressed as a nun and the other as Diamantino’s new would-be son Third and most dastardly fabulous is Diamantino’s watchful evil sisters (twins!) exploiting him by cloning him off for global conservative supremacy and berating him endlessly to keep him in his frozen manchild state Oh and not to mention the clownfish DNA that has Diamantino sprouting breasts From its opening shots of a neon-clad stadium the camera approaches like a gay alien orb (or orifice) Diamantino marks a visual and narrative identity that borrows from a slew of genre influences Directors Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt fill the film with a litany of subverted genre elements from science fiction and sports drama to fairy tale and screwball comedy Part of TIFF’s Midnight Madness section it satisfies many oddball tastes while also feeling very much like its own thing The film’s silly side doesn’t diminish any of its casual smarts or the frank offhandedness with which it approaches its queerness Despite the way his body his exploited by the archly evil forces around him Diamantino meets the development of his sexual identity and physical body with an acceptance and curiosity Diamantino is expected to be the thirst trapping dolt but his simpleton outlook is precisely what saves him from the cruel world that thinks him simply stupid and for pigeonholing the would-be “son” played by Cleo Tavares is torn between a rigid lover and her mounting feelings for Diamantino showing queer strictures sometimes also come from within But then there’s plenty of easy treasures of its genre: the evil Miranda Priestly fembot sisters Think of it like John Waters’ Austin Powers with kitsch replaced by mild psychedelia and a smart vantage on contemporary sexual persona and global evils All while undercutting it with the charmingly juvenile (in the best sense) perspective of how Diamantino sees a dangerous world Though it may sound like a stylistic high wire act of insanity Diamantino plays it smart by actually somehow keeping it simple tongue forever in cheek while it relies on standard archetypes it’s just the story of a possibly bisexual virgin manboy and his cat View Printer Friendly Version Email Article to Friend Diamantino blatantly makes fun of Cristiano Ronaldo the portuguese athlete superhero of the country but the movie seems to be more about the character and not his profession Happy is the country that laughs at its heroes Hope Portugal submits "Diamantino" for Best Foreign Picture.. but sometimes (good) weird things happen at the Oscars..Just because Portugal has submitted 34 times - SCORE: 0 nominations By Allan Hunter2018-05-11T13:20:00+01:00 Portugese comedy ’Diamantino’ shoots hard and scores the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt have bitten off more than they casn chew with their debut feature Diamantino The ridiculous plight of a gormless world class footballer serves as the basis for a chaotic madcap comedy in which strident satire does battle with strained whimsicality There might be some cult potential in these Pythonesque larks There are stray laughs among the silliness,but much of what transpires is tiresome played by the very Ronaldo-esque Carloto Cotta Considered the best football player on the planet fluffy puppies trailing clouds of candy-cloud dust he is invincible until a fatal error at the 2018 World Cup final and the death of his father send him hurtling towards an existential crisis Cotta is well cast as a vacant national treasure and is often endearingly stupid Diamantino is a man whose gleaming copper body is his fortune and who has his own lines of bedding and underwear Why would he need to have an intellect as well Diamantino has the potential of Jean Dujardin creations like Brice De Nice or 0SS117 Yet Abrantes and Schmidt fail to make the most of it by pitching him into a hectic The search for redemption involves adopting a refugee and becoming a dupe of a neo-fascist organisation intent on making Portugal great again as it prepares to vote on leaving the European Union There are some one-liners that hit their target as Diamantino explains to his son exactly what a refugee is and how he might adopt one from any part of a troubled world Canada would seem to be his preferred option There are also stray laughs among the silliness Diamantino is at the mercy of twin sisters who act like pantomime meanies and whose every hysterical appearance becomes an ordeal Desperate to nail the footballing icon for financial misconduct undercover government agent Aisha (Cleo Tavares) (female) poses as Mozambique refugee Rahim (male) and is adopted by Diamantino as the child he has always wanted Nobody in the household pauses to question the age or obvious femininity of this “boy” the whole set-up is problematic for her lesbian lover and colleague who has posed as a Catholic nun in charge of an orphanage She arrives sporting a wimple fashioned into the floppy ears of a very large bunny That’s before we stray into Austin Powers territory with a diabolical plot to create an unbeatable national team by cloning Diamantino The scattershot approach often feels as juvenile as the central character You have to admire the sheer giddy enthusiasm of these filmmaking friends who are fizzing with ideas and able to make a modest budget stretch a long way The film has a certain visual allure in its gaudy colours and low-budget special-effects Yet you also long for them to put all those energies into a more focused International sales: Charades carole@charades.eu Bookmark this page to keep track of all the latest festival dates CAD $90,000 in cash and prizes presented at Friday’s ceremony in Toronto The extended version of Anselm Chan’s ‘The Last Dance’ also picked up two awards Florence Pugh takes centre stage for this mighty tussle in a post-Avengers world Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong reunite to tell their own story Pleasingly complex murder mystery opened the Hong Kong International Film Festival Screen International is the essential resource for the international film industry access to the Screen International archive and supplements including Stars of Tomorrow and World of Locations Site powered by Webvision Cloud The information on this page is intended for journalists If you click NO you will come back to Mynewsdesk.com a global leader in international education is thrilled to announce the appointment of Catrin Diamantino as the new President for its International Sales Offices This key role holds overall responsibility for Educatius' International Sales Offices and is an integral part of the senior leadership of Educatius recently serving as CEO of English language school Bell in Cambridge will bring her wealth of experience and expertise to lead Educatius' global offices where she demonstrated exceptional leadership by successfully navigating the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic Her impressive track record includes serving as one of the management board members of English UK Catrin spent 17 years as the Sales and Marketing Director for EC English She was an essential part of the executive leadership team that oversaw the remarkable growth of EC from a small school in Malta with only six staff members to becoming the third-largest English as a Foreign Language (EFL) chain in the world With schools spanning 22 locations across three continents and a global staff of 700 Catrin's team achieved the remarkable feat of selling courses to over 40,000 students annually Catrin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Global Marketing from Emerson College in Boston and has honed her leadership capacity by engaging in the Executive Education program at Harvard Business School "We are delighted to have attracted a sales leader of Catrin's caliber to Educatius," said John Cedergårdh and unwavering drive align perfectly with our mission We believe that her dynamic personality and strong leadership qualities will make a significant impact within our organization." Catrin Diamantino will be based in Stockholm and commences her role as President of International Sales Offices at Educatius in mid-October 2023 With 20 years of experience and offices in 22 countries Educatius is the largest organization dedicated to academic exchange programs abroad Educatius ensures the success of over 8,000 international students from 60 countries on high school programs in the USA Australia and Canada; as well as outstanding experience for host families and our partners Educatius contributes to improving education access through its support of Aiducatius As a leading provider of international exchange programs Educatius boasts 21 years of experience and is the largest organization dedicated to academic high school programs abroad When you choose to create a user account and follow a newsroom your personal data will be used by us and the owner of the newsroom for you to receive news and updates according to your subscription settings To learn more about this, please read our Privacy Policy, which applies to our use of your personal data, and our Privacy Policy for Contacts which applies to the use of your personal data by the owner of the newsroom you follow Please note that our Terms of Use apply to all use of our services You can withdraw your consent at any time by unsubscribing or deleting your account "Diamantino" is a charming and silly farce Carloto Cotta plays a Portugese soccer star with visions of puppies We’re all too familiar with political slogans advocating border walls But would building a border wall make Portugal great again That’s one of many comic questions posed in Diamantino a broad satire from Portugal that won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival The film follows Diamantino Matamouros (Carloto Cotta) When he’s “in the zone,” he sees the soccer field as a pink cloud with huge fluffy puppies drives him to isolate himself in his mansion Sonia and Natasha (Anabela and Margarida Moriera) conspire to keep Diamantino’s income flowing while he is off the field They submit their brother to a series of tests conducted by the mysterious Dr Lamborghini (Carla Maciel) to discover the secret to his soccer prowess The funders of the research have interests beyond the soccer field They produce advertisements to provoke nationalist fervor Add a money-laundering investigation run by two lesbian lovers one of whom masquerades as an African refugee boy to be adopted by Diamantino and you have more than enough ingredients for a wacky farce Diamantino comically fails to understand the world around him and the surveillance state should not make sense Directors Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt deliver an entertaining but never fully satisfying film Little happens until the last third of the film The humor is often funnier in concept than it is in its execution on screen is as obvious as a Saturday Night Live cold open seem obscured in a digital haze that temper their visceral and comic impact Diamantino directly addresses the consequences of the austerity measures implemented in Portugal in 2010 after the global financial crisis such a charmingly silly film provides much-needed relief please send an email with the following information to calendar@isthmus.com Here's the information we need to include your event in our calendar: * event date; RSVP/ticket deadline if there is one email or website we can publish (REQUIRED) Optional info:* bios/press releases for posting with the online listing and it was made with the help of YouTube special effects tutorials We meet the boundary-busting duo behind football fantasy Diamantino so falling asleep would’ve been totally fine,” says Connecticut-born Daniel Schmidt when I meet him and his Portuguese-American co-director Gabriel Abrantes Schmidt is anything but precious about how the movie is seen: “I was telling an audience recently ‘Feel free to whip out your phones while it’s on whatever.’ The film is porous and it has that overloaded element ‘It barely holds together!’ But we wanted to test the boundaries of what one film could contain because that seems very expressive of the current moment Why not add one more ingredient by looking at your phone?” View image in fullscreen‘It’s going to need footnotes 20 years from now’ … Diamantino. Photograph: Modern Films“South Park was a huge inspiration “It was always full of events from the week before We took the language for the Portugal leave campaign directly from the Leave ads in the UK.” Schimdt chips in: “It’s satire, but I wouldn’t say it’s biting. It’s not Armando Iannucci We tried to treat everything democratically whether it was the refugee crisis or social media addiction and the audience is fast and smart enough to pick up on the briefest of our allusions That said, its queer sensibility at least makes it seem ahead of its time. One character crossdresses to get closer to Diamantino, while another blithely accepts an accidental change in gender, turning the film into something like a screwball comedy for the Instagram era. The goofy innocence of the title character, played by Carloto Cotta, is reflected in a homemade aesthetic reminiscent of Michel Gondry though the film-makers laugh when I ask if the DIY visuals were intentional I don’t think Ronaldo sees puppies on the field when he’s playing“We were trying our hardest!” Schmidt says. “We’d have made it look like Ratatouille if we could,” adds Abrantes they followed special effects tutorials on YouTube “There was one called How to Do Iron Man Holograms in After-Effects,” Abrantes says Their inventiveness won them the 2018 Critics’ week grand prize at Cannes and Abrantes is back at the festival this month with a semi-animated short film about a sculpture that abandons its plinth at the Louvre to go out into the streets and protest – a metaphor for art with a political purpose “We thought it would be the Nutella crepes that people latched on to,” says Abrantes, referring to Diamantino’s favourite meal. “Or that it would become known as ‘the Cristiano Ronaldo movie’.” They’re quick to point out that the character isn’t based on the Real Madrid star “I certainly don’t think Ronaldo sees puppies on the field when he’s playing,” Schmidt says by Alex Billington May 6, 2019Source: YouTube "Something magical happened when I played." Kino Lorber has debuted an official US trailer for the wacky one-of-a-kind "high camp" indie comedy Diamantino from directors Gabriel Abrantes & Daniel Schmidt This Portuguese film premiered in the Critics' Week sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival last year and stopped by a bunch of major film festivals throughout the film "Tabu's Carloto Cotta gives the finest comic performance in recent memory as the dimwitted Portuguese soccer superstar of the title swept up in a complicated comic conundrum involving the refugee crisis and a right-wing anti-EU conspiracy." This is easily one of the most creative and hilarious films I saw last year and I definitely recommend it - a "high-camp" international discovery that will be a cult classic very soon Here's the new US trailer (+ posters) for Gabriel Abrantes & Daniel Schmidt's Diamantino, on YouTube: From David Ehrlich's review from Cannes: Diamantino is "an eccentric and uninhibited piece of work" and "is nothing less (and so much more) than the movie the world needs right now." I definitely agree with him Find more posts in: Indies, To Watch, Trailer That first poster is nothing short of epic I can't say no to pink cloud soaring pug rockets.. Alex Billington on May 9 that's how spiritual healing looks like for a soccer player Get outta here with those amazingly glorious posters a low energy trailer....not much to see here Appreciate you promoting portuguese cinema 😉 New comments are no longer allowed on this post Add our RSS to your Feedly +click here+ Latest posts now available on Bluesky: Get the latest posts sent on Telegram Want emails instead?Subscribe to our dailynewsletter updates: Hundreds of Catholics from various parishes across the Diocese of Tete gathered for Mass on 12 August at the diocesan Shrine of Zobuè to honor and remember two remarkable individuals: Father João de Deus Kamtedza and Father Silvio Alves Moreira revered as the "Martyrs of Chapotera." This event marked the conclusion of the Diocesan phase in the cause for their beatification and canonization Bishop Diamantino Guapo Antunes of Tete praised the two Servants of God as exceptional pastors who shared the suffering of their people tirelessly sought peace and reconciliation and dedicated their human and spiritual qualities to the service of God and humanity The Bishop's words resonated deeply with the faithful who had come to remember them The cause for beatification started on 20 November 2021 and included an extensive inquiry led by a commission appointed by the Bishop of Tete the commission meticulously interviewed contemporary witnesses who had known Father João de Deus Kamtedza and Father Silvio Alves Moreira during their lifetimes These individuals provided valuable insights into the lives and reputation of these two Servants of God were compiled into a comprehensive dossier spanning 1,500 pages The next step in the beatification process involved sealing the dossier and sending it in sealed containers to the representative of the Apostolic Nunciature in Mozambique Bishop Anthony would subsequently forward the dossier to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican for further examination The poignant story of these two Jesuit priests dates back to 30 October 1985 when they met a tragic fate near their mission house in Chapotera Father João de Deus Gonçalves Kamtedza 1930 in Angonia within the province of Tete in 1953 and was ordained a priest on 15 August 1964 in the Lifidzi Mission His dedication to the evangelization of his people took him to various missions where he wholeheartedly embraced the culture In 1983 he moved to Chapotera where he continued to provide pastoral care to the Lifidzi and Chabwalo Missions born on 16 April 1941 in Rio Meão-Vila da Feira entered the Jesuit seminary in 1952 and professed his religious vows in 1959 After theological studies at the Catholic University of Lisbon from 1968 to 1972 he was ordained a priest in Covilhã Father Moreira began his missionary journey in the Diocese of Tete working initially at the Zobuè seminary and later in the parish of Matundo serving primarily in the parish of Amparo in Matola He returned to the Diocese of Tete in September 1984 taking on roles in Satemwa and finally the Lifidzi Mission in Chapotera Father Silvio was known for his courageous and enterprising spirit and his ability to find joy even amid its hardships and risks on 30 October 1985 he and Father João de Deus Kamtedza fell victim to the long and bloody civil war that afflicted the people of Mozambique and its Catholic communities Thank you for reading our article. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to our daily newsletter. Just click here the reduced activity of commercial was compensated by the increased activity of couriers CEO Zacaria Group at Re:Focus on eCommerce Retail & Logistics 2021 event At Zacaria we have three types of clients: those involved in commercial those in manufacturing and those in logistics it was clear that due to lockdown the commercial sector it will be affected We took immediately steps to recognise those clients that will be heavily affected and to work with them on strategies or how to support them to continue the business At the same time to retain most clients by offering rental discounts,” said Jonathan Diamantino „Also there was a slowdown in demand in several sectors for products so manufacturing continued and our clients were able to go on and not be heavily affected by the pandemic transport and supply rather than the lack of demand.” „This year, e-commerce will drive the growth in the industrial parks development. I was very encouraged to hear that the government is very proactive in expanding the highway network in Romania. The challenge is to do forward planning in terms of developing industrial parks in those areas where there are few or non-present, and demand for industrial parks will grow.” having a broader spread of industrial parks in areas where highways and super-roads are coming in is going to be a necessity I think a company like Zacaria is clearly looking at road developments for the opening of new logistic parks.” „Zacaria, this year, will start the development of two industrial parks, one in the area of Pitesti, one in the area of Sibiu. But we are actively looking for properties and lands in areas where we see the highway infrastructure in progress to plan new parks,” concludes Jonathan Diamantino. We use cookies for keeping our website reliable and secure providing social media features and to analyse how our website is used football and giant puppies abound in surreal fantasy Diamantino filled with the unconventional imagery that made his name fluffy Pekingese puppies appear in candy-coloured clouds of dust on a football field from the writer-director twosome of Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt A coping mechanism for the moronic but well-meaning Portuguese footballer the giant dogs might only be the fifth strangest thing the the film hurls at the audience… in the first 20 minutes Thrown off his game when he glimpses a refugee family at sea who’ve been separated from their child the doltish Cristiano Ronaldo lookalike experiences a swift fall from grace It doesn’t take long for the film to dive into its particular brand of weirdness – launching into nefarious plots involving a cop going undercover as an adopted child a doctor named Lamborghini and satire of far-right nationalist sentiments that plague Europe in the real world A secret agent being disguised as a nun who rides a Vespa around is somehow the least ridiculous thing about this movie juggling a number of different genre tropes all while satirising modern day politics and challenging views of gender and even parodying the strange feverishness around football (referred to here as “the opium of the masses”) Despite being modelled after Cristiano Ronaldo Diamantino is actually a good person at heart Carloto Cotta plays him with heartrending earnestness only amplified by the goofy visual jokes that the directors sew throughout the film – the Diamantino pillows his ‘secret folder’ on his computer labelled ‘DIAMANTINO ONLY!!’ which is just filled with pictures of puppies He’s often mocked and abused by his cruel sisters (who seem to be taken straight out of a fairy tale or an episode of Basketball Wives) who make fun of him for being sensitive and often call him effeminate The film is as much about his masculinity as it is about political turmoil with its satire of anti-EU and xenophobic attitudes currently plaguing Europe unfolding at the fringes while Tino remains blissfully unaware though he may not understand what it means even if someone told him There’s a wonderful method to the madness of Diamantino which crams an unbelievable amount of commentary into a surreal never feels like empty reference like in so many other films that try to address the god-awful era we currently live in Diamantino was seen and reviewed at the BFI London Film Festival 2018 Nevertheless, in the end, Diamantino is also the discovery of love. A love has “reasons of which reason knows nothing”. And, albeit nothing new, let alone a staggering conclusion, this simplicity is where the beauty (or tragedy) of the main character lies. Perhaps this outcome – the (a)typical love feast of a fairy tale – is a metaphor pointing to something greater. Something that involves everything else and enwraps us in ambiguity. Carolina Trigueiros – Diamantino establishes different parallels with the world of art right from the beginning. Are there no painters like Michelangelo anymore? There seems to be a metaphor for the state of the art and a comparison with the sports world. How do you look at that? CT – On the relationship between aesthetic genius and sports, I read that Diamantino was inspired by David Foster Wallace’s texts. Wallace writes that the secret of genius is emptiness. And there is that sentence during the collage process where we find that Diamantino “is emptiness”… CT – But this representation has plenty of clichés as well. The movie has these soap opera, fairy tale elements. There are banal ideas or observations that, through Diamantino’s voice, reach a different dimension. As if his gullibility – or, on the other hand, genius – allowed us to be more open and ready to pardon all his faults, even distractions. CT – He keeps encountering different issues, like those borders. Problems related to ecology, refugees, adoption. There is even an amalgam of references. How do you deal with this information excessiveness? GA – That’s Diamantino. In the first minutes, we may think that he is a heteronormative character, a macho man, a womanizer. But we quickly realize that he is almost the opposite. And that also reflects the prejudice that we have of the footballers. CT – Using humour to talk about serious stuff. GA – The film is always throwing things into our face, but it’s a comedy. It is a happy movie but, at the same time, it is liberating somehow. And that has to do with politics. Daniel and I see this as a political message, at least. A romantic comedy that does not abide by the standards of traditional relationships. And what motivates me is to find and unveil false prejudice. In Diamantino, the loving end breaks a stereotype. I have always seen art as a tool to dismantle prejudice. CT – Is that the trademark of all your movies? GA – The message that goes through all my movies is a message of ambiguity. The ambition to make people see the film in a greyer way. Diamantino is a bit of that. Those can be aesthetic borders. My films are a combination of experimental, auteur and pop cinema, but they also delve into frontiers, in an attempt to break them. CT – To wrap things up, what are you preparing right now? writer and cultural producer based in Lisbon Carolina has a post-graduate degree in Curatorial Studies from Nova University and a bachelor degree in Cultural Communications from Católica University (2013) Subscribe to the Newsletter (EN Version)! I accept the Privacy Policy Subscribe Umbigo Mozambique and Vatican News English Africa Service In the hope that they will be proclaimed saints in the future the Diocese of Tete has begun the process towards the beatification of the Jesuits killed in Chapotera.  in a ceremony at the Diocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and presided over by Bishop Diamantino Guapo Antunes the process towards beatification was explained to the people The Bishop said the first step was to verify the cause of their death was presented as Diocesan Postulator for the Cause of the Martyrs of Chapotera Fr Faedi said the priests were martyrs of the faith who were killed because of their stand in defending victims of war and oppression at the time Present at the ceremony was a member of the Jesuit Province for the Southern African Region He shared the sense of joy and gratitude of the members of the Society of Jesus for the start of the beatification process Bishop Diamantino has established a Diocesan Tribunal to be presided over by Father Vital Conala Fathers Angelino Augusto and Afonso Mucane will be carried out in accordance with the norms of the Church The first session of testimonies from witnesses is scheduled for January 2022 This week's ceremony was also marked by a pilgrimage to the Diocesan Shrine Two deacons and three diocesan priests were also ordained In addition to the step taken for the Chapotera martyrs the beatification process of the Martyrs of Guiúa is also underway in Mozambique These were lay Mozambican catechists and their families killed in hatred of the faith on 22 March 1992 while participating in a formation course at a Catechetical Centre in the Diocese of Inhambane Nisi autem molestiae quasi itaque sunt saepe optio maxime. iste repellendus quos necessitatibus fuga in nam placeat. Lorem, ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Sign inSign in to access your account, subscription and more. Create a new account to access your subscription. Energy Capital & Power (ECP) (https://EnergyCapitalPower.com) is proud to announce the distinguished presence of H.E. Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, at the highly anticipated Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) 2023 Conference and Exhibition (https://apo-opa.info/3PTENZ0). As the country’s premier event for the oil and gas industry, AOG serves as an essential platform for […] Energy Capital & Power (ECP) (https://EnergyCapitalPower.com) is proud to announce the distinguished presence of H.E. Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, at the highly anticipated Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) 2023 Conference and Exhibition (https://apo-opa.info/3PTENZ0) As the country’s premier event for the oil and gas industry AOG serves as an essential platform for industry leaders and stakeholders Minister Azevedo will deliver a compelling keynote address positioning Angola as an attractive investment destination His participation will set the stage for robust and engaging discussions during the third edition of this prominent event Minister Azevedo has positioned Angola’s oil and gas sector as highly attractive and competitive through a series of policy and fiscal reforms The Minister has prioritized increasing foreign direct investment as well as the participation of international companies in oil and gas exploration production and infrastructure development to further open the market AOG 2023 arrives at a pivotal moment for Angola’s energy sector poised for yet another transformative phase the country is forging ahead to solidify its status as one of Africa’s leading producers and other major players are spearheading ambitious exploration campaigns This endeavor is bolstered by the significant development prospects in Angola’s three major basins – Kwanza offering promising avenues for growth and collaboration Angola is placing significant emphasis on expanding its refining capacity to fulfill both domestic and regional energy needs This commitment is evident through ongoing upgrades to the Luanda refinery as well as the construction of three new facilities in Cabinda These endeavors solidify Angola’s position as a key regional supplier further enhanced by the utilization of cross-border trade systems such as the Central African Pipeline System and the Angola-Zambia pipeline Angola is strategically advancing its natural gas monetization efforts The country is actively pursuing the development of key projects such as the Angola Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) initiative led by Chevron the Quiluma/Maboqueiro gas fields project by Azule Energy the Cameia-Golfinho project led by TotalEnergies and the Sanha Lean Gas project developed by Chevron These endeavors highlight Angola’s commitment to leveraging its natural gas resources for economic growth and energy diversification Angola aims to maximize the utilization of natural gas for power generation purposes Plans are underway to establish a second combined cycle plant in Soyo in addition to the existing 720 MW Soyo I project constructed by the China Machinery Engineering Corporation This concerted effort signifies Angola’s ambition to harness natural gas as a cleaner energy source and enhance its capacity to meet the rising power demands in the country These comprehensive initiatives demonstrate Angola’s dedication to unlocking the full potential of its natural gas resources and contributing to the country’s energy security and economic prosperity “ECP is thrilled to announce the esteemed participation of H.E Minister Azevedo as a distinguished speaker at the upcoming AOG conference This significant addition reaffirms the conference’s standing as Angola’s foremost energy event we aim to showcase Angola as the leading destination for energy investment in the region we are committed to ensuring that the Angolan energy sector is inclusive delivering substantial benefits to all Angolans,” says Stephanie E AOG 2023 returns to Luanda for its fourth edition from September 13-14 under the auspices of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas and in partnership with the National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency, AIDAC and the African Energy Chamber. Visit www.AngolaOilandGas.com for more information about this highly-anticipated event Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power The content is not monitored by the editorial team of African Business and not of the content has been checked or validated by our editorial teams The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement You've read all your free articles for this month Subscribe now to enjoy full access to our content Receive full unlimited access to our articles Our best value offer - save £26 and gain access to all of our digital content for an entire year APO Feed Africa has some of the world's most precious ecosystems including vast carbon-storing rainforests of global significance Protecting biodiversity is both a response and challenge to global warming Terms of use Cookie Policy Privacy Policy This year’s must-see shows range from a Nordic Pavilion exploring transgender spaces to a compelling Lebanese project confronting the realities of ecocide Frieze returns to The Shed in May with more than 65 of the world’s leading contemporary art galleries and the acclaimed Focus section led by Lumi Tan From Diamantino to The Grand Bizarre the most intelligent films are also among the most joyous The Projections sidebar of the 2018 New York Film Festival – home of a variety of works grouped together under the experimental/avant-garde banner – is perhaps not the first place that one would go in search of star performances in the traditional sense but then this year’s opening night film, Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s Diamantino (2018) is nothing if not an outlier A populist underground film doing blockbuster scale on a budget as good a comic role as any actor has had this year chisel-chested Portuguese footballer with a Cristiano Ronaldo-esque sartorial sensewhose grinning guilelessness makes him an easy manipulated mark for a right-wing junta bent on pulling off a mad science scheme that will lead to the country’s exit from the EU A regular in the films of Miguel Gomes – he played the ardent dashing young lover with the pencil-thin matinee idol moustache in in Gomes’s Tabu (2012) – Cotta here is the eponymous numbskull driven into his first ever fit of introspection by a blown World Cup penalty kick and a chance encounter with a raft of refugees which inspires him to take an orphaned immigrant into his palatial home But not all is as it seems: The beamish immigrant boy is in fact a female undercover agent (Cleo Tavares) Diamantino’s towering twin sisters are in fact bilking him for all he’s worth and the clinician he’s visiting is in fact upsetting his hormonal balance while slowly killing him in order to create a Portugal national football team populated by clones desiring only to coddle his ever-dandled pet kitten and stuff his young charge with waffles and Bongo Juice Led by the nose through personal crisis and crypto-racist commercial shoots a 21st century Candide whose idiot optimism survives undimmed still brimming with empty-headed cheer as conveyed without an ounce of malice by Cotta The tone of affectionate wiseassery that marks the film may be a take-it-or-leave-it proposition though how any skeptic can hold out past the moment where Diamantino blows a kiss then proceeds to ‘juggle’ it on his body is quite beyond me.  Ted Fendt’s short feature Classical Period (2018) might likewise be characterized as a ‘performance-driven’ film though its performances are of a very different kind writer and translator who edited the Austrian Film Museum’s 2016 volume on Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub in the last few years has built a small but utterly idiosyncratic body of film work with his latest coming on the heels of 2016’s Short Stay. Classical Period and shot with minimally treated natural light on 16mm Fendt employs nonprofessional actors who are so nondescript as to be remarkable in their unremarkability seen in largely one-sided conversations in a succession long-take medium shots and the occasional Quattrocento-style profile close-up.  as the subjects of the film are a group of amateur Dante scholars who communicate almost entirely through exegesis or meaningful exchanges of cultural capital with characters taking turns holding court on the architecture of Society Hill’s Georgian Powel House the 17th century poetry of Philip Massinger Beethoven’s role as a transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic periods and sundry other such impeccably civilized topics does refer to an ongoing struggle with insomnia that may indicate deeper troubles – an overall air of mild depression hangs over the film – and at one point she lashes out at the nearest thing the movie has to a central character (Calvin Engime) effectively accusing him of canting through his cantos (That the two resolutely fail to transition from the Classical to the Romantic in the course of the film is perhaps not irrelevant.) Like Straub and Huillet Fendt is evidently fascinated by the peculiars of his performers’s oratorial cadence and with what we may broadly call ‘cultural heritage’ but he is very far from an imitator transposing their peculiar style into an American vernacular His films are the work of a genuine original possessed of an uninflected melancholy and at this early stage practically ready for their own adjective.      I’d not seen a film carried along so completely by textual analysis as is Classical Period since 2013’s The Joycean Society a riveting-against-all-odds document detailing the meetings of a group involved in an ongoing collective close-read of Finnegan’s Wake Spanish-born multihyphenate artist Dora García was at Projections with a new feature, Second Time Around (2018) this one again explicitly concerned with interpretive interactivity Here the texts being put under the microscope are a rather more diverse and less specialized bunch Three performance pieces staged in 1966 and ‘67 by the Argentinian artist and important Lacanian analyst Oscar Masotta are here re-enacted for the camera and an audience who then talk amongst themselves about what they’ve just seen Others exchange observations on writings including the eponymous work by Julio Cortázar in the library of the University of Louvain It’s a rough-edged and rather oblique movie though once viewed you feel you have absorbed something crucial and almost tactile about the character of Masotta the artistic and political climate in Argentina in the years before the Dirty War the occlusion of history through the distance of years and miles and the dreary something that couldn’t be conveyed in a whole heap of fact-driven information-dump documentaries.  Whereas Fendt and García’s films are propelled in no small part by the spoken word Jodie Mack’s The Grand Bizarre (2018) communicates in a very different language – a scintillating chromatic flurry of discourse Mack presents us with an onrush of patterned fabrics and textiles tablecloths and tea towels and other scraps sometimes capering in patterns that recall Oskar Fishinger’s visual music films sometimes alternating or appearing to dance on outdoor backdrops both moving and still Though location changes are not indicated on-screen Mack’s movie sets a far-reaching itinerary indicated by sailing plane ticket paper airplanes and the recurring image of spinning globes stitching together material shot in Turkey circling the earth like a roving trader with her Bolex in hand.   At times the movie vibrates with a pure elation that’s close to Marnie Stern’s glissando guitar runs but this is no mere dance of the seven-thousand veils and Mack’s virtuoso performance combines visual delight with conceptual rigour she created a Busby Berkeley-style revue spectacle with the overstock of her mother’s shuttered Florida-based mail-order poster shop with its images of teeming ports and markets situates its whirl of colourful wares within the larger international market of commodity exchange and consumer capitalism The pure pleasure of watching Mack’s movie runs in contrast to the evidently labour-intensive and preparation-heavy aspect of her stop-motion process and likewise the dizzying plenitude that she spreads before us nurtures a subconscious understanding of all that has gone into bringing that plenitude into being As Diamantino smuggles pungent satire of right-wing nationalism in the form of a blissy so Mack’s round-the-world whirl invites a viewer to contemplate the human cost of product and the interrelation of the synthetic and the natural – and should it come as any surprise that two of the most intelligent films in recent memory are also among the most joyous?  The 56th New York Film Festival ran from 28 September to 14 October at The Film Society of Lincoln Center.  Main image: Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt The filmmaker discusses the research and collaboration behind creating works like The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire queer intimacies and decolonial possibilities are depicted in luminous and contrapuntal fashion As the Labour government plans to reduce essential support artists and writers speak out about how the changes will affect them Alain Guiraudie’s ‘Misericordia’ and Bruno Dumont’s ‘The Empire’ ask us to rethink good and evil photographer and printer Gary Schneider reflects on his relationship with the legendary American photographer From James Benning’s depiction of a vanishing way of life to an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s 2016 novel ‘Hot Milk’ Other highlights include a documentary made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective and the return of The Libertines this celebrated film pulses with raw emotion fuelled by the passions and worldview of its creators There Lives a Young Girl in Me Who Will Not Die Ditlevsen's social realism portrays all walks of life Halina Reijn’s latest film about a middle-aged woman’s foray into the world of BDSM A fixture in the feminist and video art canons the artist explored power and control in mass media Other highlights include an intimate photobook by Coca Dai and Abdellah Taïa’s lyrical new novel the writer examines how the rhetorical strategies once championed by the cultural left have become tools for the political right video artist and performer created rigorous work grounded in Korean traditions © FRIEZE 2025 Cookie Settings | Do Not Sell My Personal Information but with the sophistication and sexual maturity of an average seven-year-old and you have a fair idea of Diamantino’s protagonist If that sounds like this barmy Portuguese satire trashes the nation’s sleek football idol main picture) sees giant fluffy puppies frolicking in pink clouds when he dribbles toward the opposition goal but he dotes on both his old dad and his black kitten Mittens Diamantino is improbably sunning himself on his huge yacht on the eve of the 2018 World Cup final (a fictitious contest between Portugal and Sweden) when it encounters a dinghy-full of ailing African refugees Learning that one broken woman lost her baby during the voyage He misses a last-minute penalty the next day and he’s humiliated by viral Internet memes that show him weeping Diamantino announces he’s quitting football and wants to adopt a refugee “and give him so much love” (which involves plying the surrogate son with Jumbo Juice and Nutella crepes crushed by mountains of whipped cream).DIamantino is too dim to twig that Rahim who with her fellow Portuguese secret service agent and girlfriend Lucia (Maria Leite) is monitoring him for suspected money laundering Sonia and Natasha (Anabela and Margarida Moreira have been illegally siphoning his millions into their secret Panama account They’ve also conspired with the Ministry of Sport and neo-fascist leaders to have him cloned at a high-tech lab so that 11 Diamantinos can make the Portuguese team invincible Their purpose is to boost nationalism ahead of the country’s upcoming referendum on whether to remain in the European Union (Had Harry Kane been cloned before 2016’s UK referendum one suspects British remainers would have been silenced for good.) To the same end Diamantino is made to play a Portuguese swordsman vanquishing Moors in a propaganda commercial that touts the building of an immigrant-repelling wall like the one Donald Trump yearns for Steered by Diamantino’s deadpan voiceover narration the movie (which screened in Directors Week at Cannes last year) is nothing if not ambitious and fairytales (think “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty”) Consistently amusing – the sisters’ embodiment of nouveau-riche greed and bad taste is a hoot – it’s unexpectedly moving Rahim/Aisha’s and Diamantino’s naturally warm relationship entering new territory after the cloning procedure gives him a new identity It’s hard to resist any film that honours genderqueerness and the beautiful game while sticking it to Brexit and Trump More information about text formats We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com For unlimited access to every article in its entirety including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year To take a subscription now simply click here. And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday Simply enter your email address in the box below View previous newsletters The boys soccer season on Cape Cod is just over a month old, and plenty of teams are off to strong starts in 2023. Monomoy paces the area with nine wins so far this year and six teams have at least five wins through the first few weeks of the season There are plenty of athletes who are off to sensational starts as well Coaches name players with "ball wizardry," "explosive reflex saves," and high soccer IQ These athletes are setting the bar for success this season Here are the 2023 boys soccer players to watch: VOTE: Goal scorers: Vote for Storm Works Roofing Boys Soccer Player of the Week Diamantino already has 15 goals this season for the Red Hawks and is a captain for Barnstable Head coach Fadner Pierre said the sophomore striker boasts "incredible speed and ball wizardry." O'Donnell is a senior and one of the Red Hawks captains Pierre said he "reads passes and passing gaps very well," and has "amazing speed and toughness." BarnstablePierre called Ribeiro "the soul and leader of the team." Pierre said Ribeiro has a high soccer IQ and is technically good with his feet He also added that the senior captain "scans the field well and always makes the correct pass." The senior has four goals and two assists for the Red Hawks VOTE: A six goal game and more: Vote for Storm Works Roofing Girls Soccer Player of the Week Dankert is a junior defender for the Canalmen Head coach Andrew Arki said he's "incredible in the air and clearouts and dangerous on set plays." He also highlighted Dankert's calmness in possession saying he often starts the Canalmen's counter attacks Reynolds is the Canalmen's primary goalkeeper this season and averages seven saves per game Arki said the junior makes "explosive reflex saves Cape Cod AcademyBreitlauch is a senior on the Seahawks team and head coach Christian Sears said the midfielder is a true technician in the middle of the park "His ball control allows other teammates to time their runs and his passes are perfectly placed for a quick chance at the goal." Sears added that the midfielder has a strong ability to strike the ball VOTE: Unbeaten clash and more: Vote for the Storm Works Roofing Football Player of the Week Ezzaoui is another senior who is playing consistently this season The senior lines up both in midfield and in defense for Cape Cod Academy and Sears also highlighted his free kick prowess Stacey leads the Seahawks in goals this season and a big reason why is because Sears said he has a "rocket" of a left foot He also said Stacey is the fastest player on the team and that the threat of his speed alone makes opponents attack down the opposite side Cape TechClady is a captain for the Crusaders and has bagged nine goals and also has two assists Head coach Ivan Popov said Clady is the team's most skilled striker and "played an instrumental role in leading the team to win the Mayflower Athletic Conference last year." Da Silva is in his freshman season for the Crusaders and has already made a strong impression He's got a pair of goals and a pair of assists already Popov said he "is a talented player with great potential who plays confidently and utilizes his speed effectively during games." VOTE: 30 assists games and more: Vote for the Storm Works Roofing Volleyball Player of the Week Martins is essentially a position-less player as Popov highlighted his flexibility saying the junior "is a versatile player with a unique skill set that allows him to play in any position." He has one goal and one assist this season Muniz has five goals on the year for the Clippers and head coach David Plourde called him a "technical player." FalmouthSimone is a captain for the Clippers and plays both center back and midfield Plourde said Simone is the "heart and soul of the team" and a "tough resilient ball winner." Head coach Mike Deasy called Angell a "fitness monster." The defensive midfielder "wins lots of possession." Falmouth AcademyThe sophomore has two goals this season and Deasy said he is both "fast and skilled." and Deasy said the shot-stopper has been "routinely terrific." Hyora is only a sophomore but has long established himself as an integral part of the Sharks back line Head coach Keith Clark said the center back "reads the game well and cuts out many of the opposition attack," and after that "he initiates our counterattack with his short- and long-range passing ability." Hyora has chipped in a goal and two assists this season Ryan Laramee is a junior captain for the Sharks and has been the focal point for the offense since he first suited up He led the team in goals as a freshman and a sophomore and now as a junior is pacing his team again with 15 goals and five assists He gets most of the attention from opponents but Clark said he still "is able to create and finish his chances." Clark said Tate Laramee is "tactically and technically our best player." Clark highlights the freshman's work rate saying his tireless efforts separates him from the pack on the pitch Laramee already has amassed three goals and 14 assists this season Brannigan is a senior captain for the Whalers and with that is also the team's penalty taker He's one of the most experienced members of the team and is a valuable leader for the Whalers young team Guevara is a freshman for the Whalers and is already making noise He's been a consistent goal threat all season long and already looks comfortable at the varsity level NantucketVasquez has been equally a goal scorer and a goal provider for the Whalers He's one of their most dynamic creative players Cushing has been a spark for the Warriors all season long Head coach John McCully describes him as a "box-to-box midfielder," with a "high soccer IQ that makes players around him better." The senior has nine goals and five assists so far for the Warriors Kavanaugh has been a standout defender for the Warriors this season McCully said the junior is "good in the air and a hard nose ball winner." Perry is a sophomore attacking midfielder for the Warriors McCully said Perry "is a very quick attacking midfielder that has a nose for the goal." VOTE: Sage Harrison scores game-winning goal for Monomoy field hockey Aguilar is a junior striker and one of the primary goal scorers for the Lions this year Head coach Kal Boghdan said the junior's footwork is top tier and "he motivates his teammates to rise to his energy level and brings excitement to the games." but his coach said he "commands the field as a highly vocal defender and is a well-respected leader of the team." Coach Boghdan said the defender is "a physical force on the back line," and that he has a "good understanding of the game and anticipates well." If you look up instant impact in the dictionary the junior goalkeeper has two clean sheets on the season Boghdan said he is an "agile shot-stopper," and that he has made "countless impressive saves." FH rankings: Some of the best field hockey teams in the state are on Cape Cod. Our top five, ranked. SandwichSandwich head coach Dom Aidukitis called Bice "the sheriff of the team." Bice is a sophomore midfielder for the Blue Knights and is integral to their ability to build attacks from the back Murray is a senior attacking midfielder and leads the Blue Knights in goals Perhaps the most impressive part is the variety of ways he has scored penalties and open-play shots from distance Aidukitis said the senior is "capable of delivering great passes and getting away from his marker with short Oman plays a vital role in Sandwich's attacking patterns acting as a hold up player who then feeds the other attacking players ahead The senior striker "plays with his head held high and always manages to find a good move and a good pass," according to Aidukitis Bourne girls soccer: 'Quarterback' of Bourne's girls soccer team is this dynamic goalkeeper. Meet Olivia Meda. Sturgis EastThe junior midfielder is a spark plug for the Storm Head coach Jorge Mendes said "he is a box-to-box midfielder who hustles 100% of the time throughout the whole game." He's tied for the team lead in goals with four and has scored goals in each of the last three games Dacruz leads Sturgis East with six goal contributions this season (four goals/two assists) and Mendes said the senior "is an aggressive forward that has a noise for the goal." Mendes also added that "his height and long strides give him an advantage over most defenders." Markowski is a senior captain for Sturgis East and Mendes said the defensive midfielder is the "work horse of the team," and it makes sense the senior leads the team's midfielders in minutes played this year while also pacing the team with three assists Markowski's "ability to clean up the mess in front of the defense and goal has been a key to the team success this year." Volleyball PTW: Top-ranked state players to impactful freshmen: Volleyball players to watch on Cape Cod Upper CapeHead coach Michael Cabral says the junior is "a versatile player who plays as our starting keeper and a game-changer on the pitch." Murphy lines up between the posts and also features in midfield for the Rams Cabral said Murphy's shots from distance are "spotlight moments." Cabral described Sherman as "our silent leader on the pitch." He also said Sherman is an excellent leader and mentor for the rest of the team and said having Lucas has been like "having an assistant coach (and he is) very passionate about the game." Drury is the other senior co-captain for the Rams this season and Cabral said he "is the first voice you hear in the game and every play goes through him." Drury is in his second year as a captain and the midfielder and is "a true leader on and off the pitch." Contact Courtney Jacobs at cjacobs@capecodonline.com Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans.    Welcome to the 17th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting Allow me to begin by extending thanks to His Royal Highness Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation for their commitment and tireless dedication to the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) Your leadership is of great importance to this group and brings comfort and reassurance as we tackle the rebalancing process and enable the return of more sustainable stability I would also like to praise the excellent work of the Joint Technical Committee and offer our sincere appreciation to HE Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo as well as the entire staff of the OPEC Secretariat for ensuring the full and efficient operation of the Secretariat and the DoC process through these challenging times Since we last met towards the end of April we have seen relative stability in the oil market oil market fundamentals and the oil demand outlook have all been encouraged by positive news on vaccine rollouts although we still need to see more expansion on the vaccination front in developing countries and the continuing massive fiscal stimulus that is driving the economic rebound The market has also continued to react positively to the decision taken at the 15th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting to adjust upward the production levels in the DoC for May  It is evident that the decision we took back at the start of April has proven both reasonable given events of the past year or so and the ever-evolving outlook Over the past month we have seen a rise in COVID-19 cases in a number of countries This is evidently having an impact on oil demand There has also been much talk of the spread of new COVID-19 variants and the potential impact on the recovery process and we also need to be watchful of such issues as sovereign debt levels in some regions and the return of oil supplies to the market I would like to acknowledge again all participating countries for their individual and collective efforts on conformity which stood at 114% in April (including Mexico) and again applaud the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its generous additional voluntary adjustments in 2021 it is important to reiterate that each participating country must continue to do its part meet its 100% conformity level and make up any compensation volumes It is only through unified commitment that we can achieve our full potential Before I conclude I would like to touch on one issue that is central to our industry our countries and to the energy security that both producers and consumers desire investment in oil and gas production is the lifeblood of our economy and enabling us to undertake economic diversity We believe that oil and gas will be vital to the global energy mix in the years and decades ahead but at the same time we also recognize the need to reduce emissions with a key focus on cleaner and more efficient technologies Alongside ensuring stable supplies to consumers this is a core focus of OPEC and the broader oil and gas industry We are committed to being part of the solution to reducing global emissions We need to keep in mind that without the necessary global investments there is the potential for further volatility and a future energy shortfall which is not in the interests of either producers or consumers it is important to underscore just how challenging a net zero emissions goal is in the coming decades I speak from the heart when underlining that if billions of people in the developing world that suffer from a lack of energy access feel they are excluded from access to energies that have helped fuel the developed world It could expand the divide between the haves and have nots It is vital we continue to focus on the core principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – equity I look forward to our meeting today as we focus on our objectives of market Get insights and exclusive content from the world of business and finance that you can trust