Becoming Male in the Middle Ages wins Tiger Award at IFFR [06/02/2022]
“I feel immense gratitude for the award. I think for us, Rotterdam was a goal to have its premiere there. Receiving the award is doubly satisfying, and actually gives meaning to all the effort I've been making”, said Pedro Neves Marques.
Pedro Neves Marques, a non-binary trans artist, one of the protagonists of the short film, says that this is a “very personal and intimate” film, which comes from his own experiences and those around him.
In “Becoming a Man in the Middle Ages”, there are two couples trying to have children. One of them, a heterosexual, has a fertility problem, and the other couple, who are homosexual, “use an experimental process to try to have a pregnancy experience,” he described.
“My films are always very political in relation to social issues, nowadays, but I like to work from a more speculative point of view […]. To me, fiction is perfect,” he said.
For creative or financing reasons, the idea for the film has been worked on since 2019, unfolded and presented in other formats, as happened in a multimedia installation in Italy, or the exhibition “Medieval Corps”, in 2021, at Cordoaria Nacional, in Lisbon.
“This was a very enjoyable film to make and receiving the award is the last moment of the work, it's great,” he said.
For Pedro Neves Marques, the award in Rotterdam is also important for the recently created production company Foi Bonita a Festa, to respond to the work he has been doing, with producer and director Catarina de Sousa.
“I started a production company in 2021 and there is a whole effort that has been made and suddenly receiving the award gives meaning to the work”, he said.
[06/02/2022]