"Chris Marker, James Bond, film noir, B-movies, sci-fi. We like to see the film as being influenced by all of them, but also as if we started from zero." – filmmakers João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata

For the first time, two of Portugal's most eclectic long-term collaborators co-direct with this audacious noir thriller/documentary hybrid reflecting on Macau's colonial past through a fictional story of intrigue and memory.

An unseen man travels from Lisbon to one of the most multicultural and labyrinthine cities in the world, Macao, at the request of drag queen Candy, an old friend who summons him to rescue her from danger. As he searches for her, he revisits memories of the happiest time of his life spent in the city many years ago.

Interweaving this seemingly incongruous pairing of plots, João Rui Guerra da Mata and João Pedro Rodrigues (To Die Like a Man, MIFF 2010) were inspired by the 1952 Josef von Sternberg/Nicholas Ray film Macao, and construct a genre-defying work that ingeniously blends neo-noir and documentary into a tale that twists traditional cinematic notions of one of the Orient's most exotic capitals.

"Just as Macao, the city, is a blend of two cultures – Portuguese and Chinese – so Macao, the film, merges fiction and documentary together into an alien beast, a play of illusion and reality that earns comparisons to the works of the late Chris Marker." – Cinema Scope

João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata are guests of the festival.

D/S João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata P João Figueiras, Daniel Chabannes de Sars Corentin Dong-jin Sénéchal WS Films Boutique L Portuguese, French w/English subtitles TD HD Cam/2012

Please note: tickets sales for this online screening close on Wednesday 31 July, 3.30pm.