Ana Pereira, member of the EFRJ and responsible for the Portuguese subtitles of the movie, has been invited to organise the screening of the film ‘A Conversation’ at the University Portucalense in Porto, next 7 December.
The event is one among many others taking place on the occasion of the international #RJWeek (19-26 November). In Portugal, the film was already screened in Lisbon and Porto during that week and two more screenings may follow in Guimarães and Coimbra in the following months.
After the screening (English audio & Portuguese subtitles), students will have the chance to discuss the movie and reflect upon the role of RJ in serious crime.
More info: please contact [email protected]
From the previous experience in Porto, Ana collected some feedback from the participants. The answers highlight the very positive reaction on the film:
‘Despite the fact the movie tackles very difficult, and sometimes highly unpleasant questions, it managed to capture my full attention. I would describe it as uncomfortable but necessary.’
‘It was a hard, visceral, highly emotional experience for me. I felt anger, revolt, disgust, pity, anxiety and hope. Hope because, after everything that happened and everything that was lost, life will continue for the people that stayed and the session seems to have helped them to deal better with their emotions and to move on with their lives, finding some level of peace with themselves, the offender – as much as possible- and with his family.’
‘When I heard about the movie for the first time my thought was that I would not participate in the dinner and screening of the film. After some reflection I accepted the challenge. Considering the initial description of the situation I could not imagine that this approximation between the two families was possible.’
‘The experience was highly enriching. I confess that, in the beginning I felt fear trying to guess the films’ development, and mostly, about the way people would accept it or not. After, I felt that the movie is very well done, the play is very well interpreted and makes people ‘clinging’ to the story, wanting to see how it ends. Regarding feelings, the film is a proposal of peace and comprehension and evokes, above all else, the forgiveness, even in the hardest situation, such as the one described in the movie.’
‘It was a very strong experience for me. I felt a profound sadness about the situation portrayed together with a mix of compassion both for the victim’s parents and the offender’s family, and even for the therapist. However, my final thoughts were that, after all that grieve, there was still hope for both families to manage to survive, both the high level of anger felt by people who were so violently attacked with the death of a daughter, as well as the feeling of guilt felt by an entire family destroyed by the behavior of just one of its elements.’
