Situating a Non-Conformist Auteur

Abstract

This review of Nuno Barradas Jorge’s monograph The Films of Pedro Costa welcomes its detailed account of hitherto neglected dimensions of Costa’s work, such as funding, relations with producers, technological aspects of production and postproduction, and the promotional labour of Costa’s media interviews. But it argues that these undoubtedly useful insights come at the expense of sustained close attention to Costa’s striking imagery and use of sound. The most glaring absences in the book are those of racial and class politics, and hence the interface between the two. Jorge’s book is an important contextual study of Costa’s oeuvre, but the immense aesthetic and political power of this filmmaking (both texts and collaborative processes of production) still eludes his grasp.

Keywords

• Pedro Costa
• Digital video
• Aesthetics
• Politics
• Race
• Class