local worlds

Elogio ao 1/2 (Praise to ½), 2006, by Pedro Sena Nunes
Portugal, 70’. Production: Vo’arte (commission by Faro – Cultural Capital’2005)

The 25th April slum of Meia Praia is situated between the beach and the railway that takes us into the town of Lagos. It all began as a group of huts that were improvised by the “indigenous” people of Meia-Praia, who came from Monte Gordo and whose simple wish was to survive to the golden dream that Lagos could not provide. After the 25th April Revolution and through the architecture plan “Serviço de Apoio Ambulatório Local” (S.A.A.L.), the huts were transformed into houses built by their own inhabitants. A lot of the political promises made thirty years ago are still waiting to be fulfilled. How does it feel to live at Meia-Praia today?

PEDRO SENA NUNES, Director, producer, photographer, traveler and father of three children, he was born in Lisbon, on May 18th 1968. He graduated in Cinema from the High School of Theatre and Cinema, after studying Machine Engineering at the Engineering Institute of Lisbon, in 1989. He co-founded the Theatre Company Meridional, in which he is responsible for the audiovisual area. In Barcelona, Lyon, Stiges, Budapest, Lisbon and Florence, Pedro Sena Nunes has participated in cinema, photography, video, theatre and creative writing courses and workshops. He has directed documentaries, fictional films and experimental works in cinema and video and has produced more than a hundred adverts for television and radio. He received several awards and distinctions for works in photography, video and cinema. He is the Creative Director of ETIC and artistic advisor for the Association Vo’Arte and other artistic associations and projects. He directed Elogio ao ½ (Tribute to the ½) documentary, which was the only feature-lenght documentary in the International Competition of the III Lisbon Doc Festival 2006.