Ava & Gabriel – Un historia di amor

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Thursday 27 April, Eye is closed is closed

still from Almacita di desolato (Felix de Rooy, NL 1986)

still Almacita di desolato (Felix de Rooy, NL 1986)

Eye Filmmuseum seen across the river IJ © Marcus Koppen

Eye Filmmuseum, © Marcus Koppen

still from Desiree (Felix de Rooy, NL 1984)

still Desiree (Felix de Rooy, NL 1984)

poster Ava & Gabriel - Un Historia di Amor (Felix de Rooy, NL 1990)

still from Ava & Gabriel - Un Historia di Amor (Felix de Rooy, NL 1990)

still Ava & Gabriel - Un Historia di Amor (Felix de Rooy, NL 1990)

still from Boka Sarantonio (Pacheco Domacasse, NL 1985)

still Boka Sarantonio (Pacheco Domacasse, NL 1985)

In this portrait of Felix de Rooy, he stares at the viewer intently while framing his face with his hands, he wears two prominent rings (© Vincent Jong Tjien Fa)

campaign image Felix de Rooy – The Museum of My Mind (© Vincent Jong Tjien Fa)

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Magical tale of a small fishing community on Curaçao where the population turn against an intruder and try to take her out using ‘brua’ (the Antillean term for black magic).

Boka Sarantonio is the magical tale about the despicable habits of a small fishing community on Curaçao. Fisherman Simon (Paul Bérénos) returns to his village of birth Boka Sarantonio after years of long absence with his Columbian wife Adelaida (Lebacs). Being away has changed him to such an extent that the villagers become convinced Adelaida will bring a curse onto the village. To ward the latter off, the barkeeper Rosoura (Rina Penso) uses ‘brua’ – with fatal consequences.

Boka Sarantonio

After their first feature film Desiree (1984) set in New York, the Curaçao filmmakers Norman de Palm and Felix de Rooy returned to their native soil for Almacita di desolato. The story is rooted in local myths that award a major role to curses and spirits.

Marian Rolle, previously seen in Desiree, plays Solem, a priestess from the village of Desolato, who is supposed to protect the villagers from illness and harm. The price she paid for her position is that she cannot speak and has had to bid farewell to physical love.

Almacita di Desolato

Watch the new digital remastering of Ava &amp; Gabriel – Un historia di amor for free on the Eye Film Player.

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In 1948, a painter from Curaçao, commissioned to paint a mural at a local church, opts to use an Afro-Caribbean teacher as his model for the Virgin Mary leading to a major ruckus among the locals. Winner of the Golden Calf Special Jury Prize at the Netherlands Film Festival.

In this romantic drama, the Surinamese painter Gabriel Goedbloed arrives on Curaçao to paint a mural for a church. He selects Afro-Caribbean teacher Ava Recordina (Nashaira Desbarida) as his model for the Virgin Mary. The idea of someone of African descent being painted for the church creates a ruckus among the local bourgeoisie and tensions are high among Ava’s lovers too.

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In his work, Felix de Rooy focuses on the way in which different cultures see one another. He describes his style as 'psychic realism': colourful, dreamy images in which human and mythological figures are central.

Felix de Rooy

A woman makes a radical decision when she falls into a cult’s clutches. This no budget production revisits her family-related traumas using flashbacks. Felix de Rooy based his 'black cinema' debut on a news report.

A lonely woman (a powerful performance by Marian Rolle) is caught in a cult’s clutches. She falls in love with a non-sect member and falls pregnant. The man leaves her when he loses his job. The sect’s leader views the child as unclean because it was conceived by an unbeliever, after which the woman makes a radical decision.

Ava & Gabriel – Un historia di amor

Felix de Rooy / NL, 1990 / 100 min.

In 1948, a painter from Curaçao, commissioned to paint a mural at a local church, opts to use an Afro-Caribbean teacher as his model for the Virgin Mary leading to a major ruckus among the locals. Winner of the Golden Calf Special Jury Prize at the Netherlands Film Festival.

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Desiree

Almacita di Desolato

Boka Sarantonio

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