MEDIATHEK

In 1992, Bruno de Almeida made this film about choreographer Francisco Camacho's first solo piece, The King in Exile. Filmed in 35mm in New York, the film follows a narrative of the look at the choreography in which details and movements that create a unique reading of Camacho's choreography are emphasised. Eschewing a purely documentary approach, the film thus becomes an original work that follows the rhythm and formal structure of the piece to present us with a cinematic look at the work itself.

The show "The King in Exile", originally created in 1991 for the Klapstuk Dance Festival in the context of Europália-91, launched Francisco's choreographic career in Europe.

The character is the result of the juxtaposition of the choreographer and performer himself with Dom Manuel II, the last King of Portugal, exiled to England in 1910. The piece lives in the tension of the ambiguity of the identities at stake. It results in an obsessive character surrounded by his trivial vices, locked in his existence and lost in the emptiness of his secrets.

In this play by Francisco Camacho there is a constant reworking of a grotesque, obscure, sensual and often vain universe that fills our lives. Operating on our memory and iconographic figures, in a process of deconstruction and reconstruction, the choreographer exposes a present body that is trying to survive itself.

DIRECTION: Bruno de Almeida

CHOREOGRAPHY AND INTERPRETATION: Francisco Camacho

VOICE AND INTERPRETATION CONSULTANCY: Fernanda Lapa

COSTUME DESIGNER AND REHEARSAL ASSISTANT: Carlota Lagido

SET DESIGN: Philip Cabau

LIGHTING DESIGN: João Paulo Xavier

SOUNDTRACK: Carlos Zíngaro Ruy Coelho / Natália de Andrade Nick Cave

TEXTS: D. Manuel II, António Cabral, Francisco Camacho

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Barbara Lagido

PRODUCTION: Arco Films/1992

FILMING LOCATION: New York

A production by Arco Films and Valentim de Carvalho for RTP 2.

The solo was performed in July 1991 at the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, Lisbon. (It is not confirmed whether Camacho's company was already EIRA at that time. The credits mention Grupo Valentim de Carvalho, but no further information is available).

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