“At the Same Time that We’re Fighting for our Lives, We Are Also Agents of Exploitation, of Domination, of Violence”: Pedro Pinho on his Cannes-Premiering I Only Rest In The Storm

Pedro Pinho’s Cannes-premiering I Only Rest In The Storm follows Sergio, a naive do-gooder who, as the film’s title implies, finds inner peace in places of chaos. In this case it’s the hurly-burly of Guinea-Bissau, where the Portuguese environmental engineer has been hired to produce an impact report that will pave the way for a road-building project to commence. There he meets two charismatic characters, party-loving besties Diara and Guillermhe, the former a native, the latter a Black Brazilian expat. And thus begins a bizarre triangle of love-hate attraction – fueled by a colonialist past, a capitalist present, and an uncertain future for them all. Just prior to the film’s Un Certain Regard debut, Filmmaker reached out to the Portuguese director and cinematographer whose documentary projects (2008’s Bab Sebta, co-directed with Frederico Lobo, and 2014’s Cidades e as Trocas/ The Cities and the Exchanges, co-directed with Luísa Homem) likewise explored the heavy themes of capitalism and migration in today’s supposedly postcolonial world.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.