Deus Ex-Machina

Dolores, a beautiful, rich and paralytic woman, hires detective Otávio to follow her husband Inácio and to find out what’s his true relationship with a young woman named Alice. A story of lies, false leads and obscure motivations, in which four characters of dubious moral try to appear honest to one another.

Included in the selection “The 30 Classic Brazilian Short Films of the 1990s”.

 

Credits:
Witten and directed by: Carlos Gerbase
Executive Producers: Luciana Tomasi e Nora Goulart
Cinematography: Alex Sernambi
Art Direction: Fiapo Barth
Soundtrack: Ricardo Severo
Production Manager: Daniela Dall’Agnol
Editing: Giba Assis Brasil
Cast:
Luciene Adami (Dolores) Leverdógil de Freitas (Otávio) Werner Schünemann (Inácio) Daniela Schmitz (Alice)
Awards
Award
23rd Gramado Film Festival Best Film (Official Jury and Critics’ Prize), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Music, Best Actor (to Leverdógil de Freitas); and 4 regional awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film and Best Cinematography)
Award
28th Festival de Brasília - Brasilia Film Festival Best Film (Best Screenplay), Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Contribution to Short Language
Award
8th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival Special Mention of the Jury
Award
19th Guarnicê Film Festival Highlight of the Official Jury, Highlight of the Popular Jury, Best Editing
Award
13th Festival do Rio - Rio de Janeiro Int'l Film Festival Best Screenplay and Best Actor (to Leverdógil de Freitas)

Festivals

  • 23rd Gramado Film Festival (Brazil, 1995)
  • 28th Festival de Brasília – Brasilia Film Festival (Brazil, 1995)
  • 8th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France, 1996)
  • 19th Guarnicê Film Festival (Brazil, 1996)
  • 13th Festival do Rio – Rio de Janeiro Int’l Film Festival (Brazil, 1996)

 

 

“The audience (in Festival of Brasília) simply loved. Received the highest ovation since the beginning of the competition. Well deserved. It’s a noir story told with rare cinematic intelligence. In a perverse loving game, an intricate case involving conjugal infidelity and manipulation is mounting in the viewer’s eyes as a puzzle. (…) The film is an example of how one can innovate without departing from the average audience.”
(Luiz Zanin Oricchio, O ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO, 1995)

“Enough of heroes and villains! Gaucho director Carlos Gerbase creates in Deus Ex-Machina a fascinating script where there are only confused and limited human beings. The characters have already faced all the possible accidents of course, and now, without God and without the facilities of the oracles, they try to find reasons to continue living and lying.”
(WONDERFUL MAGAZINE, October 1995)

“Gaucho director Carlos Gerbase makes Deus Ex-Machina as a study of relativism, telling a story of crime and adultery from divergent points of view. It’s quite impressive how you manage to put so many perspectives superimposed on a short film. It’s his best job. In fact, the best work of the Gaucho group for many years. The highlight, in addition to the intricated script, which doesn’t alienate the viewer, is for the editing of Giba Assis Brasil. It gives to the plot a puzzle structure, whose meaning is only revealed in the end.”
(Luiz Zanin Oricchio, O ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO, 03/22/1996)

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