From time to time, I burn

With Fendas (FID 2019), the Brazilian director Carlos Segundo gave us a feature film that was unique in its kind, rigorous yet dishevelled, a touch SF, a romantic meditation, a reflection on sound and image, and a brilliant drama whose protagonists were female. In his latest short work De temps à autre je brûle, his star is again a woman, a photographer who consider her profession in a very special way, using the ancient device of a pinhole camera. We thus have an uncompromising and sensual blend of bodies, photography and cinema. And in the short time as compact as a shooting session, Segundo manages – without judging – to slip in a few comments about Brazilian society in the midst of profound speculation, and, always cheerfully, about the manufacture and significance of what we call an image. Linking femininity and image in norm-snubbing solidarity is no mean feat, especially when, like Segundo, you’re convinced that art is capable of holding its own. (J.-P.R.)