Almada Negreiros, Ernesto de Sousa e Rui Mário Gonçalves no café Pilar em Lisboa, 1969.Almada Negreiros, Ernesto de Sousa and Rui Mário Gonçalves in café Pilar in Lisboa, 1969.Manuel Costa e Silva (a filmar), Ernesto de Sousa e Almada Negreiros no seu atelier a filmar para Almada, Um Nome de Guerra, 1969.Manuel Costa e Silva (filming), Ernesto de Sousa and Almada Negreiros in his studio filming for Almada, Um Nome de Guerra, 1969.Fotograma da sequência filmada no atelier de Almada, 1969. Almada Negreiros (ao centro), Carlos Gentil-Homem, Ernesto de Sousa, Rogério de Moura e Vítor Silva Tavares.Film frame of the sequence filmed at Almada's studio, 1969. Almada Negreiros (in the centre), Carlos Gentil-Homem, Ernesto de Sousa, Rogério de Moura and Vítor Silva Tavares.Gravação de música para Almada, Um Nome de Guerra, 1972. Da esquerda para a direita: António Oliveira e Silva, Ernesto de Sousa, Jorge Peixinho, Alexandre Gonçalves e Catarina Latino (na flauta).Recording music for Almada, Um Nome de Guerra, 1972. From left to right: António Oliveira e Silva, Ernesto de Sousa, Jorge Peixinho, Alexandre Gonçalves and Catarina Latino (on the flute).Impressão de cartazes no estúdio Quid, Vigo, 1971.Printing posters at Studio Quid, Vigo, 1971.Cartaz [Insultai o Perigo], Carlos Gentil-Homem e Ernesto de Sousa, 1971.Poster [Insultai o Perigo], Carlos Gentil-Homem and Ernesto de Sousa, 1971.Impressão de cartazes no Estúdio Quid, Vigo, 1971. Carlos Gentil-Homem e Isabel Alves.Printing posters at Studio Quid, Vigo, 1971. Carlos Gentil-Homem and Isabel Alves.Estudos para grandes planos de Almada Negreiros, 1971.Studies for close-ups of Almada Negreiros, 1971.Cartaz [Alegria], Carlos Gentil-Homem e Ernesto de Sousa, 1971.Poster [Alegria], Carlos Gentil-Homem and Ernesto de Sousa, 1971.Cartaz [K4], Carlos Gentil-Homem e Ernesto de Sousa, 1971.Poster [K4], Carlos Gentil-Homem and Ernesto de Sousa, 1971.Maria Manuel Torres no Estúdio Quid, Vigo, 1971.Maria Manuel Torres at Studio Quido, Vigo, 1971.Cartaz [Alegria], experiências, 1971.Poster [Alegria], experiences, 1971.Uma das sequências do filme: Almada a executar o painel Começar na Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1969.One of the sequences of the film: the making of Almada's panel, Começar, at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1969.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Cartaz [Estamos no Século XX], Carlos Gentil-Homem e Ernesto de Sousa, 1971.Poster [Estamos no Século XX], Carlos Gentil-Homem and Ernesto de Sousa, 1971.Cartaz [Insultai o Perigo], Carlos Gentil-Homem e Ernesto de Sousa, 1971.Poster [Insultai o Perigo], Carlos Gentil-Homem and Ernesto de Sousa, 1971.Cartaz, Carlos Gentil-Homem, 1971.Poster, Carlos Gentil-Homem, 1971.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Diapositivo, 1971-72.Slide, 1971-72.Sequências do filme: Almada no seu atelier, 1969./scaledimage/550/cda636bab9b1a7a34513b63e91b94a71.jpgSequences of the film: Almada in his studio, 1969.Sequences of the film: Almada in his studio, 1969.Sequências do filme: Almada no seu atelier, 1969.Sequences of the film: Almada in his studio, 1969.Sequências do filme, c. 1970.Sequences of the film, c. 1970.Sequências do filme: varinas, c. 1970. Referência ao mural de Almada na Gare Marítima da Rocha do Conde d’Óbidos.Sequences of the film: fishwives, c. 1970. Referencing Almada's mural at Gare Marítima da Rocha do Conde d’Óbidos.Sequências do filme, c. 1970.Sequences of the film, c. 1970.Sequências do filme: Almada na escadaria da Fundação Gulbenkian, durante a execução do painel Começar, 1969.Sequences of the film: Almada sitting on Fundação Gulbenkian's staircase, during the making of his panel Começar, 1969.Sequências do filme: painel Começar, 1969.Sequences of the film: panel Começar, 1969.Sequências do filme: Pormenores do painel Começar na Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1969.Sequences of the film: details of the panel Começar at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1969.Sequências do filme: Pormenores do painel Começar na Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1969.Sequências do filme: Pormenores do painel Começar na Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1969.Sequências do filme: Almada a executar o painel Começar na Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1969.Sequences of the film: the making of Almada's panel, Começar, at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1969.Sequências do filme: painel Começar, 1969.Sequences of the film: panel Começar, 1969.
Mixed media by Ernesto de Sousa with an original music composition by Jorge Peixinho, 1969–1972. Film (35 mm and 16 mm; black & white and color; silent) and slide (black & white and color) projections, variable between presentations; sound (recorded music, with possible live music interventions, text readings and input of other audio sources); and printed graphic material (posters and stickers). Variable duration: 20'–40' (short version) or 240' (complete version).
This work has been and will continue to be very difficult for me, specially having had great doubts about how to make what I want (and about this I have much fewer doubts). And why? Because it is a case – for me – of life or death... I will explain. There are two fundamental reasons.
The first: What encountering Almada Negreiros has meant to me. That he is perhaps the most extraordinary Man I've had the chance to meet doesn't really add much to the case. But that by invoking him I discover a NAME OF WAR for everything or most of the things that I'm interested in doing, that is what I increasingly feel the need to manifest. Risking interpretations (both literal and literary) I will say: what we are preparing is mainly the result of a meditation with Almada, the name of war for a modernity which interests me. Now and here. And a proposal for other meditations.
The second reason: TO BEGIN is the only thing that interests me (precisely like Almada Negreiros). I've started something important with Dom Roberto. (...) Now I'm trying to begin, and to break another silence with this NAME OF WAR. And to begin is terribly difficult.
Ernesto de Sousa, "Ainda não filmei as varinas todas: o anti-filme Almada, Um Nome de Guerra", Diário de Lisboa, Abril 16th, 1970.
The film was initially shot in 35 mm. In order to facilitate its screenings outside of conventional film theaters, a 16 mm reduction was made. At the previously mentioned presentations, the editing of the film were done directly on the positive of the projected 16 mm copy.
The "complete version", that never came to be during the author's life, was supposed to lengthen the sessions into get-togethers with late meals, informal discussion of the work of Almada Negreiros and of the filmic process of Almada, Um Nome de Guerra, and the sale of posters and film scraps in order to generate the revenue needed for further production and recovery of invested capital. Sessions of this kind were to be filmed and later integrated in the film-in-process. (Note: a full version was held at Casa de Serralves on July 6, 2012)
In addition to the slides made from a graphic experimentation with parts of the script, this mixed-media also included others like those of the details of Almada Negreiros' panels for Cinema São Carlos in Madrid, or those produced for Luiz Vaz 73.
Script for the mixed-media, film direction and editing by Ernesto de Sousa. Cinematography by Manuel Costa e Silva. Assistant directing by Carlos Gentil-Homem (filming) and Fernando Curado Matos (editing of the version shown in 1983). Music by Jorge Peixinho, interpreted by Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa (Carlos Franco, António Reis Gomes, Clotilde Rosa, Lopes e Silva, Jorge Peixinho, Júlio Campos, Alejandro Ramirez, António Oliveira e Silva, Lúcia Afonso and Helena Cláudio). Sound recording by Antero Gabão, Alexandre Gonçalves and Fernando Pires. Graphic Direction by Carlos Gentil-Homem. Slides with photography by Ernesto de Sousa, designed by Carlos Gentil-Homem. Produced by Isabel Alves and Ernesto de Sousa. Supported by Instituto Português do Cinema. With the collaboration of the Comission for the filme Almada, Um Nome de Guerra; Colorprint studio (London) and Estúdio Quid (Vigo); Cooperativa Diferença and of the artists who offered their works to be auctioned in order to finance the film.
"Short versions" presented at: Galeria Nacional de Arte Moderna, Lisbon, June 1979. Fundación Juan March, Madrid, December 1983. Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, February 1984. Centro de Arte Moderna da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, September 1984.
