Events to honor José Saramago held in New York

Founded on April 11, 2011, the Art Institute is a non-profit organization that promotes culture and showcases art from Portugal. It is a space that offers a creative environment for Portuguese artists in the field of art, literature, music, dance, and film. It promotes an innovative artistic dialogue between the many communities in New York and the Portuguese artists.
Arte Institute in collaboration with Pilar del Rio and director Miguel Gonçalves Mendes will promote a week of events to honor the Literature Portuguese Nobel Prize winner, José Saramago.

The feature film "José e Pilar" by Miguel Gonçalves Mendes is Portugal's Oscar 2011 Submission and will be shown at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). This documentary shows the life of José Saramago, the Literature Nobel Prize winner and his wife Pilar del Rio. If you are in NY try to watch it because it's a wonderful film. Even if you never read anything from him you can still enjoy the movie. It's wonderful to see how José and Pilar were devoted to each other and how they worked together handling the pressure of public commitments and celebrating life and literature. You can also watch just as a touching portrait of two people in love.

I liked José Saramago's writing long before he was well-known in the world as an accomplished writer. Just saw him once at a conference held after he won the Nobel Prize. He gave autographs and there were lots of people in line to get one so I could not say but a couple of words to him. Then we shook hands and it was all pretty exciting. He was a controversial figure mainly because he was a communist. He left Portugal and went to Spain after a disagreement with the Portuguese government at the time. Portuguese never understood or forgot that leaving. I really did not care because all I cared about was that he could feel comfortable writing more books! 

Here's what you can expect for the last October's week:

Readings and photo exhibition at Sonnabend Gallery; 

Iberian Screening (featuring Portuguese and Spanish short films) at Anthology Films Archives; 

A concert by Portuguese band Noiserv; 

Lectures at Instituto Cervantes and Rutgers University; 

Screening of the documentary "José & Pilar" at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). 

Listen to José & Pilar OST and download Mp3 it if you like!

Artists from Barzil: Adriana Calcanhoto, Pedro Granato, Bruno Palazzo; Artists from Portugal: Camané, José Mário Branco, Noiserv,Luis Cilia, Pedro Gonçalves