FILM NEWS
South African Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Title: Phantom (O Fantasma)
Director: João Pedro Rodrigues
Specs: Portugal 2000 35mm 90min subtitled
This dark, brooding first film by Rodrigues details a young man's black latex-covered slide into his sex-inspired fantasy world of predacious, feral alienation.
By night the handsome, enigmatic Sergio works for Lisbon's municipality collecting garbage; and, like the rubbish that he clears, his brief sexual encounters of a peculiar kind are similarly throwaway. He keeps mostly to himself, with his only contact the work guard dog and his adoring work-colleague Fatima, whom he cannot help abusing. Sergio's obsession with a handsome, sporty stranger (making a fetish of his discarded motorcycle gloves and torn swimming trunks) turns to fully-fledged stalking and abduction.
This act, combined with a quick succession of humiliating incidents loosens his tenacious grip on reality and his dark fantasies take hold.
Out In Africa
Jhb Fri 12 / 10.30pm Tue 16 / 10.15pm Thu 18 / 8pm
CT Sat 20 / 10.15pm Wed 24 / 10.15 Fri 26 / 10.30pm
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