Noite Escura [Versão do Realizador]

In a hostess bar run by a family somewhere in the Portuguese countryside, tension is rising. A Russian mafia group demands that one of the manager’s daughters be sacrificed as punishment for a breach of trust. Based on a Greek tragedy, Noite Escura is one of João Canijo’s most accomplished films: the camera moves among the hostesses and their clients, weaving together several narratives in a process that would become central to the filmmaker’s later work. This screening presents the original version, recovered through the film’s recent digitisation and running 12 minutes longer than the standard version.