In Vanda's Room (2000) No Quarto da Vanda (original title)

Director:

Pedro Costa

Release Date:

2 March 2001 (Portugal)

Genre:

Documentary | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Post Colonialism | Drug Use | Urban Setting | Sister Sister Relationship | Fontainhas Lisbon

Awards:

6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Vanda Duarte	...	Herself
Lena Duarte	...	Herself
Zita Duarte	...	Herself
Manuel Gomes Miranda
Diogo Pires Miranda
Evangelina Nelas
Miquelina Barros
Paulo Jorge Gonçalves
António Semedo Moreno	...	Himself
Paulo Nunes	...	Himself
Pedro Lanban	...	Himself
Fernando Paixão	...	Himself
Julião
Geny

Directed by
Pedro Costa

Produced by
Karl Baumgartner	....	producer
Andres Pfäffli	....	producer
Francisco Villa-Lobos	....	producer

Cinematography by
Pedro Costa

Film Editing by
Dominique Auvray
Patricia Saramago

Sound Department
Stephan Konken	....	sound re-recording mixer
Martin Langenbach	....	foley artist
Markus Pauli	....	sound recordist
Hartmut Teschemacher	....	sound recordist

Editorial Department
Pedro Marques	....	assistant editor

Production Companies

• Contracosta Produções
• Instituto Português da Arte Cinematográfica e Audiovisual (IPACA)
• Pandora Filmproduktion
• Televisione Svizzera Italiana (TSI)
• Ventura Film
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Distributors

• Criterion Collection, The (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Gémini Films

Other Companies

• Konken Studios  sound post-production

Also Known As:

"No Quarto da Vanda" - Portugal (original title)

Runtime:

Portugal:170 min | Switzerland:179 min

Country:

Portugal | Germany | Switzerland | Italy

Language:

Portuguese

Certification:

France:U | Portugal:M/18 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Lisbon, Portugal

Company:

Contracosta Produções

Movie Connections:

Follows Ossos (1997)

People on Drugs? Well, there's a bit more to it than that!

I would love to say, like I read on this very site yesterday, before watching the film, that this is 'the best drug abuse film' but it really is not.

I don't want to come across as if I am saying this is lighthearted or lessen the impact of it in any way. It Is a harrowing study of some pretty messed up people. A woman who is immersed in drug-taking and nothing else in life. The people around her, everyone with the same story or problem, they ALL take drugs. It's sad to see.

Somewhere, behind those eyes you can see a pretty woman who must have had dreams once, her sister too...they are beautiful women gone sick and twisted.

I do agree that this film should be shown everywhere though, this is what drugs do to you! Or perhaps that should say, this is -what society that doesn't care does to you?!

Watch this. You will never see another film like it and for better or worse, you need to know it exists.