In May 2018, the International Institute of Macau (IIM) presented a photo exhibition of Carlos Dias, a photographer with international credentials and awards, entitled “The Magic of the Streets of Macau”. About a hundred of his photographs were exhibited, with the support of the Macau Foundation, at the Chun Chou Tong pavilion in the Lou Lim Ieoc Garden, where they were seen by more than 5,000 visitors.
Specializing in night photographs of the streets and on rainy days when the water produces reflections from the wet ground, Carlos Dias has portrayed Macau in his own style, especially capturing scenes from the alleys and lanes, as well as events, festivities and traditional events, that characterize this land.
The exhibited photographs were registered in a trilingual photo album, which was edited by IIM, with the support of the previous Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) and also of the Macau Foundation.
His photographs, when inserted in social networks, have become popular with more than 17,000 followers on Facebook. These works are captured in HDR (High Dynamic Range), with vivid colors and tones, giving the impression that many of the photographs are painted works.
In view of the inconvenience of exhibiting these works abroad, due to the epidemic that rages in many places, the IIM will launch a virtual exhibition of these photographs, dedicated to cyber nautical followers and to the public from abroad who had not previously had the opportunity to appreciate these different works Carlos Dias. With the use of the digital platforms, IIM intends to keep the magic and appeal of this city alive, portrayed in images of the various corners that go beyond the usual tourist attractions of Macau.
The virtual exhibition will be accessible to all cybernauts, including those from Greater China, from August 19, lasting one year, on the IIM website and Facebook page, with a direct access link.
At the end of 2016, under the responsibility of the International Institute of Macau (IIM) and with the support of the Macau Foundation (FM), journalist and researcher Joquim Magalhães de Castro collected the testimony of Macanese residents in North America, having toured several cities for record the oral history of the experience of these emigrants and family members.
As a result of this work, IIM began to prepare a series of videos about the Macaense Diaspora in North America presenting, in the first part, the personal testimonies of those who lived those troubled times in which the Japanese invaded northern China, the withdrawal of Macanese families from Shanghai, the subsequent Pacific War and the occupation of Hong Kong, a period when many of them took refuge in Macau where an extraordinary number of other refugees also flocked.
This initiative aims to preserve the memories of the Macanese communities scattered around the world, to make the new generations aware of the social changes that caused the great migratory flow of people from Macau, the reasons for their “displacement” and to remind them that their roots are still in Macau.
The project contains a total of four documentary segments of about 30 minutes each, with each segment of the series being able to respect different parts of history and experiences. The first and second episodes are already made and the third in the process of being completed, including subtitling, during this year.
The first of the series had already been shown, in a preview, in late 2018, having received favorable comments. In 2019, it was presented to the public at the University of Macau and later promoted to the public of Chinese speakers on Macau Cable TV. The documentary was also selected to debut in the “Sound & Image Festival 2019” contest, in December of that year.
With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which lasted this year, IIM chose to schedule these two episodes of the documentary on its pages on the digital platforms Facebook and YouTube, starting at 12 noon on the 14th of August (Friday), both subtitled in Chinese and Portuguese. The IIM hopes, in this way, to attract more public views, not only from Macau but from other parts of the world.
The documentary entitled “Macaenses - Uma Odisseia”, is being produced based on the script of the researcher Mariana Leitão Pereira, with editing by António Pinto Marques, and original songs composed and performed by several Macanese artists, namely Armando Santos and Isa Manhão Seto.
The International Institute of Macau (IIM) will put on the digital platforms a series of twenty videos that it had prepared to celebrate the twenty years of the Macao SAR. These videos, with an average duration of about 3 minutes each, portray the state of evolution and progress of Macao in the last twenty years and are spread over different themes, such as the years of Macao SAR, ranging from Heritage to Science, and from Education to the Creative Industry, through Environment and Links to Lusophone Countries.
Initially, they would serve to complement an exhibition of more than 100 photographs that would be shown by several cities in North America, Australia, Brazil and Portugal, as well as demonstrations of Macanese cuisine prepared to take place in some of the cities where the diaspora Macanese community could provide support for its realization, as was done previously during the IIM program for celebrations abroad, for the 10 and 15 years of Macao SAR.
Due to the global outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, the program had to be reformulated and, in addition to showing these videos, exhibitions of that collection of photographs should be held on two digital platforms, one of which is located in China.
This online exhibition will be launched on the 20th of August and can be viewed, for twelve months, through a direct link, from the IIM website and Facebook.
In the meantime, the possibility of producing a video, in Chinese and English, of about 30 minutes, which will be shown on Canadian television channels (both in Greater Toronto and British Columbia), and which will be also introduced on digital platforms.
Depending on the conditions and the evolution of the outbreak of the viral epidemic, IIM expects to still be able to carry out a physical exhibition in Hong Kong, with the collaboration of the Club Lusitano, as well as hold a show of Macanese cuisine in its recently renovated facilities.
Direct link to access to the online exhibition
In this weekend, we are at the Mandarin House for the 15 years anniversary of the Macau Historic Centre in the World Heritage list. Among many associations and products of the cultural heritage, IIM joins in this initiative with the some of the publications in this event. Please take a visit!
