The FAUSTOS film exhibitions offers an opportunity to revisit, through cinema, the depths of one of Western culture’s most iconic legends: the story of Faust, the intellectual who strikes a pact with the devil in his quest for knowledge and power. Inspired by Goethe’s monumental work, but which was also originally visited by Spiess and Marlowe and also by Thomas Mann, Pushkin or Fernando Pessoa, this exhibitions focuses on films that, while not literal adaptations of the tale, explore Faustian themes—from boundless ambition and the ethics of progress to the allure of the unknown and the darker aspects of human nature. Here, cinema becomes a powerful medium to examine the tensions encapsulated in the Faustian myth, questioning the consequences of transcending traditional humanism and the responsibilities that come with scientific and technical advancement.

The selected films, "Mephisto" (1981) by István Szabó and "Angel Heart" (1987) by Alan Parker, invite us to revisit Faustian portrayals in a contemporary and sophisticated light. In "Mephisto," we witness the transformation of a man who, seduced by power, abandons his convictions and identity to conform to the will of an oppressive regime. This film alludes to the manipulation and domination of the human spirit through a political lens, echoing Goethe’s warning about the price of alliance with forces that challenge basic ethical principles. Meanwhile, "Angel Heart" plunges us into a psychological thriller laced with horror, in the midst of obscure New Orleans, where the protagonist is drawn into a journey of discovery, ultimately realizing that his fate is irrevocably linked to the devil he swore to serve—a dark allegory about the dangers of ambition and the pursuit of the absolute.

The FAUSTOS cycle offers a critical reflection on how institutions, fearing a loss of control, have framed the Faust myth as a moral warning against intellectual freedom and creative restlessness. The origin of the myth, as compiled originally by Johann Spiess, served as a warning against overstepping the accepted boundaries of knowledge—a narrative reinforced by churches and institutions to discourage questioning the established order. However, from these earliest Faustian tales, the myth has evolved to explore human dilemmas in complex and ambivalent contexts, showing that the desire for knowledge and the thirst for power are inseparable from the human condition.

Through this cycle, the audience is invited to observe how cinema tackles and expands upon these archetypal narratives, confronting viewers with the darker facets of human desire and the eternal duality between knowledge and ethics. FAUSTOS is not merely a celebration of literature and cinema but an invitation to reflect on the eternal restlessness of the human soul, which, even in the face of progress, continues to grapple with its own limits and contradictions.

(Curatorship of Alexandre Braga)