Discoveries from Portugal World Cinema

The journey of 11 women while they go on a pilgrimage from Bragança to Fatima.

Among the crosses of an old cemetery, two outlaws have a dispute over honour, companionship and greed.

A romance comedy about a nonconformist couple of young parents who, looking for a solution to their fragile financial situation, is involved in an innocent and crazy scheme.

Underscored by French film legend Delphine Seyrig’s evocative recitation of a Henri Michaux poem, Maureen Fazendeiro’s film is a mysterious, multi-textured portrait of eclipse spectators in Portugal.

In her suburban house, Madame Vaussart brings together a group of solitaries every Wednesday. Everyone tries to forget their problems, their complexes, their sadness. Between Mr. Michel, very shy, Mrs. Lebris, a former actress, a former colonial soldier and a few others, a project was soon born. They arm themselves and organize a manhunt from which, voluntarily, no one will come out alive.

A story about two people (Clara and Tó), from different economic backgrounds, who love each other, but whose love is not accepted by everyone, especially by the father of Clara, who will do everything he can to stop their love. Things go even worse when Clara becomes pregnant.

A disturbing film about the Portuguese underworld of prostitution.

Emília Pedro e Fernanda Jorge revisit childhood memories to identify over 70 land parcels inherited from their father. As physical traces fade, memory and oral tradition become the only way to 'see' what is no longer visible.

An anthology film drama featuring a poetic mirror structure based on existential identity. In "The Immortals," adapted from a Helder Prista Monteiro play, two famous doctors, an 80-year-old father, and his 60-year-old son, contemplate senility and death. "Suzy," from an Antonio Patricio story, is set in the '30s when a young courtesan dies on the operating table. "Mother of the River" is from an Agustina Bessa-Luis fable about eternal life.

Two siblings face their problems and undergo a profound inner transformation at a time when they both rediscover themselves. Lidia struggles to cope with her newborn baby: she can’t handle the expectations, doesn’t recognize her body, and distances herself from home and her boyfriend. Her brother Lauro works in a funeral agency. Divorced with a son, he grapples with accepting his bisexuality. Though the siblings rarely saw each other, their shared challenges bring them closer on a journey of rediscovery and profound inner transformation. The light at the end of the tunnel isn’t an illusion; the tunnel is.

A young woman who dreams of leaving her small town in order to live in São Paulo decides to raffle herself in order to get a bus ticket to move there. The raffle winner gets the chance to spend the night with her. But in this small place where everybody knows each other, who'll be the winner?

FROM DEVIL’S BREATH tells the unlikely story of two remarkable narratives that come crashing together; the extraordinary, inspiring community of survivors of the deadly 2017 wildfires in Portugal, fighting to ensure what they’ve lived through can never happen again; and a revolutionary, world-changing scientific discovery which could help protect us all from the climate emergency.

1920s. Vitalino, a small farmer from São Vicente sees his father die of the epidemic which decimated the country. Some years later, of all the brothers, Vitalino is the strongest and takes his father’s place in the house. But the village is too small for his aspirations and he decides to head to Brazil, leaving his sisters in charge of the household. In parallel with Vitalino’s story, If I Were a Thief… I’d Steal portrays the world of Paulo Rocha rummaging through his films and ghosts over the years.

For a 13-year-old boy like Filipe, the prospect of a summer vacation in the Azores with his father is like a dream come true. But dreams are sometimes just a way to avoid facing reality.

Uncertain whether his bus will arrive, a hesitant and anxious young man begins to question the point of waiting. As he stands at the bus stop, his interactions with those who arrive lead him to reflect on the passing of time and how he should face it.

Elisha leads dual lives: daytime family duties and a nighttime project for his son and dying father. A crisis calls him back to Baltimore, dramatically transforming his world.

Cape Verde, 1964. At the feet of a mighty volcano, the traditional Cape Verdean society is undergoing a steady change. The old land-owning aristocracy is disintegrating. A class of "mulattos" begins to emerge, with a trade-based financial power that threatens the landlords. A new identity arises, a mix of old and new, of African and Portuguese culture, sensual and dynamic. The songs of Cesária Évora follow this inevitable transformation. From the novel by Henrique Teixeira de Sousa.

Vita, a young and beautiful African woman learns that finding love and happiness need not come at the sacrifice of one's identity.

A wealthy landowner, "The Dauphin," enjoys a decadent life of hunting, drinking, and womanizing. He oversees his estate, the Laguna, with his barren wife, his one-armed manservant, and his treasured guard dog. When a sportsman (the film’s narrator) comes to the estate for his annual duck-hunting excursion, he discovers the body of the landowner’s wife floating in the lagoon and the manservant dead on his master’s bed. The Dauphin and his dog are nowhere to be found except for the mysterious barking sounds heard over the lagoon.

The life and work of Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer and poet Chico Buarque de Hollanda.

Sofia, a young girl in Mozambique who is studying to be a doctor, finds that her professor wants more from her than hard work. An unwillingness to compromise her values and potentially her health, may cost her a place there.

In a little forgotten town three bandits robbers a bank and manages to run away with a lot of dough. The police is triggered killing two of them after a pursuit and Ruth now is the only to scape.

Angolares are the oldest inhabitants of the island of São Tomé. Control of the island was wrested from them in the late 19th century, and their descendents have been reduced to a small fishing community. This fascinating film explores the tangled history of the Angolares and their beautiful island.

Maria, a Ukrainian doctor, comes to Portugal to spend a year with Greco, her husband who is also a doctor. Upon arrival at Faro airport she is the only person from Kiev approached by agents of Immigration and Customs that lead her to a room of interrogation, without any explanations. All this occurs because the authorities suspect that something illegal should be behind her trip, since she is from Eastern Europe and her husband is Senegalese.

The story of a child who faces the emptiness that surrounds the figure of his parents, disappeared in Africa.

Costa is travelling from Africa to London, and wishes very much to his nephew Amadeu, and see by himself how well he has been invested large sums of money he is been sending him. Amadeu 'borrows' for 24 hours a wife, a villa, a car, and a servant - for he has been lies to his uncle all the time. All goes well. But, Costa decides to prolong his stay for two weeks...

Lost in his memories and writing his memories of love, Crispin doesn't realize that true love could be right there in front of him, but he is too busy living in the past. But with Tonho's company the boy discovers the true sense to continue on his own path.

Everything changes in P's haunting life when he comes across a peculiar being dancing in the middle of a forest.

Leonel is a pianist, nostalgic of sweet melodies, while his son is the (real-life) leader of Os Gatos Pretos (black cats), a twist musical group. The conflict is eventu ally solved when Leonel's daughter, Cilinha, starts dating Raúl, a well-off young man, who promote a new dancing club, the Lisboa Antiga e Moderna, where old new music get even shares.

An ode to projection in cinema, from the work of the projectionist to the machines that light up the theaters.

A shy Portuguese poet and an exuberant English occultist meet up in Lisbon in 1930. When the last one disappears, an English detective begins a thorough investigation: was it a suicide, as reported. Or a homicide? This is the real story of the brief meeting between Fernando Pessoa, Aleister Crowley, and Hanni Larissa Jaeger.

In a Portuguese village by the sea, a family sees their house become a transit point to innumerous migrants due to a passport forgery business created by its patriarch, Vítor, and his Spanish ex-wife Fernanda. His Russian wife Liza and his son Mauro—who stops talking—see the newcomers alter the dynamics, relationships and aspirations of the house's residents.

Olívia, Marta, and Carlota are three friends leading normal lives, until a moment of panic changes everything: an unexpected confrontation with Jaime, Olívia’s ex-boyfriend, ends tragically when he dies accidentally. Consumed by the fear of losing their freedom during the best years of their lives, the three make a radical decision - to hide the body and conceal what happened that night.

A gang of bandits attacks the population of Río Hondo, shooting left and right; a man decides to act.

In the 50s, a poor rural family crosses the Alentejo scrubland to bury a relative. But the road holds a surprise for them: a closed chest, half-buried in the arid soil. Perhaps it's a gift from heaven, perhaps it's the opposite...

A look at the urban society of the seventies. The story of Marta a young and pretty girl, who leaves her husband to search for her true identity. She doesn't quite know what she wants, but at least she knows what she's escaping from. Soon she encounters financial difficulties and finds herself involved with shady characters, a situation that leads to a mysterious murder. The net closes around her.

A technical problem aboard a transatlantic flight forces a plane to land in Porto Santo, the small island of Madeira's archipelago where, according to a legend, Christopher Columbus the 15th century navigator, lived for a while and entertained a sexual relationship with a widow and her nubile daughter. A girl photo journalist profits to stay the extra-needed days for repair, to visit the island - and eventually she'll become part of complex relationships among some of the secluded people of the island. Also, a yacht lost in the high seas in 1947 reappears from the misty horizon 50 years later - to unite Fanny and João, a contemporary navigator.

A typical day in the life of a lonely man who works in an unsuccessful tavern located in the historical center of Guimarães, an old town in Portugal. During the day, the man spends his time coming up with new menu items for his tavern, while at night he gets ready to meet someone special.

Haunted by the fear of becoming a "one-hit-wonder author," João grows increasingly anguished over his inability to produce a follow-up to his acclaimed debut novel. The young writer realizes he must break free from his self-imposed routine and venture beyond his comfort zone. In this pursuit, he forms an unlikely friendship with Breno, a free-spirited motorcyclist whose lifestyle couldn’t more different from João’s own. Their bond may just hold the key to unlocking the inspiration João needs to finally write his second book—and redefine his legacy.

Francisco just got out of prison after a six year sentence and is now a free man. He wants to change, and after a few days sleeping in the subway tunnels, and some small jobs, he finally gets a room on a cheap hotel. He changes his looks, gets a job, lives his life.

Nine-year-old Paulo stumbles upon a photograph of Miguel, the grandfather he never met, sets out to track him down and eventually meets him, at which point the magic begins.

Pavese considered Dialogues with Leucò his best work. Eloquent and at the same time sententious and fragile, but implausible among humanized gods, demigods, heroes, and other pagan figures of Greek mythology, who question, through the imaginary of myths, the society of contemporary man. Out of a time and a certain space, and thus, and like all myths, always current.

In 1894, Gabriel, an ambitious medicine graduate, spends his summer learning from the renowned Doctor Fidalgo in his isolated Mansion. Upon developing a lustful admiration for Fidalgo's wife, the young doctor is forced to break his morals.

Prosecuting Attorney David Lunga's success is overshadowed by the terrifying secrets of Rosa, a beautiful but mysterious woman with whom he falls in love. What mysteries does she hide? As the macabre facts unravel, David comes face to face with his own demons and is driven to prove his innocence, recover his reputation and, above all, clear his own conscience.

From Regina's personal and visual memories, a tribute to her uncle Thomas, who was an artistic inspiration and played a key role in her becoming a filmmaker. A moving tribute to a poet of the everyday.

In 1983, little João Amaral Severo asks his father to go to the circus. His father, and army captain who had been recently widowed, refuses to take him under the pretext that the circus would draw his attention away from his studies. Ten years later João is a student in the Military College, and is tired of the harsh discipline imposed by his father and decides to join a travelling circus that stops in his hometown, Alcochete. From then on João, alone and free to live his life the way he wants, finds a world of magic, the love of Dolores (a young trapeze artist) and the family he never really had. Until a twist of fate turns João into a father...

An adaptation of the short story with the same name by Portuguese writer Eça de Queiroz.

A reorganization within a crime syndicate.

It's September in Lisbon… Elsa’s young daughter leaves with her father, and Teresa, a friend’s friend, comes to stay in her room. One night the two women go out and meet Raul, a vagrant lover of Elsa. A triangle takes form. They finish the night on a boat by the name of Pandora, but in the morning Raul sails away, alone. Elsa and Teresa will start a new life...

Follows Hugo as he takes a gap year and returns to Porto to regain balance with his family, but he attends a concert by Luís Stockman, who plays a theme that Hugo has been writing in his head for years.

Memory is a collaboration with musician Noah Lennox (Panda Bear), exploring the relationship between a musician and filmmaker and their personal reflection on memories. From Super 8 home movies and entirely handmade, this film explores familiar memories, the present moment combined with past experiences and how it all seems to evade from our present memory.