Discoveries from Portugal World Cinema

In the year when cinema was paralyzed in Portugal due to lack of funding, a group of friends embarks on a mysterious expedition to see wolves in their natural habitat, but ends up being trapped in a house without much to do. The night goes by and the expedition’s main goal seems increasingly compromised until the biologist who promised them adventures shows up.

After the structural collapse at a construction site, Paulo loses his job because he denounces the situation to the authorities.

Over the course of one night, two middle-aged friends—actors in a struggling theater company—wander the streets of Lisbon’s less touristy neighborhoods, which seem to never sleep, and talk about all and nothing, about life, work, commitment, the stage, illness, death, family. Hermínio and Barata are like brothers, “children” of Mário Plácido, the founder and director of the troupe who died a few weeks ago, but they have different personalities and do not share the same vision for the future of the company. Barata wants to save it and continue to stage plays, while Hermínio has doubts about whether it should continue. The rift could shake their decades-long friendship.

A love triangle between two boys and a girl who drift through life from a rugby game, to a pool party, to the beach.

A middle-aged musician speaks of various themes - innocence, friendship, seduction, fascination, love, death - immediately portrayed in paintings, which the actors interpret, in different situations from the character they embody. In the spotlight, a young photographer, a strange-looking dancer / model, a bullfighter who lives his dream, a retired old man ...

Mitó lives in a small village and is the son of the local Comunist Party leader, she is 18 years-old and is about to graduate from the high-school she must attend at Beja - the nearest town. News that she killed her German boyfriend, at 4 a.m. on a desert road, do not excite much the editor of a Lisbon newspaper. He sends in a tyro reporter, Joaquim Peixoto, just in case. The young man, already considered hopless in his profession, will uncover more than a sex scandal to be used for political purposes. Written by Artemis-9

A hundred letters written by Portuguese women during the Salazar dictatorship were found by chance in a second-hand bookshop. By confronting today the women who wrote these letters with the ghosts of the past, and revealing important archive material, Letters to a Dictatorship takes us on an in-depth journey through the obscurantism that dominated Portugal for more than 50 years.

After losing her father in the sea, Rosa is lodged in the house of the lighthouse keeper João Vidal. António Gaspar, also a lighthouse keeper, loves Rosa. His jealousy of João Vidal will provoke the death of Rosa, an act that the mother of António will help to cover up.

Maria de Noronha, at 13 years old, suffers from high fevers and violent hemoptysis caused by a ruthless tuberculosis. To alleviate the pain, she gathers poppies from her garden and, at night, places them on her bed pillows. But the poppies have a devastating effect. Her deep sleep is invaded by ghosts and hallucinations: the luxury and decadence of the Portuguese 16th century. A broken nation, occupied by strangers.

Antonio is 18 years old and is profoundly deaf. He wants to study cinema outside Portugal and become a director. And make movies for everyone, deaf and listeners. This is your dream that, like all dreams, has a price: to question himself and the community to which he belongs. At the same time, she lives her first love with Irina, a deaf young woman who doesn't understand why he wants to leave school and his country so much. For the first time in his life, Anthony's world is falling apart. But it may be worth losing the world to conquer the universe where deaf and hearing listen in the same gesture.

Arthur is a history teacher who lives alone in Paris after having broken up with Claire. He is a sensitive man, full of existential doubts and questions. He has to go to Lisbon to meet an eminent historian whose work is the subject of his thesis. Having just made up with Claire, he decides to take her along. She's an ideal travel companion and it seems their relationship has not yet exhausted its potential. But moving from Lisbon to Oporto, their fantasy of a second honeymoon clashes with the reality of a world on the verge of a nightmare.

From laws on propaganda and extremism to forced "treatment for orientation"! Are we truly at this point in history? This is a collection of dramatic stories from people who have endured so-called conversion therapy. Pilgrimages to Iran, psychiatric hospitals, soul-saving Orthodox monasteries, prisons in the Caucasus, and even sessions of exorcising a jinn... The imagination of those convinced that sexual orientation can be "corrected" knows no bounds. But what are the consequences of this conviction, and how effective is corrective medicine?

Adventurer, pilgrim, penitent but above all outstanding writer, Fernão Mendes Pinto left us an unparalleled romance, the living and human palpitation of one of the greatest historical adventures of man.

For as long as she remembers, Francisca lives with an inexplicable and uncontrollable aversion to belly buttons. Nothing makes her more anxious than this simple part of the body and the shapes in the world that resemble it. When therapy isn't enough to solve her cherished phobia , Francisca turns to other types of methods - without any scientific basis and not recommended for anyone who suffers from the same condition.

The love affair between Ceci, a white woman and a handsome Indian, Peri, in Brazil.

Several children are subjected to an exhaustive sound experiment. Tested through a long and insensitive questionnaire, they are victims and witnesses of different manifestations of violence. Ivan, one of the children, overcomes everything by mysteriously transcending himself. Tobi challenges him and they project themselves into an idyllic world where it is possible to live in harmony.

After her daughter's death, Rita returns to the African country of her childhood to investigate the death of Yvone Kane, a former political activist and guerrilla fighter. There, she becomes embroiled in a journey into the past of a land haunted by war and evil.

Two wandering characters walk through a city ravaged by real estate speculation looking for movie theaters in downtown São Paulo, but only find evangelical churches, porn theaters, parking lots and ruins.

The story revolves around Anastácio, a supporter of Leões de Alcochete and Mr. Barata, a supporter of Inferno Futebol Clube. One day, the two teams face each other. Which team will win?

On an isolated Portuguese island, a nameless man makes a mental journey which brings him into contact with the strange and menacing world without peace and harmony.

It's Christmas Eve and an aunt and her nephew have to deal with their platonic relationship.

The story of two Brazilian immigrants who fight for their dreams in Lisbon and Almada. It is, therefore, a tribute to all people with the courage to pursue their dreams.

Bruno Aleixo was invited to write a biopic about his own life. Lacking ideas, he decided to ask his closest friends for inspiration. Reunited in a cafe, each of his friends suggests a different idea, more or less biographical.

From the heart of the Amazon comes this exclusive LGBTQ+ compilation from emerging Latin American directors from Brazil and Peru. These 5 thought-provoking shorts prove that universal social themes have no borders. They are: The Last Romantics [Os Últimos Românticos] (2019); Savage Fire [Fogo Selvagem] (2017); My Only Earth Is in the Moon [Minha Única Terra É Na Lua] (2017); Sandra Calling [Sandra Chamando] (2017); Carlito Leaves Forever [Carlito se va para siempre] (2018).

An old woman attends classes of digital photography and editing. It is not a late hobby, but a project undertaken with a clear aim in mind. Ragnhild Borgomanero wants to be able to preserve the memory of her deceased husband Guido, the biggest private collector of fossils in Latin America.

A famous singer conducts two relationships at once, with a businesswoman and her secretary. He marries the woman, has children from both, and all goes well for him until one fateful day, when his two sons come to know that he is parent of both, at school.

Júlia is a 16 year old teenager. A sudden emergency hospital commitment helps her realize, although reluctent, that she suffers from a serious desease: nervous anorexy. Her recovery is slow, but she can count on the support from both her friend, parents and the psychologist.

A three-episode anthology film based on short stories by Brazilian writer Graciliano Ramos.

Lisbon, early 1940s. The neutral port town is an open door to freedom, for those who are escaping the Nazi occupied France and eastern European countries, and a war field for spies of every description. Lisbon became a cosmopolitan town, where the Duke of Windsor, Primo de Rivera, Pola Negri, Leslie Howard, Walter Schellenberg and Juan Garcia are often together in the luxury hotels and night-clubs. Espionage and crime go hand in hand, despite of, or encouraged by, the Portuguese secret police.

This was Brazil's first feature film in color.

Agressivity and the will to compete are also part of childhood. At a poor district’s boxing club the kids live a close friendship and find a place to express a fury that is violent but liberating.

From the music of Lebanese composer Gabriel Yared, Portuguese filmmaker João Pedro Rodrigues crafts a story reminiscent of David Lynch's Blue Velvet, showcasing an idyllic day in a Portuguese city that ends with a young man's awakening limned in darkness. This short film is part of the 2x25 Project of Film Fest Gent and the World Soundtrack Awards. The project commissioned 25 composers to compose a short piece of music, after which 25 filmmakers made short films that are the ultimate symbioses of music and cinematography, fitting completely within the DNA of the festival. The result: 25 exceptional films where the music inspired the form, narrative and texture.

Parallel tales of young couples desperately escaping cruel false fathers, each couple on the run across different regions of the country and during increasingly contemporary time periods.

Carolina, an aging local grande dame who works at a crossing point on the titular river, marries another late-in-life character, the dredging-boat operator Antonio. Not long after their union, she becomes intensely jealous of Antonio's fondness for their winsome goddaughter, Joana, and insinuates herself into a relationship brewing between Joana and a mystical gypsy gold salesman. Soon, tempers are flaring, mystical secrets are being revealed and death is hovering over the central characters.

A woman translates the front page of H.P. Lovecraft's book “The Silver Key”. Her husband, a journalist, listens. The book describes the conflicts between the real and the imaginary, and tells how Randolph Carter, the film's character, leaves everyday life in search of his childhood dreams.

Situated at the foot of Yellow Mountain, which protected it from the cold offshore winds of winter, and between the rivers Man and Eido, which irrigated the fields around it, the village of Vilarinho das Furnas was destroyed in 1969. This documentary provides a tribute to the people of the town during the last 12 months of its existence, before being erased by the cold and clear waters that gave it life for so long.

Mid-19th century. A group of survivors from a wrecked slave ship, both black and white, end up on a deserted island, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The fight for survival and power will flip the moral and social values of those days.

A look at the high-octane global live music industry and the quiet man at its center, featuring interviews, performances and appearances by a who's who of stars and insiders; with U2, Madonna, The Police, Lady Gaga, Rush and more.

Bartolomeu, a humble peasant, decides to exchange his mare Pestana for Adelia's hand in wedding. However, Bartolomeu's world is turned inside out when Pestana disappears and meets a mysterious man who claims to be able to talk to God... on the phone.

Coming from Fundão to Lisboa where he did conscription service, Matias found that the reality of the big city is not exactly how he remembers

The lone survivor of a deadly ambush against him and his team, a narcotics agent swears to avenge the deaths of his friends and fellow officers.

Orphaned by father and mother, Clara has always dreamed of building a singing career. At the age of 16, she moved to Belo Horizonte, where she won the ABC Golden Voice contest. In 1966, she recorded her first vinyl: A Adorable Voice by Clara Nunes. The approach to samba made her achieve the longed for success, in addition to international repercussion. Clara Nunes revolutionized the music industry, becoming the first woman to break the barriers imposed by the record label.

Two friends, Nuno (Pedro Laginha) and Flash (Miguel Borges) live together and decide to rent one room of the house in order to have more money to pay the rent. that's when they meet Carla (Maria João Bastos) who might change their lives forever.

Dominic, a conflicted soldier, tries to draw the line between what's right and wrong as he attempts to hunt down a creature.

“Manual of Evasion LX94” is a thought-provoking Dadaist film about time by the Portuguese director Edgar Pêra. It was shot in Lisbon in 1994 and stars Terence McKenna, Robert Anton Wilson and Rudy Rucker. Time is explored from many unusual angles, while Pêra fills the screen with a wide variety of bizarre and mind-warping imagery.