Discoveries from Portugal World Cinema

Film by visual artist Helena Almeida.

Thousands of workers take the ferry across Lisbon’s Tagus River every day. They’re commuters just like those you see everywhere in buses, trains and subways. In the ceaseless flow of humanity they disappear anonymously into the crowd. This film is Gonçalo Pina’s cinematic tribute to these “invisibles.”

A girl who lives alone finds a mirror in the trash, takes it home and strange things start to happen.

Short film by Natalia Terlecka and Raul Oliveira.

Structuralist short film by Catarina Nogueira.

In a serene setting, a girl gazes at the landscape before throwing herself off a cliff to her death. This scene is digitally reproduced and stored, preserving it in perpetuity.

Story of one of the figures from Portuguese folklore that frightens children and encourages obedience.

A game of chess between the Human and Death makes the Human discover his fear of dying. In this desperation, Death decides to offer the Human three different experiences - past, present and future - so that he can face his mortality.

Brief flashes of life, like dreams, revealed by a passionate and sensitive gaze upon the cosmos.

A documentary based on interviews with several contemporary Portuguese Drag Kings, created within the framework of the show KING SIZE (2025) by Sónia Baptista – a co-production of Teatro Nacional D. Maria II and the DDD Festival – a project that explores the performativity of masculinity in a queer context.

A couple, once young and in love, fears the end of a long-term relationship on the brink of collapse. In a last-ditch attempt to recapture their former love, they turn to a therapist who proposes a truly unusual approach.

Animals in the forest don’t want to play with the little restless cloud at all. However, it will be able to transform the forest and its inhabitants.

The sea unfolds as an ever-shifting interstitial realm where the symbols of water create a natural language.

The historical and strategic importance of the territories of the State of Portuguese India, and aspects related to the effort to defend them.

Coverage of the effects of the floods in Constância.

The launching of the destroyer ‘Tejo’ in the river Tagus – shipyard Rocha de Conde d'Óbidos, Lisbon, with the presence of the President of the Ministers Council.

Throughout history, Man has become increasingly sedentary. The evolution of knowledge and technology has allowed life to become more comfortable. However, there were always those who preferred to live life as an adventure, leaving everything behind towards the unknown. In Faial lives a community of adventurers who, after a life at sea, finally decided to have a home on land. Of all the places in the world they have been through, what will have led them to stay here, on the island of Faial?

A film by Luís Gaspar.

Before leaving for Saudi Arabia, Jorge Jesus gave an exclusive interview to RTP. On “Primeira Pessoa,” the coach recalled his time at Sporting, Benfica, and his friendship with former Benfica director Luís Filipe Vieira.

Inspired by the traces of a party in a street in conversation with itself and expanded into a game between flower and shadow, ASSOBIO E PIROPO responds to the fury of the legislature with a set of pin-ups whose prints were picked up... in the trash.

A woman dances, trying to awaken a man's desire. But the loneliness is too strong.

Wandering around the museum, more than just visiting, is directing a visit. Each visitor unconsciously creates their own movie according to their pace through the exhibition, their route, their interest and their company.

Os Caretas, a group of villagers and friends from São João de Londres, decide to enter the Secret stockyard. For two weeks, they face a wide range of challenges set by the Voice of the house. Who will be able to endure until the end? Who will be the winner?

Five students look for witch stories that haunt the memory of a portuguese countryside village.

Short film by António Palolo.

Drag queen Symone Dragma applies makeup and makes conversation.

The pigeon used to be a respected animal, today it's a pinochio of trash. Members of the urban world stepped away from the responsabilities of their domestication, leaving its faith to the city and its conditions (or the lack of them). What does that say about us? Here the rat of the air is just a pigeon.

A letter, a song and a foggy night in Venice.

The film follows a woman and the bird which lives inside of her, and how their inability to co-live together leads to physical wounds to her body.

A movie of the 1982 Festa do Avante

Portrait of an artist and her creative process through her post-creation experience of her own art creations.

This film is about two Ukrainians cousins: Sergey and Eduard, who are illegal immigrants in Portugal. They work as construction workers in the outskirts of Lisbon. The two of them share a converted garage with three others illegal Ukrainian immigrants. Their life in the garage is very basic and dull, but their inner life is full of contradictory feelings and nostalgia. The film describes their final months in voluntary exile, when yearning for home becomes more acute while the question of prolonging their stay arises. Finally, they leave Portugal and the film follows their first days in their own country. What kind of dreams can give them the strength to live and survive in these inhuman conditions in a faraway land?

An insight into the ferocious world of camping inside a summer festival, through the lens of one of its victims.

Zahra is a young dancer based in Iran. Navigating the city with sensitivity, Zahra describes her thoughts on identity, daily struggles, resistance and fights against internal and external restrictions. Questioning and rigor are the main themes of her breath shortening dance performances, as a wonder of youth and braveness. Zahra’s battlefield is oftentimes her own mind, her performances being the place for the confrontation with herself. Between silence and despair, from hectic to explosive, there is the place where Zahra is free.

Chã das Caldeiras, at an altitude of 2000m, is a town within the caldera of the Fogo volcano, in Cape Verde. In the last eruption in 2015, the town was almost completely destroyed.

Rosa reflects about life and friendship.