Discoveries from Portugal World Cinema

An homage to the filmmaker's grandmother, Luciete.

A short film showcasing the landscapes of Castelo Branco, Beira Alta.

A standard physiotherapy session turns into a nightmare as past events from both the physio and patient come to light.

“In Drawings/Lines, 1971, on top of previously printed film—was he just recycling material or was he deliberately experimenting with a new technique?—Palolo scratched lines directly on the celluloid, imprinting on it a choreography of rhythms and lights. The background images, unified by an overall tone of blue and purple, fluctuate from barely visible to perfectly recognizable, producing a fascinating layered effect with material as diverse as Marlene Dietrich, the Beatles’ yellow submarine, Adolf Hitler, Botticelli’s Venus, and a painting by Magritte.” (Filipa Oliveira)

My Friend Pedro follows the journey of a mute teenager with a burning ambition to become a filmmaker. Often feeling unseen and misunderstood, he turns to cinema as his unique voice.

“Computational Compost” addresses the environmental impact of data storage and proposes a synergy between technology and ecology. Humans and artificial intelligence produce so much data that soon there will be no capacity to store it; we are accumulating infinite information with finite resources. The film invites reconsideration on the relationship between data storage and collective memory, highlighting the urgency of critically rethinking narratives of the digital future.

A landscape remembers how it developed into the mountain it is today. From glacial tongues to raging wildfires, the story is a reminiscence of the human impact on landscapes.

Street posters are visible in every corner of the city. But who are the invisible people who put them up? A documentary story, told by the filmmaker, himself a member of a collective responsible for the poster paste-ups in Lisbon.

A film about architecture and our personal relation with it.

The duo of friends Jerry and Leonard find themselves in the middle of a car crash, but something isn't quite right.

It is a documentary that portrays the life of a man of Romanian nationality, ex-drug addict and ex-homeless. Christian Georgescu was born in 1978 in Romania and it was in Porto where he was reborn. It is in this city that he rewrites his history as an Activist and Peer Educator. The charisma that characterizes him joins the inspiration of wanting to bring change to the lives of those who today are going through much of what was their past.

On vacation, a couple and their son arrive at a chalet next to a lake. Each member of the family quickly goes off to his own activity. The father, the mother and the son occupy three distinct territories: the lake, the shore, and the chalet.

Just as Christ carried his cross, Sério Fernandes carries one of his paintings between the ribeira de Gaia and the Palácio de Cristal in Porto. A journey through a dionysian and authentic “second Porto”, an “underground” Porto, a sidewalk Porto; so close and so far from that velvety and bourgeois “first Porto”...

A journey from darkness to light, from silence to sound, from loneliness to friendship. Ana is 6 years old and spends her days locked up with her toys and a strange box that hypnotizes her with images and sounds. One day Ana breaks this enchantment...

From photographs archived in family albums and photographs of patterns and texture, a collection of small stop motions emerges, accompanied by nostalgic ambient sounds. A reflection on childhood and the lack thereof.

'Secrets of Nature' was a series of short films produced by the BBC in the 20s and 30s about animals, plants and our relationship to them. In 2021, and in tandem with the 'Cinema e Razão Ecológica' conference, Teresa Castro gives it a new reading in four episodes in which she explores the world of lichens, mushrooms and ruderal plants. An unprecedented mini-video series, produced by Culturgest.

'Secrets of Nature' was a series of short films produced by the BBC in the 20s and 30s about animals, plants and our relationship to them. In 2021, and in tandem with the 'Cinema e Razão Ecológica' conference, Teresa Castro gives it a new reading in four episodes in which she explores the world of lichens, mushrooms and ruderal plants. An unprecedented mini-video series, produced by Culturgest.

My Home has a Lot of Windows is a series that follows the adventures of the tiny Lulu in the infinite building she lives in. In each episode, Lulu will be challenged by her father, the building's doorman, to help him with some task. While doing her chores, Lulu will meet a new neighbour and learn how they live their loneliness.

A satirical look at Lisbon’s housing crisis, now the third most expensive city worldwide. Mass tourism and a lack of infrastructures are transforming the city into a large construction site and a perfect spot for real estate speculation.

Through a blend of captivating regional imagery, speakers’ accounts of their experiences with languages, and engaging real-life experiences, Vozes das Margens delivers a celebratory portrait of the Uruguayan Portuguese, a unique dialect, while exploring how language, place and society are interwoven in the border experience.

Fleeing the Portuguese dictatorship and immigrating to the U.S. doesn’t keep Maria from dancing. 50 years later, the threat of cultural loss brings her granddaughter home to dance in their folk troupe. An intimate portrait of the generational impact of immigration.

Daydreaming of unlikely relationships, the flower, as delicate as it is revolutionary, represents an act of love in the midst of the suffocation and embrace of a classic Portuguese neighborhood.