Discoveries from Portugal World Cinema

Emilio is a lifelong farmer in his eighties who lives alone on his abandoned farm. Everyone close is gone. One animal is all there is left. Today is the day he decides to sell it.

X, a film location scout, spend his time travelling from place to place looking for filming locations, at the same time that he's looking for funding for the film he wrote himself. In the middle of nowhere, as in the nowhere of his life, he stumbles on Y, the woman for whom he has been waiting all his life.

Set during the Estado Novo dictatorship, in the night of April 24, Pedro hears that the political police, PIDE, assaulted his house. Fearing of what his fate may be, Pedro runs, looking for a place to hide.

Neglected by his parents, a portly teenager finds refuge with a gang of young thugs in Lisbon.

When filming “Esta é a Minha Casa”, the Fundos confessed to the director their desire to come to Lisbon. The Portuguese capital was then frequently featured in the French social media, due to a campaign of promotion of EXPO. A year later, during the summer holydays, João Pedro Rodrigues films the family again on their tour of the capital’s historical sites and the suburbs and on their trip to Expo or the Luz Stadium.

A portrait of Belarmino Fragoso, a veteran boxer in Lisbon nearing the end of his career. In a blend of reportage and re-enactment, the many vices of the once national featherweight champion are revealed against a background of the grim economics of boxing in 1960s Portugal.

A man who grew up in the '80s, in the midst of the pirate-radio scene, works now at a big, modern radio station, but still holds on to his love for a mysterious female lead singer of a now long gone band. He sets himself to start another pirate-radio, now unlegalized, trying to find her.

In the early '90s, Portuguese nanny Leonor accompanies 8-year-old Vera to France, where Vera spends her vacation with her estranged French father and his new family. The deep bond between Leonor and Vera, along with the language barrier isolating them, creates a complex dynamic. As tensions mount, Leonor faces reminders of her subordinate position within the household.

In the year of 2022, a late teenager and their friends film moments they would prefer not to forget: their long season.

A curious fictional documentary filmed in London about two actors from the film "Death on the Nile," Peter Ustinov and Jane Birkin, who are interviewed by the author.

An Art Curator’s Assistant becomes obsessed with a piece that might just change her life. But how far is she willing to go, and who will she become?

Filmed with the same camera and the film stock remains of Douro, Faina Fluvial, portrays the inauguration of the hydroelectric power plant of Ermal, owned by Manoel de Oliveira's father.

Pele is a film about a young mulatto woman that in spite of being rich, beautiful and intelligent, feels discriminated because of the colour of her skin. The entire plot is in the early 70's, when Portugal had a dictatorial government, ultramarine territories and lots of racism in its society… Issues like racism, female condition and the spoilt lives of the high-society are the main themes of this movie

1986, just 12 years after the Carnation Revolution. The Left Wing is divided, while the Right seems on track for an easy win, which will give them both a President and a Government. The only one capable of stopping this victory is a man who fought his whole life against Estado Novo. Arrested dozens of time, deported and exiled, he was one of the first to arrive in Lisbon after April 25st. That man is Mário Soares.

Duarte rushes out of the house when he is confronted by his brother, Samuel, and is forced to explain why he has to run away. A few days later, Samuel is confronted by a group of drug dealers who have come to collect the debts left by his younger brother, Duarte. Feeling pressured, Samuel ends up choosing the quickest solution and agrees to take part in the fights.

One day, a forgotten box of shoes is discovered in a shelf of the record company. Inside this box, there were tapes containing home made recordings of the famous Portuguese composer - Antonio Variacoes. When one listens to these tapes, where Variações sings in the most pure ways - without any musical background, many times whispering to the recording not to wake up the neighbors - one perceives that this treasure could not remain hidden. The HUMANOS project was born; a "super"-band, composed by "super"-musicians, where the famous Portuguese singers Manuela Azevedo, David Fonseca and Camane; give their voice to music and lyrics from Antonio Variacoes. This film is about the process of preparation of the live concerts in the summer of 2005 and about the approach that these musicians had to the legacy left by Antonio Variacoes.

At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, Lúcio, a playwright and writer, and Ricardo, a renowned and enigmatic poet, form a deep bond. Marta, an enigmatic figure, arrives and stirs up impulses of desire and madness between the men.

The pain, the weakness, the silence, the despair. These are some of the feelings faced by a couple lost in drugs. Nights can be seen as the story of people who made mistakes in life, but who still continue to seek happiness. It is about the despair of hopeless lives. The characters are, from the beginning, thrown into an empty and sterile world of indifference. In this true no-man's-land, João and Teresa are confronted with their precarious existence. They are broken pillars of a love that has become silent and painful, they share everything: the house, the drugs, the emptiness and the deprivations of their lives. To make the situation even more dramatic, Teresa falls ill. João does everything to help her, betting on his love for her. He, too, an addict, knows how to ease the pain of his beloved. But unfortunately this help also requires extra money, which forces João to prostitute himself, accelerating his process of destruction and his path to a tragic end.

Three brothers are confronted with an imposing father who avail them the heritage, identity and emotional intelligence: seven weeks is the deadline for each of them find the respect and love of a woman.

One day, a 17-year-old boy finds a "cup phone" pointing toward the unknown and ends up forming a relationship with a mysterious girl.

A boy from Vila do Conde records a love letter on a cassette. His voice blends with music, archive images and stories from the past, some lived and others heard.

A look at the art of two pairs of brothers, plastic artists: João Queiroz, Jorge Queiroz; Pedro Tropa and Francisco Tropa.

After seeing his mother and younger siblings emigrate, Hugo imagines a movie about his loneliness as a way to solve this unexpected shock. He meets a director and proposes his idea, a film where he will represent his role with the real characters that surround him. The mother, the school and the grandfather refuse to participate. Hugo is increasingly alone and goes into depression, something that is ruining his relationships with friends and girlfriend. He can not sleep, he's late for class, he's not interested in anything ... "Lonesome Boy" deals with the consequences of emigration by the eyes of a teenager and ist’s about his own loneliness, how he solved it, how he survived ...

The Ave Valley is, for more than a century, a territory seized by an imposing industry. Amongst ruins and operating factories, we descend the river on a journey alongside the banks of the present, unveiling the marks of the past.

Directed by Hugo Conim and Miguel Newton. This is "One Step from Insanity - The first wave", the first part of Buried in Madness – Punk in Portugal 78-88 - The Second Wave.

Jaime works as a librarian at a music school. It's no coincidence that his greatest passion is music. A self-taught pianist with a personality marked by difficulties in social interaction, he will meet someone who discovers his talent and will help him overcome many of his insecurities.

“Re-Existence” is a documentary about migration stories of individuals from the Brazilian queer community.

While on his way to a picnic in Lisbon, Manuel stops to help two foreigners that had a car breakdown. With his tools, he retrieves a bag that contains... 200 thousand dollars worth of jewelery stolen by the two girls in Marbella.

Nights are hidden days beyond our minds. But some remain like flying shadows reshaping the naive images of our lives. Faces hurt with emptiness, characters petrified in silence, lands inked with blood....And we become sleepy, carelessly dying, until morning happens.

A dream girl can cause a lot of insomnia. That's what happens to Daniel Bricks, a young british engineer, working temporarily at the construction works of the 25th of April bridge, in Lisbon, Portugal. At the request of a friend, Daniel heads down south to make an inspection on a water dam. That's where he finds Carolina, the woman of his dreams. What he doesn't know is that she just got out of jail a few hours back, and that she will turn his life into a real nightmare. A romance comedy, where the nightmares are sweeter than dreams.

A documentary project that aims to capture the uncapturable. Explain what cannot be explained. How does one decipher fado? How is it conceived? They say one is born a fado singer, but how do you define what one feels? Does it emanate from within? Many Eastern masters believe that knowledge can only be gained in person. Could it be that through technology we can capture the timeless presence of a master and feel their knowledge? This is a documentary that tries to explain what fado is, to those who know it and those who don't, from the inner point of view of the 'maker' of fado. From the composer to the guitarist, including those who sing it and those who study it. And so, through these testimonies, we can explain the invisible. The inner side of Fado.

World renowned performer Cesária Évora’s voice took her from poverty to stardom. With previously unseen footage and insights into the singer’s life, the film follows her struggles and success.

When Mr. Elias discovers that his aunt, who lives in Brazil, comes to visit him, he decides to temporarily occupy the house of a wealthy neighbor who's away so that she doesn't discover that he's not as rich as he told her.

When Brazilian multi-sport club completed its 100th anniversary, this documentary narrated its story by interviewing some of its most important sportsmen ever, in football, basketball, rowing.

Rui was raised in Mozambique in a small village at the frontier of a mysterious river. Son of Portuguese colonists, his best friend is Ana, a black girl godchild of his mother. At fourteen he is confronted with the tragic destruction of his childhood and has to learn to recognize two distinct realities - the European and the African.

A TV movie inspired by the work of renowned writer Luísa Costa Gomes. The story of Maria do Carmo, a successful woman in advertising and communications, with a carefully constructed life that crumbles when she is unexpectedly summoned to the Logical Surveillance Center. Without any explanation, Maria do Carmo finds herself trapped in an indefinite wait, confronted with others who have been there for years, with no clear reason and no visible way out. Her professional and personal responsibilities drive her to despair and protest, as she seeks to anticipate the solution to her problems, even if it forces her to go beyond all limits. But the system provides no answers and punishes those who demand them.

A man died under mysterious circumstances. An insurance company expert has to visit the four women in his life - his mother, his widow, his daughter and his mistress - to find out the causes of death. With each account, the deceased will appear in a new light, to the point where it is doubtful that it is the same man.

Beside the savage desire to realize the enormities which he brooded on, nothing was sacred.

A 10 year old girl is taken to a man who never recognized parenthood.