Discoveries from Portugal World Cinema

The Mesa da Unidade Popular (People's Unity Table) was part of the furniture that, in the post-independence period, the Mozambican state intended to give to all families. It brought together the socialist idea of equality and social justice with the concept of national unity, a basic assumption of Frelimo for the harmonious development of the country. Today, we sit down at that table once again to revisit the process of nation building and the utopia of a more just society.

“Cooking is caring” says my mother while she enthusiastically juggles pots and pans preparing a family meal. Using food and passed down recipes, personal history is interwoven with gestures of affection and familial unity. A visual ode to the unsung heroes who repeatedly feed and care for us without asking for anything in return.

In Lisbon, Claudia offers guided tours in and out of the city. At night, she kills time with her sister in a modest apartment. In Lisbon, lonesome Martinho is fluent in Italian and guide tourists all around town. In Lisbon, a band is jamming. They perform improvisational noise jazz. In Lisbon, a mysterious phenomenon fills the air. Claudia and Martinho’s lonely hearts will discreetly meet to the sound of music.

Struggling if the existence of his love is real or not, Matthew embarks on a train journey to find it. As he travels without a fixed destination and searches for his beloved, he begins to hallucinate between imagination and reality, trying to realize which is which. Was it true love or just metaphysical?

In 1883, in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Navy rebelled against the country's government (an episode known as the Navy Revolt). Six months of intense fighting caused incalculable material and human losses. Inside one of the Navy ships, a deserter is captured. The commander punishes the French mercenary with the most unlikely of punishments: the torture of silence.

After the death of his girlfriend, the painter lost all his inspiration; he then starts to be pressured by the owner of the gallery. Living constantly with images of his girlfriend, the painter feels hes going crazy, he hears her voice and at the same time he sees her representation in a screen, in the last painting he did.

Two of most renowned portuguese musicians, Carlos do Carmo and Bernardo Sassetti, from the jazz, joined together in 2010 for a unique musical production. Carlos do Carmo is a great fado singer, while Bernardo Sassetti is a great jazz piano player. Their joint performance is a unique and fantastic blend of fado and Jazz.

“The artist, in his movement towards the ideal, upsets the stability of any one society. Society aspires to achieve stability; the artist aims for infinity. That is the artist’s responsibility and the spiritual sacrifice demanded of him.” Rui Chafes, O Perfume das Buganvílias, 2012 (19).

It is Saturday, a day of rest. A woman wakes up early so that she can give herself a birthday present: some time to write. But whenever an inspirational moment occurs, it is interrupted by domestic situations that claim her attention: the children, laundry, the meals. The mental load of those tasks ends up being unbearable and she reaches a breaking point.

Shot in slow motion across rural Kenyan landscapes, the film unfolds like a hypnotic visual poem.

Documentary about the artistic creation in Cape Verde, with the director following, during the preparation of one of the editions of the Mindelact festival, the rehearsals and backstage of the artists. It focuses on the birth and discussion of ideas in groups, looking for ways to express a new identity. The strength of Orlando Pantera stands out, whose premature death at the age of 33 took out of Cape Verde one of the most promising creators of recent times.

Director Manuel Mozos draws an intimate portrait of João Bénard da Costa, programmer, critic, actor and, for 18 years, director of the Portuguese Film Museum, who passed away in 2009.

Fátima - Ópera-Rock is not just a show; it is a profound reflection on Portugal, its history, and the cultural, spiritual, and human dimensions that project our country onto the world stage, touching people from every continent and religion. Inspired by the events of 1917 in Cova da Iria, where three children were at the center of a phenomenon that resonated universally, Filipe La Féria created a script and musical score that will remain in the memory of Portuguese theater.

Two years after April 25 1974, with an election looming, a small village prepares to stage a Passion of the Christ involving all the inhabitants, as has always been the tradition.

The story of a man. Maybe two. A father who leaves home taking nothing with him but the mailbox and a suitcase. He sits on a garden bench, on the street, waiting for a son's answer. Every day he sends him a letter and every day he hopes to get a letter back. Every day he combs his hair, puts a tie on, and shaves to be ready to receive that letter by the time the postman passes by.

"In the beginning of this project, I wanted to do a documentary film based on this book by Luiz Ruffato. However, I ended up doing a feature film with many links to documentary. I wanted to know what made Brazilians want to emigrate to Portugal. I chose working with amateur actors and non-actors in both cities, so their own life stories and experiences could be in the film. I did the other way round from the writer. He found these people and made them characters of his book. I looked for people who had similar stories to those described in the book, and made them characters of my film. When I read the book, I was seduced by its "false documentary" characteristic. The book was all written as if it was the transcription of an oral interview the writer had done in Lisbon. I decided to keep this narrative in the film, by a narration with the main character talking to the camera. It's a film about emigration. About dreams and disappointments," says Barahona

With this trip, an intergenerational sharing begins: with Portugal present as a backdrop, the director and a little daughter wander as if in question, trying to understand the country of today.

Cellist Helena is married to Mário, who criticizes her as an artist and a woman, leaving her insecure to the point of leaving the stage and becoming isolated and dependent on her husband.

A group of skaters take refuge in a shopping mall, making it their playground. As they spend time skating the empty hallways, the stillness creeps in. It's a dead end.

When an ill Kafka meets a crying little girl in the park, he sets out to write her a letter a day in order to tell her all about her lost doll's fictitious travels.

Documentary about the work of the painter António Sena and a way to see the transformation of forms over time

A short film about two young men whose lives cross paths by accident. The trip they share together will forever change them.

A documentary reflecting on the memories and facts of the war of liberation in Angola.

Who was J., a young man killed by the police in Rio de Janeiro? During the trial of this case, the defense lawyer of the cops who killed J. wants to know where he worked, who he was related to and how he spent his time. Next to the body of J. was found a backpack with suspicious material

One guy, whom we can call X, leads a monotonous life with work, family and football. But one day the club loses ...

Animated experimental short-film by Edgar Pêra with Akademya Luzoh-Galaktika students. A cinematic homage to Max Ernst, Dziga Vertov, Jan Lenica, Terry Gilliam & Aurélio Paz dos Reis.

Two young brothers find a dead body while walking through the forest. This discovery will start a chain of events that will change their lives forever.

Some years ago, the Palácio de São Bento suddenly shook from visitors singing Zeca Afonso’s 1972 Grândola, Vila Morena in protest against Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho’s neo-liberal politics. Do the Carnation Revolution’s dreams live on in verses such as "On each corner there's a friend / In each face there's equality / Grândola, brown town / Land of fraternity"?

Angelo is sent to Brazil to organize a major robbery for an international gang based in São Paulo, led by the Countess, whose right-hand woman is Paula. Angelo has an amorous relationship with both women, causing jealousy and rivalry between them, which is the cause of the plan's failure and, consequently, the gang's arrest.

A man wanders around an abandoned hospital. Years after their last encounter, someone whose life he saved seeks him out in his old office, so that together they can piece together a memory of their shared past.

Filmed mainly in Ljubljana, the film tells the story of the beautiful Urska, whom the river continuously brings back to life.

More than 89, less than 91.

A zoetrope is a pre-film animation device. It consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images from a set of sequenced pictures. By turning it, the user sees a rapid succession of images, producing the illusion of motion.

There are hundreds of sex workers to whom the protection of the law at a labour and civilian level is not recognised. For that reason, in a similar way to what happens in many countries, they demand the end of the discrimination, the change of the law and the social power that has been denied to them. This film is a journey into the underworld of sex workers and their struggle for labour rights.

The film follows the adventures of a bride and her family on the verge of a nervous breakdown on her wedding day.

Guinea-Bissau, 1969. A violent war between the Portuguese colonial army and the guerrillas of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea. Nome leaves his village and joins the maquis. After years, he will return as a hero, but joy will soon give way to bitterness and cynicism.

A sleepy photography student returns to her hometown for a job, only to find that things have taken a very strange turn.

A director gathers all the pieces he needs to make his film: a set, an actor, a writer, a director of photography, a studio, a script, a director.

A documentary that records the lives of a group of former (and some still active) Portuguese transvestites. They are: Zizi Mayer, Fanny Star, Guida Scarllaty, Deborah Krystal and Wanda Morelli. They are João Callati, Fernando Paulo, Carlos Ferreira, Fernando Santos and Fernando Soares. All these artists deserve to have their lives told because they are bigger than anything they give on stage. They are important symbols of Portuguese cultural memory and their lives and careers illustrate different moments and mentalities in our country. They are lives that have endured hardships and overcome them in forbidding times and where persecution and punishment reigned supreme. No documentary has ever been made about their lives and it is urgent that these stories are not lost. They also tell the story of our political and cultural country.

Ary Zara lives in limbo trying to understand who he really is. Refusing the gender binary categories that society imposes, at the age of 28 he decides to explore his identity by facing a physical and emotional transformation. A three-year journey revealing what is on the other side of the mirror through the courage, doubt and freedom of a deeply intimate process of self-discovery.

Accused of having caused the death of her husband, she was persecuted and humiliated. Twice she proved her innocence. Even so, she was punished in a merciless fashion.

A family man cannot resist temptation and betrays his wife. The problem is, he didn't expect that one night of pain and pleasure could change the whole course of his life.

The performer draws a map while listening to the sound ambience of a city. She creates a new, imagined place where she reflects on trauma and its parallels with the city.