Discoveries from Portugal World Cinema

A dialogue between History and a Guerrilla Movement, interlaced with live footage taken in Portugal and Guinea-Bissau, when this country was the colony of the first.

Growing up is the hardest challenge you'll ever face.

Sleepwalking and supernatural adventures, inspired by American farces.

In a spa surrounded by mountains of salt, guests relax while workers collect the glowing crystals in the sun. Children slip away, a woman drifts through. As night falls, the space transforms, shaped by the desires of its visitors.

Sofia, a extremely mysterious and attractive girl, seduces Bianca to take her to her own place in a night of love. However, Sofia has much more dangerous intentions than Bianca can imagine.

We follow the catechesis sessions of the 4th grade children from the Parish of Santo António de Moscavide. They reflect and learn about the Catholic religion. Some of them, however, are also preparing for an important moment: the First Communion. We observe their preparations for this celebration, and try to understand their perspective and that of their classmates regarding this new stage of their religious lives.

"The Voyager" is an animation short film about a pianist living in a big metropolis, who suffers from agoraphobia (irrational fear of leaving home/public places) and is confronted with a need to go outside, to replenish his medications.

If a ray fish dreams…

In a small coastal African village, Jaki lives, in a house full of cousins ruled with an iron fist by grandmother Agnette and haunted by the mysterious figure of Grandmother Catarina. The life of the neighbourhood revolves around the construction of a Mausoleum for a deceased President that threatens to demolish the local residents’ houses. “Granma Nineteen and the Soviet’s Secret” is an adaptation of Ondjaki's novel.

The journey of an intellectual Creole. Before returning from Lisbon to Luanda, he stops in the Cape Verde islands in search of his ethnic and cultural roots.

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.

Maria Gouveia is a character with a secret past, which she intends to hide at all costs. In her eagerness to hide that past, she commits a homicide, witnessed by a man whose existence she is unaware of. That man is the lawyer Óscar Summavielle, who manages to become her defense lawyer and, constructing an alibi for her, proves in court that she is innocent, although he knows she is guilty. Marta and Óscar are led into a game of passion that will take them beyond all conventions...

A person always seeks perfection in the things he does, especially when he plays his guitar, but he gets out of control.

Fiction Based on Real Facts The film talks about the life of Jairo Santos, who dedicated his life to learning and producing professional audiovisual and who suddenly found himself without prospects for work, due to the pandemic of COVID 19. Driven by the force of need, he opted for disruption and started to fight against the adversities of modest life. And only with what he had in hand, he took the initiative to start an audiovisual channel on Youtube.

A scream amid so many silences, an attempt to rescue the human's gaze upon himself.

A guitar, a bacalao and a teddy bear dangle at the top of a wooden pole. The mast is slickened with grease. A group of teenagers gather. Strength and teamwork will be required, as well as some patience. After a couple of attempts at solitary climbing, the participants join forces and use their bodies to build a tower; a hand pushes down on a shoulder, a foot on a head, but all eyes are focused on the top and on snatching a prize.

“The most constant and deadly disease in any society is indifference.” – Abbé Pierre. In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Lisbon’s largest sports centre is repurposed into an emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Guided by Teresa, the project’s director, a temporary and self-organised community emerges, restoring a culture of care and mutual support. In a society on the edge of collapse, the residents find a voice and a sense of belonging. The film follows the journey of Tiago and Plácido, two committed friends, as they navigate the everyday turmoil in the hope of a new beginning.

Hundreds of children and men walk, aligned, through the roads and trails of São Miguel Island, in Azores, a sacred place where nature and faith come together. They pray for them, for their family and for anyone that meet them on the road. Over one week and 300 km, it's a journey of tears, joy and sharing, during a tradition that started 500 years ago.

João lives on a shabby suburban estate. He is always in trouble with the grown-ups, who don't seem to understand that his flamboyant behavior stems from his insecurity and desperation.

"I started to compose other things, life-relevant things. That could tell someone something. And coincidentally, a dialogue began to form between Isaiah and these new songs. A dialogue of almost two cries that shout at each other." Duarte Rosado SJ. The documentary is actually a look at this dialogue between Isaiah and the new songs of Duarte. A testimony to fragility as a place of grace. In addition to the practical effect of recording the day of the recording, this short documentary seeks to suspend a space and time where the prophecy of Isaiah and the human condition touch. João Pedro Filipe

A festive day in the Timorense community stranded in the Jamor Valley. A partisan who came from Timor and his story. A look at an abandoned people.

A desolate woman struggles to accept her husband's unexpected death, but is confronted with his recurrent return to the waking world.

Tony, a trapeze artist, gets a job at a small circus. When a tempest takes away the tent, Tony stays for the love of the beautiful Belmira who could be a rider… if they hadn’t sold the horse. They play at open-air, sleep under the stars, scrimp and save every penny, and soon there’s a new tent to be bought on credit. But Belmira is not happy, she dreams of a real home, while Tony is fascinated by the circus. And the gloomy days are back.

Short film by Fernando Lopes, decisive figure of the Portuguese New Wave.

In a very hot summer in the middle of Portugal, a girl is dealing with her recent nose operation, while her mother's lack of attention seems to give her more pain.

Lázaro Lafourcade, an old capitalist, is found dead in his mansion after a dinner with his peculiar family. An inspector is called in to investigate the crime and find the culprit, delving into the glamorous and sordid underworld of the Lafourcades, kicking off a good old-fashioned crime story where everyone is a suspect. A whodunnit that takes us back to the 1950s and results in an "eat the rich" narrative, while the investigation takes place at the Lafourcades' home.

A documentary about the 60 years of the Gulbenkian Orchestra. Using unpublished archive footage and interviews with current and former musicians, conductors and soloists, “Sum of the Parts” tells the story of an orchestra that made a decisive contribution to the enrichment of the Portuguese musical scene, recorded more than 70 albums and performed alongside many of the greatest performers in the music industry.

Although they don’t all know each other, a group of young people find their lives unexpectedly intertwined during a party. Luísa, 23, begins to question her boyfriend Rui’s sexuality after discovering a condom wrapper and noticing his odd behavior. Kyle, 25, returns to Portugal and reconnects with Pedro, who comes out as non-binary. Júlia, 23, gains the courage to tell her girlfriend Rosa, 21, that she has begun her gender transition. Margarida, 19, meets Inês at the party and starts to question her relationship with her boyfriend Afonso, 21, ultimately coming out as bisexual. Vicente, 20, is diagnosed with HIV and, with Inês’s support, goes through the five stages of grief over the course of the night. Through intimate moments and quiet revelations, each character confronts identity, love, and acceptance.

In the 19th century Minas Gerais hinterland, an outsider discovers a mysterious bar.

Thousands of years ago there was a warrior who fought and gave his life for a territory that later became Lusitania. Against the advancements of the Roman Empire, which possessed an immense armada, it chose to dedicate its life to the protection of its people and their lands. His name was ... Viriato.

"GEDE VIZYON" takes its viewer on an unusual tour of the Grand Cemetery of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. While exploring the material and immaterial intricacies of the cultural, spiritual and historical space that is the cemetery, the camera takes on a life of its own. Running amok in the labyrinthine structure of its environment, it captures evocative sounds and images on its erratic voyage.

"Calipso" is about a fungal epidemic based on a phenomenon that exists in the natural world. There is a parasitic fungus that changes the neurological system of its hosts, turning them into zombies.

Asco is the poisonous feeling aroused in a heart broken by the blade of love. It's about making someone feel exactly what you felt. A sculptor creates a ring for his beloved and she denies. Collapsed and helpless, gathers strength to rebuild through veiled approaches and unreasonable persecution. Revenges her attracting the new person who rises upon this relationship.

A young journalist and a convincing cameraman plot to film interviews without their company's permission.

Across the country, many garages were emptied of cars to be filled with drums, basses, guitars, and amplifiers in the 1980s and 1990s. Before studios, often with no one really knowing how to play very well and without a plan, many bands started and ended in garages. What mattered was playing. Each decade has its own sound. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was that of alternative rock and its many variations. This is the story of the garage bands of Viseu, many of them local in scope, several reaching national dimension.

Utopian symbolic playgrounds from memories are interconnected through sharp, flickering lights.

Lost between a shattered family life and the cruelty of a teenage crush. Pedro is about to discover that the answer to adult life lies where he least expects it.

‘Yupumá’ refers to doing something for the first time. This indigenous concept, belonging to the Huni Kuin/Kaxinawá people from the lowland Brazilian Amazon, serves as the backdrop to this film where we follow Kawá Huni Kuin, an apprentice pajé preparing to leave his village deep in the forest to go to Europe for the first time.

Erros Meus, Má Fortuna, Amor Ardente brings us a story from a small, rural village in the interior of Portugal where, by reason of a funeral, people from all parts of the region are arriving. Maria is a young woman from that village, unsatisfied with her marriage with João, who has never given her a child: her biggest desire. By cause of the funeral, Carlos arrives, and his arrival and Maria's emancipated behavior generate distrust from the other villagers. Maria, a serious, beautiful and virtuous woman, loved by every man in the village and hated by all the women, awakes in João the weakness of jealousy, and in Carlos the weakness of an old love.

A fairy tale from the computer age: a 15 year-old boy finds a computer, which has the magical power of undoing short periods of his life.