Discoveries from Portugal World Cinema

"A young writer has a tought time trying to finish his book, in the midst of it, his terror seems to escape out of its pages"

Não Me Cortes O Cabelo Que Meu Pai Me Penteou is a collage of two traditional tales present in the anthology of Traditional Portuguese Tales organized by Carlos de Oliveira and José Gomes Ferreira; The first with the same name and the second called "A Dona Maria". The starting situation is one of extreme cruelty, typical of traditional tales. A mother kills her own daughter, who is then reborn as a ghost to (not) marry the prince.

A broke Count awaits for a bot that never comes.

The leaflet promised a fantastic day of fun in a bus tour that would take us sightseeing around the country. The trip, only for people over twenty-five, would also include a delicious lunch, presents and a “demonstration of items for your home and health”. An outing not to be missed, said the pamphlet.

A couple looks to mend their relationship and build a new home in the Azores.

Maria a young girl living in Portugal in the late 60's, is left alone by her husband who is taken to the colonial war in Africa on their wedding day. In an environment of traditions and taboos she tries to deal with her love and loss at the same time she tries to find her own voice.

The story of two brothers with a sick mother and a reality that leads the audience through paths of secrets and lies, puts the viewer in the role of participatory observer, each drawing its own conclusions.

As thousands in Lisbon march against austerity measures, jobless and lonely Susana joins the protest but can't escape from her solitude. Meanwhile, listless Jorge lives with his mom and has insomnia. Susana and Jorge turn on their computers at night and let their secret lives unfold.

Animation about a girl who sets out to fulfill a wish and has to face some monsters.

There is an island that is home to some of the most unique and endangered species on the planet. Time has changed the course of evolution of most of the species that inhabit this forgotten piece of land. It hides its treasures and secrets, sheltered in an impossible geography and an impenetrable forest. In the middle of the Atlantic, on this forgotten island, we can find an untouched garden designed by the forces of evolution.

Short film by André Marques.

Short film by Eloy Serén

Two lives that intersect with the most sincere feelings of affection. Two people who are most often placed on the margins of society. However, in a chord, they intertwine in love.

Sonia and Branca are two close friends at their thirties's sexual peak, on the verge of their cosmopolitan loneliness. Despite the long relationship that keeps them together, they are so distant, that it's as if they didn't really know each other. Cronica Feminina (Women's Tales) is a dramatic comedy that talks about women, but essentially approaches, from the point of view of its characters, the human need to communicate, seduce, fantasize, the need for love in the bottom of all things

A film on the social movements upholding the right to live in the city of Lisbon at a time when the struggle for urban space builds up as the result of the expansion of financial capitalism, which concentrates wealth in the hands of a few and increases social inequality. A film on those who challenge the conversion of the city into merchandise and disobey injustice by empowering those who seek a place to live.

A simple request - Could you bring me some cheese from the store? - triggers a relationship discussion between an old couple. Una simple pregunta: ¿Podrías tu conseguirme algo de queso de la tienda?

Suellen, a young girl who lives in a poor community, gets involved in a kidnapping to help her brother. In the process she falls in love for the victim: A young doctor whose life is everything she dreamed of.

In a Lisbon techno club, Abdul, an immigrant worker on his very first shift, is on a video call with his wife Aliyah, who is going into labor and urging him to be present, while his new boss Maria desperately calls for his help. Caught between work’s demands and his son’s birth, Abdul grapples with the fear of losing his job and the challenge of becoming a father from afar, and fights with his strict father-in-law for his right to perform the sacred tradition of reciting the Adhan for his newborn son. The film Prayer, which explores the intersection of tradition, fatherhood, and the struggles of undocumented immigrant labor, is based on the autobiographical story of its screenwriter, Deo Mahameru. The project was created as a student film within the KinoEyes Joint European Film Masters at Lusofona University in Lisbon.

Documentary about the conquest of the 1981 Libertadores Cup, won by Flamengo, the most popular soccer club in the world.

Who is Conan Osíris, who put the whole country singing “Telemóveis”? Where does his music come from and how was his image born? This documentary recalls the story of the musician's artistic journey, revisits the ambience and events of Festival da Canção 2019 and reveals the background of his preparation for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, both in Lisbon and between rehearsals, in Tel Aviv.

This film tries to make a silent record of the arrival of an economy of scale, its flows, and its effects upon the transformation of an island’s physical and human landscape.

At the end of the 80’s, Artur, a young homossexual, along with his 4 friends from the LGBTQ+ community, frequents Cliché, a space that hosts parties, events and community meetings. At Cliché, Artur can show his original creations, using the most eccentric androgynous dresses and pieces. Consumed by a revolt derived from a memory, Artur decides to take an action that will change the future of Cliché.

Mr. Silva has a dream: to live in the countryside and become a farmer. And one day it happens. He inherits a farm from an old aunt. But not everything will be roses, as Mr. Silva soon finds out...

How to prepare your last meal. Doktor Lederstein tut.2

Teen in a Week is a music video that revisits the iconic world of 90s and 2000s chick flicks, capturing the nostalgia of that era. Beginning in the awkward setting of a high school gym class, the story follows Alex, an outsider longing to belong, as she reinvents herself in pursuit of acceptance. Glossy makeovers, shifting friendships, and teenage illusions unfold through the narration of Arthur, a classmate quietly observing it all. Beneath the transformation lies a softer truth: sometimes the version of ourselves we try to leave behind is the one that was already enough.

Each human being has, within them, something more important than themselves: their GIFT. The film portrays João, a young man responsible for his parents' deaths in a car crash who realizes, after a prolonged coma, that he has new extra-sensory abilities! Will this GIFT have the answer to his fragility or will it be, simply, the awakening of more emotions?

This film tells the story of rap music in Almada and Miratejo, one of the first major spots of this musical genre in Portugal. Guided by the protagonists who built and lived the movement intensively, we travel through their memories, stories, and inspirations to discover the great landmarks of this culture on the south banks of the Tagus River — built in a territory of demanding and politized working classes, with great cultural diversity in the post-Carnation Revolution.

In this short film, Guilherme Gomes explores the idea of ​​the Nativity scene and the legend of Jesus' birth in an... unusual way.

Many years ago, grandfather Noé built a fish trap. Hidden in the jungle, it is a lost legacy for the hunters of the Indigenous Okaina community. With the arrival of a mysterious jaguar, Noé’s ancestors take this signal and strive to rebuild what was lost.

Tourém is a frontier village on the border between Portugal and Spain. It has a reputation as a “smugglers’ nest”, with many villagers involved in the business, in the past. They smuggled goods due to shortages at the time. They risked their lives for a living.

Experemental short film about tension of living in an urban environment

Pedro Anjo tries to talk to the yakuza boss.

A fictional adaptation by Carlos Motta of "Misadventures of a Sodomite Exiled in 17th Century Bahia," a text by Brazilian anthropologist, historian and gay rights activist Luiz Mott that documents the unfortunate story of a Portuguese man called Luiz Delgado, whose life was defined by innumerable confrontations with the inquisitorial system. Delgado was a known sodomite who persistently defied the social and religious values of the epoch through engaging in romantic and sexual homoerotic relationships. He was first exiled to Brazil where he continued to disobey the strict social values and norms of colonial societies and later sent back to Lisbon where he was tried and ultimately condemned to permanent exile in Angola, after being tortured and publicly humiliated.