Discoveries from Portugal World Cinema

A virtuosic study of sync-sound cinema, Cagean organizational strategies, and montage. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.

Sarah Maldoror uses Carnival as her approach to the history of colonization and black culture. Carnival is understood here as a festivity during which the limits are transgressed, the world is circumnavigated, and the dominator becomes the dominated, in addition to being an explosion of music and sensations, a great collective performance in which the characteristics of négritude-identity comes forth.

Alquimistas do Som is a documentary about experimentation in MPB. Some of the most important Brazilian musicians comment, in exclusive testimonials, on their incursions into experimentalism: the origins, motivations and consequences for their work and for the evolutionary line of MPB. Current testimonials are illustrated with musicals by Fernando Faro, in addition to other images from the TV Cultura archive. Alquimistas dos Sons promotes an exciting reunion of artists with historical television images.

Writer Clarice Lispector investigates and develops the old question of what came first, the egg or the chicken.

In a house under construction for 30 years, the reading of its descriptive memory and the collection of documents about its construction process awaken fragments of uncertain memories. From an image and sound research, an unfinished film emerges about an unfinished house.

Dual channel HD video; PAL (1080p); 16:9; Color; Stereo sound; 7' 43" 03Fr (loop) (Edition 2 + 1AP)

It looks like you're virtual, I haven't seen skin in a while.

After being separated from his unit during the battle for Montese in 1945, a young Brazilian soldier fights a battle within himself on whether or not he should continue on.

Two old ladies think they know how to swim without ever trying. But a young girl is about to show them how to do it, in her own living room.

A young woman swims in a pool, alone, at night. In the dark corridors, in the shower room, someone is watching her – danger approaches. She returns to the swimming pool and to the past trauma several times, trying to rewrite the memory of the event.

In a mental institution a man flies forever. Shot in the psychiatric hospital "Conde Ferreira" in Porto.

How to reinvent democracy by the eyes of two Portuguese activists.

Varziela, Vila do Conde, the biggest Chinatown in Portugal. A man wearing a hat and a missing woman. A high-heeled shoe, a blond wig and a Chinese dress. The confrontation between the East Wind and the Red Dragon; the cardinal points switched as in an ultimate Mahjong game.

A short essay on narrative possibilities... "...to the memories of the hugs we didn't give, the smiles we didn't share, the times when 'I love you' remained unsaid..." Natália Salinas...

Beds are Burning, Best of Both worlds, Blue Sky Mine, Forgotten Years, King of the Mountain, Redneck Wonderland, The Dead Heart, Underwater

Through real charming images, toys and animations this video presents the domestic, farm and forest animals to the preschool children. Using a rich musical score by Beethoven, Strauss, Chopin and the wonderful Brazilian songs that tell stories of animals, Bebe Mais: Bichos entertains and educates at the same time. Based on studies showing that music has a role in mental and emotional development of children, the video encourages logic, concentration and creativity while providing a unique opportunity of union and pleasure between parents and children. Carefully designed to entertain and stimulate baby's immense resources, the video also presents curious characters, who - like young children - are discovering the world around them.

Images from my family archive remind me of a text by Borges. Little by little, I transform Averroes into my grandfather, my grandfather into Borges and Borges into me. In this movement, it becomes increasingly difficult to look at any of them without, too, glimpsing all the others.

Documentary about the plastic artist F͟a͟r͟n͟e͟s͟e de Andrade, who builds objects 'assemblages' from the meeting of several raw materials: antique pieces, boxes, oratories, fragments, images, dolls, etc. The camera accompanies him in his task of collecting these elements, then in the fabrication of an object, observing it inside his house and finally contemplating the result of creation. On the trail, in off, a testimonial with the confidences of the artist.

Plagued by the insomnia thoughts that leads one man to a dizzying journey into the night, he keeps wandering the paths of a metropolis on a path of no return. The man travels into a journey from the verb to the dust in the São Paulo night. The question is how to escape from this place that stroke and houses in the same time that dilacerate?

The most famous band in the revival of Portuguese music, Madredeus, hailing from Lisbon, records its songs in the Azores, in the middle of nature. In their songs, each word creates its own special musical atmosphere. The music blends nostalgia and love, revolt and expectation.

Glaxo Wellcome Anti-Tobacco Commissioned Film. (23 Sec. )

Three friends gather at the local bar, which is closing forever. As time goes by they remember moments of their lives that characterize them and the places they attend.

In an empty theatre, a woman is watching an American film - "Ma's Sin" - which tells the weird revenge story of a middle-aged wife, driven mad by jealousy and a deep feer of dying. During the screening, the viewer's fantasies embodied in male characters harass her. Thus she will live the double adventure of the projected motion picture and of her own mental film. But as the lights turn on, she leaves the theatre, apparently unaffected.

Maria Rita is known as one of the best musicians in Brazilian music. Following the success of her album Samba Meu, Maria Rita and Warner Music are excited to release Samba Meu Ao Vivo, the live concert performance of songs off the album and other songs that represent the best in her collection. Recorded live in Rio De Janiero in June, this DVD is one of the most anticipated releases of the year. The live concert demonstrates the powerful voice of this amazing singer.

Corredor is a tribute to the event of the same name, dedicated to underground culture and techno music. Now discontinued, the film aims to travel through the echoes that can still be heard.

A man and his spirit navigate in harmony with nature. By day, by night, by the upheavals of unpredictability, he navigates the river as we all navigate our lives.

“1917, A Greve Geral” tells the story of one of the longest strikes ever held in Brazil, which suffered brutal repression by the government.

Short movie from rapper Leozinho do BA (from Natal/Brazil.) The movie talk about situations of racism and homophobia in the contidian

Private Property is built of a thick matter from the mixture of cement, desire, past dreams, lies, lime, perverse games, pain, a hidden camera, water, passing time, blood and imminent danger.

In the colonial era the Grande Hotel in the city of Beira was the largest in Mozambique: 350 rooms, luxurious suites, Olympic-sized swimming pool... At present the building, which is in ruins, with no electricity or running water, is inhabited by 3500 people. Some have been living there for twenty years. In addition to the rooms, the foyers, corridors, service areas and basement of the hotel - here it's always night-time - also serve as residences.

A young Mozambican man named Lourenço comes to Portugal and stays in his brother's place. Meanwhile, a suspicious man named Khossa, who's a friend of Lourenço's brother, offers him a job proposal.

A short, observational documentary on the urban haven that basketball courts create amongst the intense and at-times overbearing city life.

Excavations in the southern Portuguese city of Lagos unearthed a huge 15th-century landfill site a few years ago. Alongside a variety of implements, the archaeologists found human remains. There were more than 150 skeletons in all, of men, women and children—and some of them were tied up.

Alexandrina is a Portuguese truck driver who works alone delivering goods across Europe. During these long journeys, her only connection to other people is through the Internet and phone calls. The feeling of being trapped inside a metal can on wheels begins to suffocate her. 42.ZE.66 is a portrait of this strong woman and recounts the struggles of a lonely life on the roads of Europe.

A observational documentary about a gender reveal party through the eyes of the main guest.

For five years, seven friends film their lives together and apart from each other. As time goes by, a film begins to emerge when this archive is revisited. A film shot through many hands, a reflection on creating images today.

This is the look that the film about Eduardo Gageiro takes. A film that departs from the stories of two images and that moves on crossing them with the ones that come out of the construction of his latest book. A film that shows how the deep Portuguese look of this photographer has seen the transformations of his country and of the world in the last 60 years. A look that has imagined what the photographer has seen and shot: the kiss of Maria to Salazar’s dead body in 1970, the kidnapping of the Israeli during the 1972 Olympic Games, the turning-point in the 74 revolution and the seductive revelations of the portraits from 1995.

A young sound director has a task. Rafael must record a crucial sound for a film. With his headphones on he scans the city of Lisbon, looking and listening for this elusive sonic eccentricity – his journey made harder by all sorts of disruptive noises.

Documentary about three blind sisters who sing for money in the streets of Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil

With 30 years of career in Brazil and the USA, female impersonator Lorna Washington reveals the secrets behind the scenes of his performances in documentary.