On 18 September 1929, José Régio sent a letter to Alberto Serpa expressing his desire to create a production company and start making films. For almost 90 years, nothing more was known: no reply was ever found and Régio never mentioned the subject again. The discovery of some old reels in a collector’s hoard seems to provide the ending to the story.
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 fish looses itself from a sandwich and thus starts a graphical journey.
Following a real lost myth, in Vila Chã, we search for the sea women called "fisherwomen" in one of the few places in the world where women are skippers. But where are they and the 120 small-scale fishing boats? There are just 8 boats and a single fisherwoman. In a land of brave seamen, we have filmed the passion for the sea and the passion for fishing. - Doclisboa
BEACON is a montage of location shots filmed at ten different places around the world. These sites are connected by the fact that each is located by the sea. Seamlessly combining travelogue footage and appropriated clips from feature films, BEACON produces a single, imaginary locale. Distant echoes of stories of the sea mingle with the banality of today's touristy beachlife. In its collage of places of expectation and with its seductive prospects of the sea, Beacon sets off on a journey with no distinct destination.
From one of the most densely populated suburbs in the Lisbon metropolitan area, “Miraflores” stages a funny teen comedy, absorbing the little turmoils of youth and the poetics of their lives. Interspersed with an amusing mockumentary, in which a kid tells the “history” of the Miraflores neighborhood, this short film is a tender and fresh portrayal of a potentially anonymous place in the suburbs, filling it with a beautiful and transformative affection. The first shots of an architecture with no personality show the contradictions of cities and their communities.
A curious mole explores the world around it.
A rescued poem, written by the neorealist Álvaro Feijó in 1940, brings it back to the days that imitate it. Slowly settling in the hearts of men and women who become hostage to her grace, there she is revealing all her nature, at the same time as she utters his name unmercifully.
An instant in the memory of landscape: the smuggling that for centuries crossed the line between Portugal and Galicia. The Gerês Mountains knows no borders, and rocks cross from one country to another with insolence. Smugglers also disobey this separation. The rocks, the river, the trees: silent witnesses that help them to hide. They just have to wait for the night to cross the distance that separates them.
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.
Every summer Ana goes to Bustarenga, a small mountain village in the interior of Portugal. At the age of 36, this Parisian woman of Portuguese origin is still single. The inhabitants of the village, worried about her future, make her understand that the clock is ticking. Ana listens to the advice and warnings of the villagers to find a Prince Charming according to the principles of the village.
The stories, adventures and misadventures of Alfredinho Rocha, a fado singer, a Karate fighter, a former drug dealer, an owner of a cafe in Fontainhas, Oporto, a nutter, a dancer, a nightingale and a whole family.
Travels around Portuguese roads, with its very peculiar landscapes: a seismograph of passing time.
Gerês, Portugal. Days are born with fire and die with it. Men renew the earth with ancient practices. All beings inhabit the same place.
On a hot August afternoon, the family gather at the table and remember Uncle Botão: the Colonial War, and emigration to France where he lived and worked for thirty years as a garbage man.
Based on the installation Santa Paz Domestica, Domesticada by Ana Vieira (1977) and excerpts from the September 22nd, 1956 issue of the magazine O Cruzeiro.
Just like a young man starting to love, a river has to find its way through the mountains.
Archival documentary about the most terrible piscatorial disaster possible.
