Luísa Sequeira

An introduction to cinema made by Portuguese-speaking women, narrated by a fictionalized Bárbara Virgínia, the first Portuguese woman director.

Who is Bárbara Virginia? a rescue of memories, a search in search of the filmmaker Bárbara Virgínia. This is a work of human and emotional archeology that brings to light the life and work of a woman who made much of the cinema culture and was forgotten ... Barbara was the first portuguese filmmaker to make feature film and the only woman to make a film in the Portuguese dictatorship and was in the competition in the first edition of of Cannes in 1946.Filmed between Portugal and Brazil, in this intimate and poetic film we accompany Searching for Barbara Virginia.

In 1972, Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Velho da Costa published the book As Novas Cartas Portuguesas [New Portuguese Letters], addressing topics forbidden and censored during the Estado Novo regime such as the colonial war, adultery, rape and abortion. The book was immediately banned and the writers were prosecuted for crimes against morality. The legal proceedings caused waves of protest around the world, giving rise to an international network of solidarity. In the film, the “three Marias” tell their story, before and after one the first major feminist struggles in Portugal.