Diogo Vale

In the hot month of August, Alice and her siblings go to their grandmother’s summer house. As the days go by, the house becomes a hive of slow straying bodies, as Alice becomes more and more engrained in her grandmother’s colonial past.

In the mid-1980s, during a summer day, Rui Carlos and his friends Maranau and Tomané enjoy their free time in the neighborhood, between football matches and playful games. Rui Carlos repairs his worn-out shoes and heads out to borrow a valuable football from their neighbor, Dona Olinda, who daily entrusts it to him. As the teams are chosen and the game begins, typical neighborhood interruptions ensue: a visit from Mascote the dog, a break for lunch, and spontaneous games. But when the ball gets punctured, Rui Carlos is left to face responsibility and the realities of growing up.

During a dynastic crisis in 14th century Portugal, the 10 year old Beatriz enters into a forced marriage to become the country’s new queen. At the Monastery of Sancti Spiritus in Toro, where the tomb of Beatriz is located, this story is re-enacted, re-imagined, and recreated with children of the same age. As their imagination is allowed to roam free, a different way to interact with their country’s history opens up.

Thousands of workers take the ferry across Lisbon’s Tagus River every day. They’re commuters just like those you see everywhere in buses, trains and subways. In the ceaseless flow of humanity they disappear anonymously into the crowd. This film is Gonçalo Pina’s cinematic tribute to these “invisibles.”

Roberto, a retired and disappointed journalist, leaves his work in a farm and goes back to his hometown, Braga, which he thinks will be his last hiding place. However, in returning, he feels a strong energy in the city and between journeys to the past and an intense night life, a new chapter arises.

The apparition of a bloodstain reaffirms the relentless cycle of life, filmed in all its fragility and complexity.

Early Spring. A sonata, a train, a letter. Between his work as a flute teacher and the rituals of mourning the early death of his wife, Samuel faces a dilemma after a visit from his brother.

Portugal had been recovering after the reforms following the end of “The Great Cyber War” years prior. Trust was now returning to the economy. The successful prosecution of the recently captured hacker and rebel ringleader Dr. Vilar, would be a show of force for the government, clearly establishing that the days of corruption were now behind them, as they re-integrated back into the eurozone. Dr. Vilar, once responsible for the cyber attack that devastated Lisbon’s power grid, had spent the majority of his exile in London, England, from which he ran his criminal enterprise, until one day he was mysteriously betrayed…

Accompanied by two botanical guides, a group of hikers embarks on a journey through the enchanting landscapes of Arrábida Natural Park. As they traverse the park's diverse flora and fauna, they uncover evidence of a troubling transformation: rather than the work of nature, it becomes clear that human intervention is reshaping this once-pristine environment.

A baby is bathed by its mother, who sings: “When I was a young girl…”. Later, a little girl’s voice will pick up the thread: “When I’ll be an old lady…”. Between the two, the film sketches an anthropology of all the different games, wonders, and plays with auditory perceptions that children carry out with water in all its shapes (baths, sprinklers, lakes…). But other dimensions are hinted at: an exploration of its meanings for mankind, a kaleidoscope of its movements, textures, and reflections, a spectrum of the scales in which it is to be contemplated. (Nathan Letoré)

During a summer vacation, a young couple deals with an unexpected pregnancy.

On a sunny afternoon in Lisbon, Manel leaves home to look for work. He comes across an old church and remembers his late friend Pedro. The history of this space intertwines with Manel's emotional journey.