Mário Cunha

Oliveira do Hospital, 1995. A screenwriter looking for inspiration, a failed actor trying to get back into the spotlight, and a suitcase full of cash hidden in a chimney. These are the ingredients of Serpentina, whose characters, while trying to make a movie, find themselves in a gangster film they don't know how to get out of. This film is part of the Contado Por Mulheres (Told by Women) project. This is a unique project in Portuguese audiovisual media that brings us the freshness of new female directors, all from different generations and recognized for their talent in various areas such as cinema, theater, dance, and advertising.

After a lifetime apart, two childhood friends reunite, now widowed and elderly, in the village where they grew up. As they try to resolve past disagreements, they deal with their families' decision to place them in a nursing home. Knowing that they are nearing the end of their lives, the two friends strive to fulfill their old promise to stay together forever.

In a small Portuguese village in the late 1960s, a young priest sides with the population in their struggle for better living and working conditions. Following complaints from the industrialist who employs most of the village's population, the bishop decides to transfer the priest to another parish. When the people learn of his forced departure, they revolt and unite to prevent the priest from leaving the village.

On one side, a bunch of crooks. On the other, two sisters. Nothing unites them except an idea: to relieve the bank account of an old man, who happens to be the sisters' father. The crooks devise a plan to gain his trust and swindle him. The sisters make plans for the last years of their father's life without neglecting the small detail of the inheritance. Each one in their own way, they all dream of the possibilities that the old man's money could bring them. But this one will not be easy prey.

A respectable family falls into crisis when their extensive apple orchard is ruined. Delgado, a wealthy industrialist from the North, has just arrived in the village, apparently with good intentions. Desperate to keep up appearances, the Major and D. Lúcia introduce him to their innocent and eccentric daughter, Cilinha, who is only interested in her singing lessons. They entice him with the prospect of a rich dowry, but they are unaware that Delgado is not quite who he appears to be...

When her husband dies, Dora Rosário, a woman trapped in the dark years of the Estado Novo, begins to live only for her daughter Lisa and for the memory of her deceased husband, who accompanies her daily. However, when she discovers that her husband was not who she thought he was, Dora questions her entire past and ventures out in search of a new life. But she will soon discover that mourning will not be as easy as she wants to believe.

Miranda do Corvo, 1933. Tomé, a young worker haunted by guilt over his betrayal, is chosen by his colleagues for an important mission in the union's struggle against the Estado Novo. Faced with this moral challenge, he confronts not only the real dangers of police repression, but also his own demons.

The story of Luizinha, a girl born into a very poor family who is given by her father to António, the richest man in town, to raise her. But the death of his wife leads António to marry Berta for the second time, and it soon becomes clear that the large family home is too small to accommodate both Luizinha and her stepmother. At the height of the conflict, António defends his daughter and Berta files for a contentious divorce. Shortly afterwards, she is found dead and António is accused of murder. But the truth that the court seeks to uncover may not be the most obvious one.

Here we meet Leandro, a fisherman who leads an honest life until the day he kills a man who abuses his daughter. Forced to flee, he wanders through the countryside until he is taken in by João Senteiro, the elderly leader of a gang of thieves. Leandro joins the group and tries to save money to escape to Brazil. But when the regional administrator offers a reward for the capture of the gang, Leandro's sense of justice is put to the test once again.

Leonor and Pedro, are young, in love and from different social classes. She is the daughter of a wealthy man. He is from a modest working class family. They experience an intense but dramatically short love affair. When Pedro discovers Leonor’s father’s secret – that he sexually abused a maid – he is the victim of a hit and run accident, leaving him in a deep coma for 5 years. He later awakens to find out that his girlfriend, who was told he had died in the accident, moved on with her life and married someone else, after several years of grieving.

The world is at war. While Portugal seems like an oasis by the Atlantic, its glamorous casinos and secret hideouts become the stage for a network of daring women spies, trading information that could turn the tide of the conflict.

Showing reality like it is... What happens when a promising and smart young woman is suddenly called upon to lead he most sophisticated police force in the country. To Ana Belmonte, this is the promotion of her lifetime, to the Criminal Police, this is a shake-up in their deep-seated hierarchy. This young inspector will be confronted with crimes that are tough to crack, where everyone is a suspect and leads can lead to the most unexpected places. But she’ll also have to face the jealousy and anger within her own department, where there are as many allies as there are enemies, and she’s a woman in a men’s world. Having been promoted by her former stepfather and national director Alberto Machado, Ana is going to permanently change the lives of those around her, whether they like it or not.

Despite the hardship, there are those who fight and overcome... Marta is a single mother and a humble woman who’s doing her best to offer her two daughters, Susana e Beatriz, a good life. But when she finds out that her younger daughter has a rare and serious condition, everything changes in this family’s life. Susana decides to seek out Rodrigo, the child´s father and a wealthy man who can afford to pay the much needed surgery abroad. Even though he didn't even know he had a daughter, Rodrigo accepts to pay for the surgery on the condition that he’s granted custody. Marta is then faced with the greatest dilemma in her life: in order to save his daughter, she’ll have to give her up. Rodrigo will end up using Beatriz in an elaborate ploy to get closer to Marta. However, his cousin Gabriel’s return to Portugal will make things difficult for him, as Gabriel will fall in love with Marta, thus turning into Rodrigo's rival.

After her family is accused of regicide, Leonor de Almeida Portugal is imprisoned in a convent for eighteen years. Incarcerated, she becomes "Alcipe" through poetry and finds love and freedom in Carlos Augusto. But her life path is marked by the earthquake of 1755 and since that day, the earth has never stopped shaking. From the end of her luxurious life in Vienna, to her flight from France, to the loss of two children, Alcipe never gives up and always rises from the ashes.

The murder of an important politician leads the police to investigate a traditional family. But they already have its share of unsolved crimes, starting with the unclear death of an English officer in the family estate, in 1870. Can all these crimes be intertwined?