Sofia Vilariço

The young film student Maria do Mar is working on a documentary about the old manor houses along the Douro River. It is the final project in her thesis on “Reality in Cinema”. Maria has an unlimited confidence in what is visible. Her candour and her naivety allow her to see the bright side of life – such as the beauty of the landscape and the authenticity of the place, or what’s left of it. But when Maria enters the final manor house on her list, she soon realises that something is going on in this house that is not as innocent as it first seemed. The manor is truly a house of horrors.

Lucia of Fatima takes us back to the beginning of 20th century, allowing us to trace the whole journey of the girl behind the religious figure. During her childhood, the Fatima prophet was arrested, submitted to cruel interrogations, taken away from her family and denied the right to her own identity. Lucia resisted it all and kept her story alive. She was the guardian of the secret.