Second Hand

Cecília is sixteen years old. She has a prosthesis in her left hand and a new love, but she does not have her mother's attention.

An authentic and convincing story of a small boy, son of a disrupted young couple, with all the typical hostile reactions about his mother's new love relationship and a behavior showing a mixture of love and resentment towards her, ending in a curious and somewhat moving friendship between the child and a Russian migrant worker who in a certain way replaces his estranged father.

Concerns an Irish woman, Cathy (Pauline Cadell), who dearly loves her Portuguese lawyer husband, Pedro (Rui Morisson); however, unbeknownst to her, he engages in one tryst after another. Cathy soon finds herself trying to help a young delinquent get off heroin, while the youth's desperate mother joins a weird religious cult. In other segments, an elderly man is nearly driven mad with grief at the loss of his granddaughter in a train station, while a down-and-out jeweler ushers the young girl to a hotel room.

Teresa is a soap-opera actress. Meeting again an old passion brings her back apparently lost memories, leading her to question not only her love life but also her career options. In the studio, the daily work is spiced by the frenzy group of younger actors. After all, they all ask the same question: where does happiness lies?

Dora divides her time between her work as a beautician, her policeman husband António, and her involvement in left-wing politics. A tale of love and how we must learn to cherish it against all odds in the pursuit of happiness.

«My grandma had a great strength and love for life which made me believe that some of us were able to become immortals and escape death. When she passed at the age of 92, her death was a surprise to me, which I was not prepared for. The cinema has the immense power of creating the illusion of life and its protection. This film is my attempt to rescue my grandma from death. It is not a documentary about my grandma but a film with my grandma. I wanted to film a ghost and then return it to the realm of the living, like Orfeu tried with Eurídice. It is a route to resurrection. It is my way of giving her immortality which I deem to be her right.»

Cinema and affections from life in images and what goes on outside the frame. 'Snapshots' of shootings and the present-day memory of directors, actors and technicians.