Orange Yellow

“An old photograph taken 36 years ago. His hand rests on my shoulder. A blessing, a gift. Then a history of over four decades of friendship, admiration and apprenticeship. A journey into Oliveira’s cinema, his method, his way of filming and his extraordinary cinematic inventions. He lived for over a century, over a century of cinema, cinema in its entirety. For him, and for me too now, documentary and fiction films go hand in hand; it is all about cinema. So I had the audacity to film a magnificent story that Manoel loved but never filmed, one that he left behind as if his hand and eyes were close to God, or among the gods, and he was steering me.” - João Botelho

Francisca, a beautiful 50-year-old widow, prepared a peaceful future for herself. In an unexpected outburst, she grabs an opportunity for change and embarks on a sailboat called ‘Hovering Over the Water’.

Adventurer, pilgrim, penitent but above all outstanding writer, Fernão Mendes Pinto left us an unparalleled romance, the living and human palpitation of one of the greatest historical adventures of man.

Contemplating the failure of his life, Rogério drinks until losing control of his actions and involves himself in a bar brawl. His alcoholic drift takes him to the city port, where he falls asleep while watching passing ships. When a young woman appears in the night, seemingly running from something, Rogério offers to help and enters a nightmare he never imagined it could become his.

Fernando Pessoa, one of the greatest writers in Portuguese, created an immense parallel world and several heteronyms so as to endure the loneliness of genius. José Saramago, 1998 Nobel Laureate in Literature, has a heteronym, Ricardo Reis, return to Portugal after a 16-year exile in Brazil. 1936 is a perilous year with Mussolini’s fascism, Hitler’s Nazism, Spain’s Civil War and Salazar’s New State in Portugal. And Fernando Pessoa meets his creation, Reis. Two women, Lídia and Marcenda, are Reis’ carnal and impossible passions. “Life and Death as one” allows for literature and cinema.

Rafa is testing his new camera, Rui and Ana are picking him up. The camera keeps filming.

It’s the summer of 2004. Three boys play ball in a parking lot. Two brothers interfere with the game. One ball.

Caldeira, Sado estuary. A clam picker and his friend spend the morning collecting up the bounty of the tide.

Alex is a young adult from a social housing district. When he left his home in the morning, he faces a situation apparently out of the ordinary.

The day begins with an exchange of favours. An interview, a football game, cigarettes after cigarettes. Routine fragments of those who live in an isolated space which labels and conditions life choices.