Acts of Cinema

Christmas Night. A man, a serial killer gets out in order to search another victim. The thoughts could be our own but the end is unpredictable.

When almost everyone in their senses (or in their powers to do so so) has left a Western European Capital of millions of people under the threat of a colliding commet, a bar stays open in defyance. Two lovers are too self absorbed but not so much so that between drinks they cannot realise the barmen's infatuation with the lost girl who thinks she's just his last plaything and keeps playing jukebox songs (American/French-Italian/American) to that effect.

After receiving a visit from a messenger of God, João de Deus wins his buddy's girlfriend through a roll of the dice.

Felizbela loves her husband with obsessive intensity, surrounding him with an explosive mix of passion and jealousy that will inevitably turn into hatred. To keep his attention, she stops at nothing, enduring suffering and humiliation in an attempt to win back his love. But Messias can barely conceal his growing disillusionment with life and his unspoken contempt for his wife. One day, Bárbara — Felizbela’s fragile and rebellious niece — bursts into their lives and upsets the balance: her cousin, her aunt, and above all Messias, who finally allows himself to be carried away by his emotions. Felizbela, however, refuses to give in — and will do whatever it takes to save her family.

THE LOVEBIRDS intertwines six stories about love, friendship and survival. The film stars an international cast of American and Portuguese actors who create a colorful mix of off-beat characters that lead us through a complex labyrinth of emotions. Set in the old Romanesque city of Lisbon during the course of one night where love is the art of survival. Written by Anonymous

It's a summer weekend in a country house near Sintra, in Portugal. Fourteen-year-old Nicolau is spending a couple of days with his older brother Simão and his friends, all of them in their late twenties. Everyone is drawn to the beautiful and quiet Maria do Mar, but Nicolau will see his life the most deeply shaken by her. Between homework and tree-climbing, stories about a deceased philandering grandfather and the origins of the tortellini's shape, a friend in a costume nursing a broken heart and seduction games, Nicolau observes this group of young adults.

Francisco, behave! I Know it's your birthday, you are thirty now, it's carnival, you've dressed as a cowboy for the school party and you are surrounded by kids you hate. But that's no reason to be so annoying... Francisco, repeat after me: "Up to your 30s you have the face God has given you. After that, you get the face you deserve".

Marta and Jaime are a childless couple who have opted for the peace and quiet of the countryside. Without any surprise, they take in a neighboring child for a few days. However, a nocturnal visit from a strange animal shakes the couple’s logical reasoning about the simple things in life. Could the child have something to do with that terrifying presence? One of the effects of fear is to disturb the senses, making things seem different from what they are, and so, little by little, a fantastic order is established, triggering the most irrational and violent reactions in them. In the end, nothing will be the same for them again.

The darkness of night, a barely lit place, motorbikes flirting with danger: a group of teenagers at a crossroads playing chicken with unaware passing cars. Jota (Eduardo Frazão) stands out from this group, unclassifiable; his destiny has no straight lines save those on the asphalt. Jota lives in permanent conflict with everything and everybody in his small town. No room for stillness. And then comes Margarida (Ana Moreira). Jota has no inside, Margarida has no outside. In spite of, or because of, that, they meet. What can they do? They can just ride, they can get away with it even if its all messed up. Love is to be lived.

Marta and Jorge have been a couple for seven years. All their friends think they are living a perfect romance. Too perfect, perhaps, for the despair of all: Bruno, who is much younger than Marta but madly in love with her; Lígia, who is Bruno's sister and Marta's best friend and would love to see her brother happy; Carlos, Jorge's friend, who maintains a superficial romance with Lígia while secretly in love with Marta; and for Jorge himself, who is afraid this idyllic romance will imprison him and, convinced that his love and his lover's desire to marry will take away his freedom, decides to show her the way into Carlos arms.

It's summer in Lisbon and Nicolau is an undecided boy. Among his doubts about the university course to follow and what kind of girl to choose for his girlfriend, Nicolau spends his days trying to figure out who he wants to be when he's bigger. The problem is, he's about to finish the secondary exams, he is already big, without having things clearer. From indecision to indecision, Nicolau navigates in sight, with the only compass for his possible choices being the girls he is going to fall in love and with those he imagine as many possible futures.

Several Portuguese creators occupy the director's chair in this collective short film shot during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown in an unfolding of personal perspectives.