Down by Life

Penumbria was founded two hundred years ago, in a distant istmus - a place of arid soils, angry seas and violent weather. The city was due its name to the almost permanent shadows and cloudiness. One day, its inhabitants decided to leave, offering Penumbria to time. This is the story of an uninhabitable place.

Inspired by popular cult, O COVEIRO is part light part darkness, a bedtime story and almost a nightmare. A child is born and his parents die of fright just to see him. André Gil Mata revisits the traditional Portuguese tale, in a fantastic movie where heads bounce, but you hear a song.

She has a large head and a small body. Her clothes are fitted to the size of her head. He has a small head and a large body. He wears a mask fitted to the size of his body. Both hide the features that they believe to make them weak. Their special defects… A chance encounter, or rather a bump-into-each other, and their “masks” fall off, and they realize they make a perfect match.

Téo, a lunar teenager, meets the new parish priest of his rural village, who has just arrived from Mozambique. As the two grow closer, they develop a spiritual bond steeped in attraction.

The last habitants of a village refuse to let themselves sink into oblivion.

An actress goes to Azores to take part in the theatrical tour of The Tempest and on her arrival she finds no one from the company, there is not even a theatre. After meeting Ariel, the actress discovers that the play has already started, the whole island is a theatre and its inhabitants are characters.

Spain, the 1970s. Although Francoist ideology remains deeply entrenched in society, a group of young trailblazers and an ambitious promoter are about to change the history of women’s football.

A typical day in the life of a lonely man who works in an unsuccessful tavern located in the historical center of Guimarães, an old town in Portugal. During the day, the man spends his time coming up with new menu items for his tavern, while at night he gets ready to meet someone special.

In 1985, former oil rig worker Richard Linklater began a film screening society in Austin, Texas, that aimed to show classic art-house and experimental films to a budding community of cinephiles. Eventually incorporating as a nonprofit, the newly branded Austin Film Society raised enough money to fly in their first out-of-town filmmaker: James Benning. Accepting the invitation, Benning met Linklater and the two began to develop a personal and intellectual bond, leading to many future encounters. Starting in the 1960s, Benning had been creating low budget films mostly on his own, while Linklater had just begun to craft his first shorts. The filmmakers have remained close even as their careers have diverged. After the cult success of Slacker, Linklater went on to make films with Hollywood support. Benning, meanwhile, has stayed close to his roots and is mainly an unknown figure in mainstream film culture.

After the crisis came tourism and Lisbon's transformation. Alis Ubbo (Phoenician for safe port) follows the change in the urban landscape of the city in the last 2 years.

A worker in a big city who feels uncomfortable around women meets a sex worker, and in an attempt to overcome his hesitations, he discovers his sexuality.

A dense atmosphere of change and union strikes in Porto’s fishing port. Clara, the owner of a fishermen’s bar threatened by closure, finds in the arms of Raquel, an employee on cruise ships, the only shelter to express her fears and contradictions.

Ribeira Quente is a fishing village in S. Miguel Island in the Azores facing the last days of a fishing activity as they know it.

Jake and Mati are two outsiders in the northerly Portuguese city of Porto who once experienced a brief connection. A mystery remains about the moments they shared, and in searching through memories, they relive the depths of a night uninhibited by the consequences of time.

Who is Sycorax? The first character in Shakespeare's "Tempest" to set foot on the island. The problem is that she has no voice. She is barely mentioned by Prospero as a crooked, old, wicked witch who vilely locked Ariel, the spirit of the air, in a tree. But why would she do that? Here, we wouldn't believe Prospero so much.

Oscar is a child germinating in its parent’s garden. Its body is developping underground. Nobody knows its biological sex but he wants to be a boy. One day, Oscar gets out of the ground and discovers his female body. After this painful discovery, is his desired identity finally going to be accepted?