A night watchman spends time on a basketball court throwing balls. He has become an expert. He shows-off his abilities to a janitor who, like him, is also there all night. An award-winning comedy achieved without a single line of text.

A short film about dreams, in particular children living in a world fragmented by the economic crisis also affecting her parents. But, surprisingly, the community is not immune to the suffering of this child, materializing the dream in the real life, an event that will last in her memory.

An illiterate lady seeks to soothe the missing of her son asking a friend to read over and over again the same old letter sent by him ten years ago. Through these readings, a great friendship and complicity is born between them.

A documentary about the director’s uncle who left his rural village in Portugal for Brazil 50 years ago at the age of 19 never to return. Over the years, he has promised his mother that he would come back… but half a century later, she is still waiting. Why did he never return?

A man tormented by the loss of the Brazilian national football team in the 1950 World Cup demolished his childhood dreams and ended the career of goalkeeper Barbosa. He manages to travel back in time to try to prevent Uruguay from scoring its second and winning goal.

https://vimeo.com/238074665

A documentary on afro hair that is also a documentary on black identity.

Northeastern Brazil, 1942. Two very different men meet along the road: Johan, an aspirin salesman avoiding the German draft, and Ranulpho, a rural Brazilian seeking escape from the drought. Although their personalities and lives are worlds apart, the two men develop a deep friendship, as Johan, in an effort to provide Ranulpho with job skills, teaches Ranulpho to run the film projector, and drive a truck. In this deliberately-paced road film, Marcelo Gomes reminds us that war is as close as Johan’s radio, broadcasting its relentless warnings that all lives are changed when the world is in conflict.

Maputo, Mozambique. Lisa, Babu, Gito, and Nuno are street kids. On sundays they spend their time at the Funfair, looking for a chance to jump on a ride.

Guida, a sweet lady who has been working as an archivist at a Courthouse for 30 years, has her routine changed when she sees a newspaper ad about life drawing classes in a cultural center of the city. Through the main character's creative sensibility, the short film offers a reflection about the artistic inspiration recovery process, art as a transformation agent and the concept of beauty.

Kuduro is an urban cultural movement born out of Angolan discos and raves in downtown Luanda through a mixture of house, techno and traditional Angolan rhythms. The movement is at once a style of music, dance, fashion and culture, explored in this documentary through the distinct performances of its greatest stars.

It’s the first time that Joana, a Brazilian woman, visits her friend Kevin in Uganda. They became friends 20 years ago while studying in Germany and they haven’t seen each other in a long time. A film about a friendship between women.

The young poets live in a Luanda musseque (slum) in permanent construction. Dj Buda is one of them and everyone wants to get onto his machine cranking out Kuduro rhythms. Buda creates electrifying electronic rhythms that sing loudly into the classic Frank Sinatra-style microphone. Each kid sings his/her story in his/her own way, words and style. The result of these Buda sessions is a cacophonic polyphony that tells about life in Angola. This film is a hymn to how Angolans are creating, producing, selling and consuming their own music. A cry for independence, for voice, for Angola!

The Angolares are the oldest inhabitants of the Island of São Tomé where, according to the legend, they arrived after a shipwreck. Once the masters of the island, they were defeated at the end of the 19th century and are now only found in a small fishing community. Between the myths and legends of this island ‘s stunning beauty, this documentary shows us the stories and culture of the Angolares people.

In 17th century Angola, a woman leads her kingdom in a 40-year struggle for freedom and independence. Her name is Njinga. Born into a patriarchal society, Njinga defied tradition to become queen at the age of 50 with the aim of ensuring her people were kept safe from the Portuguese slave traders. A true story of unrivalled determination, Njinga stands today as a symbol of resistance, fully embodying the motto: “those who fight, fight to win”.

There was once a man quite sure of himself. Everyday he would have a morning stroll. On one such occasion, he spotted something he had never seen before: a tortoise.

The journey of a young boy who leaves his village to search for his father across a big city where he discovers a world dominated by animal-machines, in a whimsical, original, colorful film. Winner of the Crystal Award at the 2014 Annecy Animation Film Festival.

In a rocky island exposed to the elements, a lighthouse keeper lives alone with his daughter. With no other company, the girl develops a unique complicity with the sea, which brings her toys to the shore. Following the rhythm of the waves, these objects will unveil previous events, memories that the tide cannot erase. Awarded in Cineport and Lucas festivals.

The story of a 13-year-old boy in a Lisbon suburb on a small odyssey in search of his mother who one day did not return home. A boy’s first contact with the complexities and absurdities of a bureaucratic and incomprehensible grown-up world. Winner of Berlin's Golden Bear for Best Short.

Every day, a seven year old boy takes the bus to school with his nanny. One morning he bumps into an old man wearing ragged clothes that spends his days reading books. The story of an unexpected friendship between a little boy and an old bum, cutting across generations and social classes.

The first short of our 5-Mar session will be Umukulu, an Angolan short by a theatre troupe done in the style of the old silent films. Umukulu tells the story of elders increasingly being seen as a burden by their relatives.

Newly independent Mozambique, 1975. The revolutionary government, wishing to eradicate all traces of colonialism, rounds up prostitutes and sends them to a reeducation camp in an isolated forest. There, they are to be transformed into the new women of the new country. In the process, a 14-year-old virgin named Margarida is taken by mistake. This is her story.

The Passinho dance is the newest trend in Brazilians slums. A new way to dance baile funk but also a lifestyle, the Passinho fever is changing young boys' life around Brazil's outskirts. This documentary portrays this phenomena and discovers how the culture around the funk world has expanded beyond funk dance parties, DJs, and favelas.

The first fiction film to come out of Timor-Leste (East Timor), one of the newest nations in the World. 16 years after Beatriz's husband disappears during a brutal massacre by occupying forces, she is troubled by his mysterious return: is he the young man she had lost or is he an impostor?

Set in the city of Luanda, the story of Matias that while going to deliver his dowry to his fiance's father, an unexpected accident makes him realize how much he is willing to fight for her love. In this town where chaos and peace, beauty and ugliness, corruption and honor meet, Matias will have to do whatever it takes to get what he wants.

A young man under house arrest spends his time making tattoos for money. His peace is disturbed when he's attacked and robbed by three kids from the neighborhood. Between breaking his house arrest and finding the kids who took his money comes the reflection of how things were and are in this place filled with violence and hostility. Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Bissau, capital city of Guinea-Bissau where the 21 ethnic groups of this tiny country merge, each with its own culture and language. Isabel's Bissau is the pretext to discover this thriving city where the foundations of Guinean identity are born.

Mano Mendi lives on the Island of Santiago, Cape Verde. He’s the last cimboa player, a sort of one-string violin used to accompany the traditional batuque dances, banned by the church and the former colonial power for being considered too sexual in nature. A documentary about the revival of an (indeed very) sexy culture.

The documentary follows the story of an artwork by the artist Aecio Sarti, who paints on used truck covers. This time, as art, one of the canvases returns to the reality of the roads and witnesses a Brazilian reality that only a few people know.

A film on the lives of African migrants in Brazil. When Sansara moved to a different neighborhood, she noticed a flourishing community of African students living near her house speaking in a funny Portuguese accent. Curious to know more about her new neighbors, she decides to meet them and hear more about their stories and aspirations, as well as the challenges of living in Southern Brazil.

The road to ruin is blindingly beautiful in Heleno, a tempestuous portrait of Heleno de Freitas, the 1940s Brazilian football star whose passion for the game was matched only by his addiction to women and the contempt for his Botafogo teammates. His priorities in his nascent career, as he tells a reporter in the film, were "goals, slim waists and Cadillacs“.

This Brazilian surrealist short film follows the path of a tomato from farm to dump site, with a criticism of the consumer society along the way. Isle of Flowers is often mentioned as one of the 100 best short films and documentaries of the XX century.

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A Red Bull Music Academy production filmed with the fast-beat of a music video. From Portuguese fado, Angolan kuduro, Cape Verdean morna, Brazilian baile funk, hiphop or rock, this film sheds light on a new movement being born out of the cultural mix of the Portuguese-speaking countries.

Liz and Bob are two solitary teenagers that stroll the city of São Paulo communicating through street art interventions and falling in love before even meeting each other. A film about a restless generation that cultivates freedom in the urban jungle and a rather loose adaptation of the life and work of British couple of poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning whose love began from exchanged letters and poems.

An isolated air-traffic controller in an island of the Azores archipelago receives a transatlantic emergency signal from a lone pilot cut helplessly adrift over the North Atlantic. As their engagement unfolds, it emerges that their new found friendship may not last through the night.

A thriller about Prosecuting Attorney David Lunga, whose success is overshadowed by the terrifying secrets of Rosa, a beautiful but mysterious woman with whom he falls in love. What mysteries does she hide? As the macabre facts unravel, David comes face to face with his own demons and is driven to prove his innocence, recover his reputation and, above all, clear his own conscience. A ghost thriller not for the faint-hearted.

Tizangara, Mozambique. UN Blue Helmets work as peacekeepers after years of civil war. Five explosions kill five soldiers, only their helmets and penises mysteriously remain. An Italian lieutenant arrives in the village in order to investigate the events. Assisted by Joaquim, a local translator, he starts the inquiry and soon discovers that not everything is what it appears to be.

When a toy is stolen by the local bully, Lili, Minhoca and Zé Gordo devise a cunning mission to recover it from the thief’s hideout.

Ode is a black man. His brother Luiz was beaten to death during a conflict in an occupation of Belo Horizonte. The film uses allegories and symbolism to contextualize political, racial, ancestry and urbanization relations in the most recent Brazilian political scenario.

A Brazilian pantomime playing with the relation between reality and film by the same director of Isle of Flowers. A couple's last moments, their meetings, separations and a sandwich.

Baldo waits for a call by a public phone booth, perhaps the most important call of his life. Xavier needs to use that phone to save someone else's life. These two conflicting interests will have them clash and define both their futures for ever.

Brazilian trailer of Women are Heroes, documentary by artist JR paying tribute to women that play a vital role in our societies, through urban art projects focusing on their eyes.

An amusing look at condom use in Mozambique, where around 20 million condoms are distributed annually with a large number of them used by children to make football balls.

A suspense filled journey through the countryside with four passengers sharing a train compartment in the wake of a series of mysterious murders. Winner of the Cartoon D'Or 2000 for the best European animation of the year.

An exuberant fantasy in which 8 to 14 year-old dancers were encouraged to bring out the animals in themselves. The kids emerge from the sea like the original amphibians and colonise a forest, marking out their territory in a break-dance celebration of Nature and her feral sons.

Four personal testimonies about human rights violations filmed in the months prior to the Santa Cruz Massacre, Avô Crocodilo is a documentary about the power of images, 25 years after the tragic events in Timor-Leste. Part of the work of the journalist, who managed to put that territory back on the agenda, is revisited cinematically. Blood stories that shaped the dream of a country, today in peace.

A young couple celebrate their Paper wedding anniversary. All is set for a romantic weekend just the two of them. But after a series of strange situations, they will very fast get embroiled on a path that has no turning back. Winner of the Best Foreign Short Film at the Belo Jardim Festival 2015

"Cascatinha" tells the story of the club based on the namesake neighborhood of Petrópolis (Rio de Janeiro) in the early twentieth century through the eyes of Lézio, who joined the club in the 50s and never left.

The methodical day-to-day activity of a young autistic boy changes drastically when he sees a girl passing by riding a bike.

A feral boy is found in the woods by a hunter and brought back to live in civilised society. In this new environment, the boy tries to adapt by using the same strategies and tactics that kept him safe in the wild. Oscar 2014 Nominee for best short animation film.

Living in the remote lands of southwest Angola, the Hereros are a bantu people with an ancient tradition passed on from one generation to another. To an external eye a merely exotic tribe, this documentary shows the living knowledge of the Hereros in constant movement, from birth to demise showing daily life along the way. A unique film about a people with virtually no recorded history.

One Man's inspiring story of hope, resilience and survival amidst the brutal fight to free East Timor.

“Lockdown” tells the story of four women within the context of domestic violence aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic. This fictional story based on real facts portrays the difficulties that each one faces. Portuguese version only, No subtitles

Macanese Patuá is a vanishing creole language that is spoken informally in Macao (China) with a vocabulary drawing on Portuguese, Malay, Singhalese, English, Spanish and Cantonese. Macao’s theatre group Doci Papiaçam di Macau has been preserving this unique dialect for over 20 years through humorous plays performed in Patuá. This Is Macao is the group's patuá version of a Portuguese original "Lisboa é Assim" song.

Thiago is a sensitive and imaginative boy living on a small, hardscrabble farm in a remote region of Brazil. His life is filled not only with curiosity and youthful discovery, but also the reality of his parent's unhappy marriage and his father's abuse--all of which are one day changed by a chance encounter and unexpected gift.

A stop-motion animation about a world where iron and land mix themselves creating unexpected cities, and the wind blows life among leaves in the eternal rebirth cycle.

A giant carries a little girl in his heart. His heart is like a large window from which the little girl discovers the world we live in. One day she will have to leave.

The beats of Angolan Kuduro started appearing in Lisbon clubs in the late 90s. Four musicians started mixing it with beats from all over the world, creating a unique sound called Progressive Kuduro and a band called Buraka Som Sistema that is taking world dancefloors by storm.

A boy and a girl fall in love. But on the night they met, she was drunk and stoned and he toke advantage of her. Although she does not remember almost anything from that night, she remembers something that may compromise their relationship.

The University of Coimbra in Portugal was founded in the 13th century and is one of the oldest in the World. Edgar arrives from the countryside and soon realises that centuries of traditions are hard to break through. He decides to find his way into the university through its women.

Rio de Janeiro, Luanda, Lisbon: three cities connected by a common past undergo a joint transformation that will change their relationship forever. The film follows three different stories by young directors of each of the three countries, exploring the secrets and dilemmas as seen from the eyes of its foreigners: Licínio, an angolan in Rio; Inês, a portuguese in Luanda; and Paula, a brasilian in Lisbon.

On a sixty-day walking tour of Cape Verde, a traveler discovers the mountains, the villages, the people, the music - and an essential part of himself.

One day in the life of Luanda, the capital of Angola. A young democracy rises after a recent war, with growing pains but always with a smile on its lips and lots of rhythm on its hips. É Dreda Ser Angolano is a tribute to the Angolan people and its artists that were able to be inspired despite the adversities of everyday life and contribute to the creation of a new identity.