Cineuropa has gained exclusive access to Global Project, directed by Ivo Marques Ferreira (Letters from War [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
Q&A: Ivo M. Ferreira
scheda film], Empire Hotel [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ivo M. Ferreira
scheda film]). Made up of a 6x45-minute series and a 100-minute feature, the helmer’s new effort is “anchored in the political, economic and social reality of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the illusions and disenchantments of a far left that was glorified in 1959, with the Cuban Revolution and the revolutionary myth of Che Guevara, who shouted, ‘Power to the Imagination!’ on May 1968, and which started to decline after the fall of the Berlin Wall”.

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In detail, the 1970s saw European left-wing armed movements thriving: ETA in Spain, the IRA in Ireland, the Red Brigades in Italy and the Baader-Meinhof Group in Germany. Portugal would have to deal with a similar phenomenon in the 1980s with the Popular Forces 25 April (FP-25), a far-left organisation defending the achievements of the 1974 Carnation Revolution, which brought 48 years of dictatorship to an end. The organisation gradually lost touch with the people it had aimed to protect, and was dismantled by a massive police operation in 1984.

The feature and series condense and fictionalise these events. In the vibrant and decadent city of Lisbon, we follow FP-25 members and the police officers chasing them. Rosa, an actress and single mother; Queiroz, her best friend; and Jaime, a disillusioned young soldier – they all belong to the FP-25. Refusing to accept the death of their ideals, they must soon abandon everything and go undercover. On the other side of the barricade, Marlow, an officer with a troubled personality, faces his first big mission against the organisation. He and Rosa were former lovers, and he becomes obsessed with finding her while fulfilling his duty.

Global Project is penned by the director himself together with Helder Beja. Key creatives include DoP Vasco Viana, art director Nuno Mello, costume designer Lucha D’Orey, make-up artist Fabienne Adam and editor Sandro Aguilar. The main cast boasts Jani Zhao, Rodrigo Tomás, José Pimentão, Isaac Graça, Hugo Bentes, Alyne Fernandes, Magaly Teixeira, Hana Sofia Lopes and Nilton Martins.

Donato Rotunno, who is co-producing the project for Tarantula Luxembourg, told Cineuropa: “This co-production between our two countries allows Luxembourgish actors with Portuguese roots, such as Alyne Fernandes, Magaly Teixeira and Mili Tasch-Fernandes, to play an important role alongside Portuguese actors such as Jani Zhao, Rodrigo Tomás and José Pimentão.”

Speaking about the current state of the project, Luís Urbano, co-producing for Portuguese outfit O Som e a Fúria, added: “We’re going to finish filming right after the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution. We’re filming for 80 days, and we’ve already started editing. We first aim to release the feature-film version in the first semester of 2025, and ideally release it in Portugal on 24 April 2025, one day before the 51st anniversary of the Carnation Revolution. In order to fulfil this schedule, we will be showing the film at the EFM in Berlin in 2025, together with our world sales agent, The Match Factory."

“Then, the six-episode TV series will be premiered on RTP and on RTL in the second half of 2025,” Rotunno further explained.