23/04/2014 - With national films firmly asserting their presence, the competition will be presenting such titles as Boa Noite Cinderela by Carlos Conceição, the only Portuguese film selected at Cannes this year

The IndieLisboa Festival, one of the most enthralling events in the entire Portuguese film landscape, will open its 11^th edition tomorrow. 24 April is the day before the 40-year anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, one of the most fundamental political events in the country’s recent history. IndieLisboa is certainly not ignoring this anniversary: it is dedicating a special section to it as part of an edition in which Portuguese cinema, in all its different formats and genres, will assert a presence that is as strong as it is symbolic. At the end of the day, carrying on making films in the country’s current climate is, if not a revolutionary act, at the very least an act of resistance.

For this reason, national documentaries and short films have been given pride of place in the programme. There are four documentaries in the national competition. The first is The New Testament of Jesus Christ According to John [+see also:
trailer
film profile], by the duo Nuno Leonel and Joaquim Pinto (What Now? Remind Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), a film that owes a lot to the actor Luis Miguel Cintra – who pops up regularly in the films of Manoel de Oliveira – and his interpretation of the Bible. There is also sufficient room for the return of director Sérgio Tréfaut (Lisboetas) with his documentary Alentejo, Alentejo, which delves into the polyphonic singing typical of the Alentejo region, in the south of Portugal. Frederico Lobo and Tiago Hespanha will be presenting Revolução Industrial, a production by Terratreme Filmes that focuses on the Vale do Ave region. Lastly, Tales on Blindness, by Cláudia Alves, offers a reflection on the presence of the Portuguese in India.

Meanwhile, diversity is key in the short-film programme. Standing out among the myriad titles are Jewels, by Sandro Aguilar, the homo-erotic Daddies by London-based Portuguese filmmaker Antonio Silva, Coro dos Amantes by stage and film director Tiago Guedes, and the highly anticipated Boa Noite Cinderela by Carlos Conceição, the only Portuguese work to be selected at Cannes this year (in the Critics’ Week – see the news). Produced by the director himself, with support from João Pedro Rodrigues’ production house, Blackmaria, Boa Noite Cinderela revisits the famous fairy tale of Cinderella from the point of view of the prince, in an adaptation that is certainly more carnal and less romantic than the Disney animated classic. The young and promising Joana de Verona, João Cajuda and David Cabecinha head up the cast.

The section dedicated to the Carnation Revolution will be presenting Outra forma de luta, by João Pinto Nogueira, a film based on the correspondence sent between the author Nuno Bragança and Carlos Antunes, which reconstructs part of the post-revolutionary period. With Longwave [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lionel Baier
festival scope
film profile], Swiss director Lionel Baier has made a comedy about a Swiss TV crew that unexpectedly has to cover the revolution. And the IndieMusic section, which also deals with the topic of politics, will be featuring Mudar de Vida, a documentary about singer-songwriter José Mário Branco, directed by Pedro Fidalgo and Nelson Guerreiro.

Lastly, taking place alongside the competition is Portugal Film Screenings, an event directed by Ana Isabel Strindberg. Its aim is to present unreleased or very recent national productions, and those at different stages of development (shooting, editing, post-production), to a group of guest programmers, critics and distributors, including Mark Peranson (Locarno Festival), Jean-Pierre Rehm (FID), Claudia Maci (Festival dei Populi), Davide Oberto (Torino Festival), Maria Bonsanti (Cinéma du Réel), Daniel Chabannes (Épicentre), Gudrun Sommer (Doxs!), Marie-Pierre Duhamel Muller (Rome Film Festival), Alexandra Gramatke (Hamburg Short Film Festival), Tamaki Okamoto (Carte Blanche), Mick Hannigan (IndieCork), Sesi Bergeret (L'Alternativa!) and Sara Garcia (Play-Doc).

(Translated from Spanish)