02/11/2016 - Based on events in the life of late poet Al Berto, Alves do Ó’s new project is “a generational film, centred on the post-1974 revolution”

After Florbela Espanca (Florbela [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), director Vicente Alves do Ó is now aiming his camera lens at another iconic figure of Portuguese literature, Coimbra-born poet Al Berto. Produced by Lisbon-based outfit Ukbar Filmes, Al Berto [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vicente Alves do Ó
film profile] is currently being shot at four locations (Sines, Sintra, Coimbra and Lisbon).

One of the most celebrated Portuguese poets from the 1980s and 1990s, Al Berto died in 1997 at the age of 49, but Alves do Ó’s film is not meant to be a biopic covering the poet’s entire life. It is, rather, in the director’s own words, “a generational film, centred on the post-1974 revolution, depicted through aspects of the poet’s life”. 

Alves do Ó – who met Al Berto in the mid-1970s, when the poet decided to ensconce himself in the coastal town of Sines, after a long period of exile in Brussels – calls him “a unique figure, as he shook the conventions of society back then. He brought a certain idea of future and freedom. And society was not ready to accept that difference.” In Sines, Al Berto became acquainted with Alves do Ó’s elder brother, João Maria. The bond between the two men is one of the movie’s main narrative arcs.

Newcomers Ricardo Teixeira (as Al Berto) and José Pimentão (as João Maria) head up the cast, which also includes emerging talents João Villas-Boas, José Leite, Joana Almeida and Rute Miranda, who have mainly been seen treading the boards thus far. Veterans Miguel Seabra, Rita Loureiro, Manuela Couto and Elsa Valentim have also joined the cast in supporting roles.

Al Berto’s cinematography is being handled by DoP Rui Poças, who recently worked on João Pedro Rodrigues’ The Ornithologist [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: João Pedro Rodrigues
film profile] and Lucrecia Martel’s eagerly anticipated forthcoming film Zama [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lucrecia Martel
film profile].

Principal photography for Al Berto will wrap later this month, and the film is scheduled to hit local screens in 2017.