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98% of interviews follow the same pleasantries-exchange / question-and-answer / pleasantries-exchange format, yet there are those rare times an incredible opportunity arrives. Which is to say that when I interviewed Paulo Branco at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival I couldn’t have anticipated he––maybe the greatest producer in film history––would ask me to screen Manoel de Oliveira films that, per him, were receiving no notice from United States programmers. Just five months later I’m delighted to unveil Mirror of Life: Manoel de Oliveira 1996—2004, comprising ten features (and nine restorations debuting in North America) that will screen at Bam from March 28 to April 3.

Featuring John Malkovich, Michel Piccoli, Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, and (of course) Ricardo Trêpa, the program finds Oliveira, who turned 90 during this time, in a period both decadent and reflective––note the Word and Utopia / Porto of My Childhood double-feature or 2001’s I’m Going Home...

Portugal’s documentary festival runs October 6-15.

A new short film from Argentian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel will open the 20th edition of Portuguese documentary festival, Doclisboa.

North Terminal will have its Portuguese premiere on October 6 and play simultaneously at both Cinema São Jorge in Lisbon and Cinema Trindade in Porto.

The Headless Woman director made the documentary during the pandemic and it follows singer Julieta Laso meeting up with various Argentine artists in the Salta region.

Martel’s last feature film Zama premiered in competition at Cannes 2017 and won best film at Argentina’s Academy Awards.

Closing the festival on...

“Where is This Street? or With No Before and After,” co-directed by João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata, is screening in competition at Locarno.

The pic revisits locations and themes from Paulo Rocha’s 1963 film “Os Verdes Anos” (“The Green Years”), a best first film winner at Locarno in 1964 and considered to be a point of departure for Portugal’s Cinema Novo movement.

“We believe that the film works at its own level, and also gains further levels of meaning when viewed in conjunction with ‘Os Verdes Anos,’” explains Rodrigues. “By revisiting locations from the 1963 film, but without people, we planned to make an ode to Lisbon, a symphony of the city, working in the tradition of directors such as Walter Ruttman. This idea, that predated the pandemic, foresaw the atmosphere created by the lockdown which suddenly emptied the city.”

Rodrigues studied under Paulo Rocha at Lisbon...

"The Strange Case of Angelica" is helmed and screenwritten by Manoel de Oliviera and finds release at the IFC Center in New York on December 29th. Starring in the indie flick are Ricardo Trêpa, Pilar López de Ayala, Leonor Silveira, Luís Miguel Cintra, Ana Maria Magalhães and Isabel Ruth. François d’Artemare, Maria João Mayer,Luís Miñarro, Renata de Almeida and Leon Cakoff produce. "The Strange Case of Angelica" is a magical tale of a young photographer who falls madly in love with a woman he can never have, except in his dreams. One night, Isaac is summoned by a wealthy family to take the last photograph of a young bride, Angelica, who has mysteriously passed away...

"The Strange Case of Angelica" is helmed and screenwritten by Manoel de Oliviera and finds release at the IFC Center in New York on December 29th. Starring in the indie flick are Ricardo Trêpa, Pilar López de Ayala, Leonor Silveira, Luís Miguel Cintra, Ana Maria Magalhães and Isabel Ruth. François d’Artemare, Maria João Mayer,Luís Miñarro, Renata de Almeida and Leon Cakoff produce. "The Strange Case of Angelica" is a magical tale of a young photographer who falls madly in love with a woman he can never have, except in his dreams. One night, Isaac is summoned by a wealthy family to take the last photograph of a young bride, Angelica, who has mysteriously passed away...