José Mazeda

Galicia, northern Spain, January 2, 1921. The steamship Santa Isabel, sailing towards Argentina with more than two hundred emigrants on board, sinks off the coast of Sálvora Island. Three island women, María, Josefa and Cipriana, who have bravely set sail aboard a fragile skiff to save the shipwrecked, are treated as heroes by the cynical authorities; but León, an inquisitive and tenacious Argentinean journalist, starts asking uncomfortable questions.

Spain, 1938, during the Spanish Civil War. Carol, a 12-year-old Spanish-American girl, arrives in her mother's hometown and transforms the secretive family environment. Her innocence and rebellious nature drive her at first to reject a world that is at once foreign and completely new.

Two actors performing in Strindberg's "Inferno" as God and Lucifer, find themselves competing in real life as well. One of them, Max Monteiro, has spiritual obsession with John Wayne and his way of walking. He and Jean de Dieu, his fellow actor who plays Lucifer and also directs the Strindberg play, engage in a philosophical and spiritual tug-of-war, especially when they meet an author named God, who has plans for another drama to feature both actors.

Two lonely people, Mário and Joana, both deceased in childhood, lost the ability to sleep. When fate brings them together, Mário manages to sleep again and leave their loneliness behind. Definitely?

Drawing on a wide mosaic of texts from figures like Montaigne and Kafka, literary and philosophical fragments are used to illustrate and reflect on the human condition. It is a tribute to the landscape and the people who inhabit the Trás-os-Montes region of Portugal, portraying the region not just as a physical space, but as a place where imagination and reality intertwine.

This is the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a man of conviction who saved 30,000 lives during WWII, in June 1940. Among them were10,000 Jews. As the Portuguese General Consul stationed in Bordeaux, France, he issued 30,000 visas for safe passage to Portugal. He defied the direct orders of his government and exhibited courage, moral rectitude, unselfishness, and self-sacrifice by issuing visas to all refugees regardless of nationality, race, religion or political opinions.This narrative film expresses his heroic actions towards humanity, which will perpetuate his legacy of justice for a new generation. In 1966, Yad Vashem named him Righteous Among the Nations. He is considered to have achieved the largest single rescue operation of World War II.

Galicia, northern Spain, January 2, 1921. The steamship Santa Isabel, sailing towards Argentina with more than two hundred emigrants on board, sinks off the coast of Sálvora Island. Three island women, María, Josefa and Cipriana, who have bravely set sail aboard a fragile skiff to save the shipwrecked, are treated as heroes by the cynical authorities; but León, an inquisitive and tenacious Argentinean journalist, starts asking uncomfortable questions.

Spain, 1938, during the Spanish Civil War. Carol, a 12-year-old Spanish-American girl, arrives in her mother's hometown and transforms the secretive family environment. Her innocence and rebellious nature drive her at first to reject a world that is at once foreign and completely new.

Two actors performing in Strindberg's "Inferno" as God and Lucifer, find themselves competing in real life as well. One of them, Max Monteiro, has spiritual obsession with John Wayne and his way of walking. He and Jean de Dieu, his fellow actor who plays Lucifer and also directs the Strindberg play, engage in a philosophical and spiritual tug-of-war, especially when they meet an author named God, who has plans for another drama to feature both actors.

Two lonely people, Mário and Joana, both deceased in childhood, lost the ability to sleep. When fate brings them together, Mário manages to sleep again and leave their loneliness behind. Definitely?

Drawing on a wide mosaic of texts from figures like Montaigne and Kafka, literary and philosophical fragments are used to illustrate and reflect on the human condition. It is a tribute to the landscape and the people who inhabit the Trás-os-Montes region of Portugal, portraying the region not just as a physical space, but as a place where imagination and reality intertwine.

This is the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a man of conviction who saved 30,000 lives during WWII, in June 1940. Among them were10,000 Jews. As the Portuguese General Consul stationed in Bordeaux, France, he issued 30,000 visas for safe passage to Portugal. He defied the direct orders of his government and exhibited courage, moral rectitude, unselfishness, and self-sacrifice by issuing visas to all refugees regardless of nationality, race, religion or political opinions.This narrative film expresses his heroic actions towards humanity, which will perpetuate his legacy of justice for a new generation. In 1966, Yad Vashem named him Righteous Among the Nations. He is considered to have achieved the largest single rescue operation of World War II.

A boy in Lisbon, in this Lisbon in permanent renovation.

One bad thing never comes alone, says the people. The village Estrela is threatened by the waters of the new Alqueva dam. It will become an "island". But, as one bad thing never comes alone, the daily lives of the inhabitants of this small mountain village are changed by the death of Adriano. "In order to create, I destroyed myself; I have so much externalized within myself that within me I exist only outwardly. I am the living scene where various actors perform various plays." (from Livro do Desassossego by Fernando Pessoa), as Adriano liked to quote Adriano. He committed suicide on the day of the village feast, hanging himself in the main square. For Adriano, the main square of the village has long been the center of the world. Adriano felt surrounded, depressed, unable to escape his destiny. "No one can stop a man who travels with suicide on his lapel" Adriano repeated to Lisete, always to the point of exhaustion.

A theft of water, a homicide, a question of honour, a tragedy in the village of Gralhas, Montalegre.

A theft of water, a homicide, a question of honour, a tragedy in the village of Gralhas, Montalegre.

A theft of water, a homicide, a question of honour, a tragedy in the village of Gralhas, Montalegre.

It tells the story of Araci, a woman who saw her daughter murdered by ranchers. She emigrates to Mértola with her husband and their granddaughter, who will grow up without forgetting the indigenous rituals and teachings of Brazil.

S.Ó.S.”, by Bruno Soares, “Céu Aberto ou Espaço Limitado”, by José António Loureiro, and “Para Cá do Marão”, by José Mazeda, are three short films, all first works by their directors , shown as if they were a single film. What they have in common is the fact that they deal with crimes. Bruno Soares' film, with Marco Costa, Joel Branco and Carmen Santos, deals with a robbery in Lisbon, with the owner of the house confusing the robber with his son. The one by José António Loureiro, with Joaquim Nicolau, is about a man who leaves prison and has difficulty adapting. Finally, José Mazeda's, with João Lagarto, focuses on a dispute in Trás-os-Montes between a local and a Galician.

The Alentejo, 1980s. Luísa, still young, manages a family-inherited rural estate on her own. Although she has the support of her brother Alexandre, another sister, and her brother-in-law, the farm’s survival becomes increasingly difficult. While her brother-in-law advocates for transforming the estate into a luxury tourist retreat, Luísa resists the pressure to modernize. Meanwhile, Miguel, a young farmhand, falls in love with the landowner—whom everyone calls "the noblewoman"—in a relationship defined by class differences and the weight of tradition.