Augusto Portela
In 1917, outside the parish of Fátima, Portugal, a 10-year-old girl and her two younger cousins witness multiple visitations of the Virgin Mary, who tells them that only prayer and suffering will bring an end to World War I. As secularist government officials and Church leaders try to force the children to recant their story, word of the sighting spreads across the country, inspiring religious pilgrims to flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle..
Everyone has a secret. Twins Sarah and Gaëlle near 25; for ten years, Sarah has been a fundamentalist Carmelite in a Brazilian convent, and Gaëlle has been in prison for a heinous crime. Sarah comes to the attention of Fr. Joachim, a priest and physician; he can find no cause for her debilitating abdominal pain. When Sarah and he are transferred to Paris, Joachim looks for Gaëlle, now on probation and finding no respite from society's approbation. An enterprising reporter is digging into Gaëlle's life, the mother superior of Sarah's convent hovers over her, and Joachim investigates the phenomenon of twin's symmetry. Is there any release from the past?
Chasing Life (Pulsação Zero) is an action/comedy about 25 year old lovable loser Alex who, when his life hits rock bottom and decides to end it all, shares his dogs euthanasia poison just moments before a dramatic turn of events sends him hilariously and desperately seeking the antidote which he must find within 4 hours or die.
The Meldrews go on holiday to Portugal with Mrs Warboys, who is hoping for romance with her penpal Alfonso. Photographer Martin Trout follows them there, believing they have a roll of film that belongs to him.
In this mystical comedy, Felicien has traveled to Portugal from France soon after the end of the First World War. It seems that his recently deceased father had invested a lot of money in a factory located in a remote village, and he has come to evaluate that investment. He gets some clues to the real situation in the town when the man driving his coach refuses to go any further and leaves him on a section of road which is practically paved with abandoned crutches. After a short trek, he meets up with the local dignitary who is to show him around, and he meets a priest and an artist. The priest gives a further clue to the events taking place in the village when he indicates that he's completely exasperated with the endless miracles that seem to be taking place. From that point onward, amazing coincidences, visions and miracles take place in great numbers.
Adelaide Coelho da Cunha, daughter of the founder of the newspaper "Diário de Notícias", married to Alfredo da Cunha, then director of this newspaper, and mother of José, who is 20. This educated, cultured woman, falls in love with the chauffeur, who is youger than her and from a different social background. This passion leads to confronting the established order of things and the standards of social behaviour of a wife and mother. She may at the same time be heroine and victim of her own courage in deciding to make a final break from the whole family status and run off with the chauffeur. When his wife runs off with the chauffeur, Alfredo da Cunha with the aid of some of the eminent doctors of the day, has her declared irresponsible and incapable of administering her assets, and on this pretext he has her inprisoned in a mental hospital.
