Bruno Bravo
Somewhere in an unspecified time, Patrick Mendes presents an initiation ritual in a community at the ends of the earth.
A group of actors interpret the words of Basil, Lord Henry, Dorian Gray, Sibyl Vane and James Vane, from the novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde. Next to them are the Butlers - figures that compose the scenic space, essentially empty. In this adaptation of a literary work to the scene, the actors struggle with the movement of the words and their suitability for the drama. This film, instead of portraying the show creation process, sought a view from afar in order to enhance a point of view on the borders between art and life.
Every night, in danger of being beheaded, Scheherazade tells King Shahryar unfinished tales to continue them the following night, hence defying his promise of murdering his new wives after their wedding night. Scheherazade tells king Shahryar her stories but these are not those in the book. These are stories based on whatever will be happening in Portugal during the production time of the film. As in the book, these stories will be tragic and comical, with rich and poor, powerless and powerful people, filled with surprising and extraordinary events. This film will be about the reality of a disgraced country, Portugal, under the effects of a global economic crisis.
A documentary essay about a text that penetrates lives and lives that penetrate a text. In September 2015 teatro GRIOT - a theatre company based in Lisbon, whose actors are mostly Afro-descendants - started to rehearse Shakespeare's "The Tempest" with acclaimed director Bruno Bravo in a little coastal village. Starting with the first rehearsals the film explores Shakespeare's text and the actors' biographies, between the play and the landscape and brings up topics such as memories, home, emigration and colonialism. A complex mosaic of multiple voices.
Some of the chapters from Arabian Nights are adapted to a modern Portugal in this epic.
In the 17th century a warrior woman fights for the independence of Angola. After witnessing the murder of her son and watching her people being humiliated by Portuguese colonizers, Njinga will become a Queen and struggle for their liberation embodying the motto: those who stay fight to win.
A man who grew up in the '80s, in the midst of the pirate-radio scene, works now at a big, modern radio station, but still holds on to his love for a mysterious female lead singer of a now long gone band. He sets himself to start another pirate-radio, now unlegalized, trying to find her.
Joaquim is a romantic supermarket employee. He has only one friend Gaspar, who speaks almost only for cinematic quotes. At leisure, go around town looking for the right woman. But when found, she throws herself from a balcony. Then comes a dance, as in a musical, and an obvious surprise... A movie about beauty and glory that has more love stories.
