Miguel Moreira
Dreaming of great adventures and of standing up for his homeland, a young Portuguese man enlists in the army during World War I and is sent to the front line in Mozambique, Africa. Left behind by his platoon, he sets out on a grueling trek across the mystic Makua native land, walking for over a thousand kilometers, in search of his dream.
Miguel —alias Tibars, alias “Djon África,” born and raised in Portugal— is a kindhearted Rastafarian who loves women and lives a carefree life. Until one day a stranger tells him he's the spitting image of his father, “a player and a crook.” His father, whom he never even knew! This intriguing discovery makes him change tack. Particularly when his grandmother, who always took care of him, finally tells him how his father was in prison; how sad Miguel was as a toddler when he couldn't see him; how his father was banished to Cape Verde. Miguel goes there to visit him. Who is this man?
1920s. Vitalino, a small farmer from São Vicente sees his father die of the epidemic which decimated the country. Some years later, of all the brothers, Vitalino is the strongest and takes his father’s place in the house. But the village is too small for his aspirations and he decides to head to Brazil, leaving his sisters in charge of the household. In parallel with Vitalino’s story, If I Were a Thief… I’d Steal portrays the world of Paulo Rocha rummaging through his films and ghosts over the years.
The story of Miguel Moreira and Ruben Furtado, two Cape Verdean immigrant descendants who live in Portugal but have no legal documents. They are torn between the desire to be a full Portuguese citizen and the obstacles they find in their day to day. Proud of being who they are they keep on dreaming of their future reflecting their wishes for a better life. Above all, Michael and Ruben lead us to one question: What kind of identity has a stateless person?
In oPorto there is a club, Imperatriz, where everything is permitted. A moment in which all intersect in the dark night.
Ana and Pedro married two years ago and now they live in “Sunset Neighborhood”. Pedro works outside town. Ana stays alone most of the time. One of her neighbors, an old lady keeps on asking her: “Maybe you could get pregnant?” “Maybe…” she answers. After going through medical exams, Ana makes her choice.
In 1983, little João Amaral Severo asks his father to go to the circus. His father, and army captain who had been recently widowed, refuses to take him under the pretext that the circus would draw his attention away from his studies. Ten years later João is a student in the Military College, and is tired of the harsh discipline imposed by his father and decides to join a travelling circus that stops in his hometown, Alcochete. From then on João, alone and free to live his life the way he wants, finds a world of magic, the love of Dolores (a young trapeze artist) and the family he never really had. Until a twist of fate turns João into a father...
