Latest news and stories about film in Portugal for expats and residents.
The persistent life of Al Cook, a blues musician from the nights of Vienna and an unlikely hero in “The Loneliest Man in Town” — the film opens the 23rd Indielisboa tonight. We spoke with the duo who directed it.
Jennifer Lopez has once again caused a stir by unexpectedly updating her LinkedIn profile. The move is part of a promotional campaign for 'Office Romance'.
The presence of modern Iranian cinema in international circuits reached a turning point nearly thirty years ago when Abbas Kiarostami's 'Taste of Cherry' won the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Ali Asgari's 'Divine Comedy' continues this tradition, following a filmmaker named Bahram who navigates the absurdities of his country's censorship system. The film, which draws comparisons to the works of Nanni Moretti and Woody Allen, uses sharp, sarcastic dialogue to depict the struggles of creative professionals in Iran, moving beyond simple political commentary to offer a nuanced, tragicomic portrait of a director trapped in a bureaucratic Purgatory.
The sequel to the iconic film arrives 20 years later, reuniting Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci. Directed by David Frankel, the film follows the Runway magazine team as they face a financial crisis, with Andy returning to the fold. Despite its fast-paced, sometimes superficial style, the film serves as a comedy of manners that critiques the commercialisation of journalism in the US, with Andy emerging as a moral force against a system corrupted by money.
Michel Franco's 'Dreams', the Portuguese documentary 'Damas', 'The Devil Wears Prada 2', and the Iranian film 'Divine Comedy' are Eurico de Barros's picks for this week.
Dan Reed, director of the documentary “Leaving Neverland”, has levelled harsh criticism at “Michael”, a biopic about the “King of Pop”, accusing the film of “distorting” the musician's relationship with children and portraying him as “an asexual plastic doll”.
Opportunity is half the reason for the success of ventures. Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci were called upon by the “New York Times” to discuss the film of the moment. An occasion to talk about the nature of evil and the idiosyncrasies of bosses. Because even divas have their days of obedience.
The Frenchman's most linear and one-dimensional film, focusing more on the transcription of reality than on its reinvention.
Twenty years after the first film, 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' incorporates the crisis of traditional media and journalism into the story, without neglecting fashion and glamour. Eurico de Barros gives it three stars.
“O Velho Salazar” premieres this week at the IndieLisboa film festival.
How do humans fight? What do Iranians want? A dark comedy — and it is an Iranian film? — about a filmmaker without authorisation to screen his movie.
A single edition was enough for Zurita de Oliveira to write her name into history, even if that history relegated her to an obscure background. “Who’s Afraid of Zurita de Oliveira?”, a documentary by Francisca Marvão premiering this Friday, May 1st, at IndieLisboa, promises to shed light on one of the great enigmas in the history of rock in Portugal.
António da Cunha Telles' posthumous film, “Cherchez La Femme”, sensually adapts a short story by Mário de Sá-Carneiro. We spoke with Pandora da Cunha Telles, the director's daughter who completed the film, and the lead actor Ângelo Rodrigues.
The film points the finger at the ultra-mega-rich like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Teresa Villaverde's film “Justa” received the Tiantan Award for Best Artistic Contribution at the Beijing International Film Festival in China, with 13-year-old Madalena Cunha winning the award for Best Supporting Actress. The film, a co-production between Portugal and France, explores the aftermath of the 2017 Pedrógão Grande wildfires through fictional stories of survivors, focusing on the emotional toll rather than the disaster itself. Villaverde describes the work as a tribute to the living, highlighting the lasting impact of the tragedy on the region.
Director Raquel Freire intertwines the lives and stories of resistance of 10 Portuguese and African women who fought against fascism and colonialism. Preview at IndieLisboa on Friday.
The Portuguese film “Lúcido”, by Vier, will have its world premiere at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in May, as part of the parallel Immersive Competition section, in which “nine unprecedented experiences” will compete, it was announced today.
From the shadows of FP-25 terrorism filmed in Projecto Global by Ivo M. Ferreira to the sun of French beaches and the adolescent loves of Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo, by Abdellatif Kechiche.
In the new film by Ivo Ferreira, Jani Zhao joins the revolutionary group that would form the FP 25, responsible for bank robberies and bombings in Portugal during the 1980s.
Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson: a puppet with a voice, the Michael we all (don't) know. This is when a biography is intimidated by the task of discovering its subject.
The personal history of Luandino Vieira involves a complex web of facts, including the Salazar dictatorship, Angolan literature, and his eight years in the Tarrafal prison in Cape Verde. 'Chão Verde de Pássaros Escritos', directed by Sandra Inês Cruz, is a documentary that attempts to inventory these personal and political memories, specifically through Luandino's return to the prison camp. The review questions whether the film's reliance on a systematic voice-over narration and standard television documentary tropes—such as the overuse of drone footage—fails to achieve a truly cinematic quality, ultimately turning the historical site into an abstract monument rather than a deeply engaging experience for the cinema audience.
Presented out of competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, 'The Richest Woman in the World' is another example of a cinematic and television trend: fiction inspired by true events treated with varying degrees of creative license. Director Thierry Klifa avoids banal television naturalism, focusing instead on the complex relationship between the protagonist, Marianne Farrère, and Pierre-Alain Fantin. The film evolves from a comedy of manners into a parable about the devastating power of money, anchored by powerful performances from Isabelle Huppert and Laurent Lafitte.
The feature film will be screened on May 18th, out of competition, with the presence of the director, producer Paulo Branco, and writer J.M. Coetzee.
The biographical film “Michael”, “The Richest Woman in the World”, the documentary “My Way - The Story of a Song”, and “Global Project” by Ivo M. Ferreira are Eurico de Barros's picks for this week.
How do you get a country to ask itself why we still haven't taken a serious look at this history? We spoke with director Ivo M. Ferreira, Jani Zhao, and historian Francisco Bairrão Ruivo.
This is a courageous work that plays an important role in embedding into the social imagination the daily reality of those who work on the Tagus river in subhuman conditions. Opinion by Carlos Hortmann
Claire Simon returns to the school universe for a “school film” focused on the kids.
Frédéric Hambalek takes the idea of radical honesty to the limit of the absurd in a curious black comedy, but one that falls short of its potential.
“Projecto Global”, by Ivo M. Ferreira, does not attempt to show the chronology of a hope turning into bewilderment and evolving into an abscess, excised with pain and violence from the Portuguese social body. What it reveals is the perplexity of the Portuguese left in the 70s and 80s, people in a process of violent and ungoverned radicalisation, seen here without illusions.
Controversies and accusations aside, Michael Jackson is one of the most intriguing and fascinating figures that American showbiz has produced in the last century. In 'Michael', the biographical film now premiering, we get to see what some family members and heirs allowed us to see. You can expect two hours of entertainment and eye-catching performances from a very hardworking Jaafar Jackson, but the life of the 'King of Pop' would certainly make a better film than this one.
