Film Session Women Pioneers of Portuguese Cinema
April 22
Time: 9:15 P.M.
Venue: Batalha Centro de Cinema - Sala 1
This is a special session dedicated to the pioneers of Portuguese cinema, bringing together a set of fundamental works for understanding the first gazes of those who dared to make films.
In anticipation of the Pioneers of Portuguese Cinema cycle, which the Portuguese Cinematheque will present in May, and in partnership with this institution, Porto Femme presents a special session curated by Ricardo Vieira Lisboa.
This session takes on a special character, since the last films, all of them silent, will be accompanied live, in a sound performance conceived and interpreted by Lula Pena. We establish a dialogue between image and sound, where the projection becomes an immersive experience.
The event marks a moment of experimentation and encounter between cinema and live performance within the context of the festival.
!UPDATE!
Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, the artist Lula Pena will not be able to attend today’s session to present the performance we were so eagerly awaiting!
Instead, her place will now be taken by the artist MAYAN, the stage name of Ana Rita Costa, who will present a live sound design performance during the screening of the silent films in the Pioneers of Portuguese Cinema session.
Porto Femme regrets the situation, and if anyone wishes to have their ticket refunded, it will be allowed.
Ana Rita Costa | She/Her
Biographical Note:
A Sonic Journey of Passion and Connection. MAYAN’s journey through the world of music is as diverse as it is inspiring. Growing up in Lisbon surrounded by musicians, she experienced from an early age the deep bond that music can create. This connection fuels her enduring passion for sharing music as a way of bringing people together.
In anticipation of the “Pioneers of Portuguese Cinema” cycle, which the Portuguese Cinematheque will present next May, a selection of films that will be part of that programme is now being shown at PORTO FEMME. These are works by three filmmakers who, in different contexts, made cinema their craft, a form of expression, or a scientific instrument. Amélia Borges Rodrigues brings us one of her tourism‑oriented films, Raquel Soeiro de Brito presents two facets of her work as a geologist, and Bárbara Virgínia offers us the remnants of a work mutilated by time: a short film that lost its soundtrack and the trailer of what was the first fiction feature film made by a woman in Portugal, “Three Days Without God”, of which only fragments survive.
Three filmmakers who precede the generation that would go on to renew the place of women in Portuguese cinema (the generation of the Novo Cinema), three women among many others who, in one way or another, managed to film in Portugal when doing so was still an act of daring.
Ricardo Lisboa (Portuguese critic, programmer and filmmaker)
| Program |
Cascaes (1937, 6’) – Amélia Borges Rodrigues
Three Days Without God - Trailer (1949, 4’) – Bárbara Virgínia
Boy's Village - Santa Isabel Orphanage of Allbarraque (1946, 16’) – Bárbara Virgínia [attributed]
Volcanic Eruption of Capelinhos, Faial Island - Azores (Extras) (1958, 14’) – Raquel Soeiro de Brito
Macau (1960, 18’) – Raquel Soeiro de Brito
Ricardo Lisboa | He/Him
Biographical Note:
Film critic and programmer, he has been working at the Portuguese Cinematheque since 2023, after having worked at the Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira – Serralves Foundation and at film festivals such as IndieLisboa and Porto/Post/Doc. He co‑founded the cinephile website À Pala de Walsh in 2012, having co‑organized two anthological volumes, of critical texts (2017) and interviews (2024). He has edited several Cinematheque catalogues and booklets dedicated to Portuguese and international filmmakers. He teaches at ESTC and Universidade Lusófona.
