João Pedro Vaz

A pagan tradition in a village in the countryside of Portugal leaves painful traces in a group of young teenagers. 25 years later, when they meet again, the past resurfaces and tragedy sets in.

The revolutionary Álvaro Cunhal, symbol of Portuguese communism and political giant of the 20th century. He is nothing less than a larger-than-life figure, now examined by João Botelho’s camera, in a detective-minded film, in which the early years of the life of the historic leader of the Portuguese Communist Party are explored. In between, excerpts from his own books are staged for the spectator.

Organized like a dream, structured like a musical and with texts, both spoken and sung, that lead us to unexpected, chaotic and exciting situations, which try to grasp part of what the unattainable Alexandre O'Neill left us.

In a rural landscape, that resembles an old Portugal, an elderly man find out that his wife, whom he believed to be dead, was seen shopping in town. Spiteful and sad, he wants to hide from everyone, but his friends insist that he uses this situation to become stronger and try to get married again.

Struggling against the crisis in Portugal, a mother doubles up jobs to pay the bills since her husband is unemployed. Their teenage daughter tries to keep living everyday life even if the money is running short, which makes everything uneasy. Escaping from their common reality, they slowly become strangers to one another, as the tension grows in silence and in guilt.

Cartas da Guerra está basada en un libro del renombrado autor portugués António Lobo Antunes. La novela epistolar, publicada en 2005, reúne las cartas que un joven soldado envió a su mujer desde Angola entre 1971 y 1973, durante la Guerra Colonial. Al igual que el propio Lobo Antunes, el joven soldado es médico y escritor en ciernes.

We stare at mirrors as if 'image' was a weapon of self-defense. At night, I hide in actors' dressing rooms for a working class experience. By day, I face an old theatre being razed to the ground, making way for a parking lot. Graffitis have curtains, the nose cap of an umbrella arises from a mount of sand. Oh, Happy Days! No need to stage anything! The bulldozer is a dinosaur whose teeth and gracious neck swings by a EU flag. In the boxes, we await the audience. Sometimes, nobody comes. Lost in a symbolic show of reality, I can only watch the world's end because all the endangered species perform and a reflecting labyrinth of life stories breaks through the glass of the Economic Eating Machine. Even when the sky is falling, theatre will always happen. So, choose the right place.

A young adolescent, living with a swinger couple in a campsite, meets an emotionally unstable man and finds herself fascinated by his special powers.

En compañía de su amigo cercano, Joao da Ega, supuestamente un escritor brillante, Carlos, con su existencia ociosa como un médico aristocrática, pasa su tiempo para disfrutar de los amigos y amantes. Hasta que se enamora. Ella es un personaje nuevo en esta novela revolucionaria. Es una pasión vertiginosa que va más allá de oscuridad pasado para llegar a un nuevo y más oscuro abismo, el incesto.

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.

After having suffered a serious car accident in which his 6 month pregnant wife is killed, X, a 35 year old man, is admitted in an intensive care unit. K, a 30 year old nurse, will help X during his rehabilitation. K is also 6 months pregnant. This curious detail makes their apparent impersonal relationship stronger.

An homage to Pina Bausch.

En la ciudad de Lisboa, Guilherme y Sofia crecieron juntos compartiendo experiencias, y poco a poco, fueron descubriendo su sexualidad. Guilherme, protegido en un mundo femenino, era incapaz de relacionarse con el amor incorrespondido de su hermana y con otros chicos y termina por escaparse. Después de la muerte de su abuela Clara, Él se refugia en casa de su padre, quién está inmerso en un mundo autista, el cual lo deja a él cada vez más aislado.

After the structural collapse at a construction site, Paulo loses his job because he denounces the situation to the authorities.

Ricardo es un travesti. Tras un intento de suicidio, vuelve a sus raíces y aprende como vivir con la ayuda de su hermana, y sobretodo, de la vitalidad de su sobrino Vasco, un niño con síndrome de Down.

Pedro, un joven ingeniero de caminos de 27 años que está destinado en una pequeña aldea del norte de Portugal, espera ansioso su traslado de vuelta a Lisboa. Justo cuando está a punto de regresar, recibe una carta de una multinacional en la que le ordenan que cierre la página web que ha creado, aduciendo una infracción en el nombre del dominio. Si no lo hace inmediatamente, la compañía amenaza con ponerle una demanda por 500.000 euros. Sólo hay un problema: la página está a nombre de la asociación del pueblo y sólo sus miembros pueden cerrar el sitio. Pero ahora los habitantes del pueblo se niegan, siguiendo un razonamiento aplastante: si les pueden poner una demanda por 500.000 euros significa que la web vale 500.000 euros. Si la multinacional quiere cerrarla, primero tendrá que comprarla. La situación rápidamente queda fuera de control; el peculiar litigio da la vuelta al mundo. (FILMAFFINITY)

Un padre de familia de clase media alta lisboeta recibe en herencia una mansión en la sierra de la Garduña, al norte de Portugal. Cansado de la ciudad y contra los deseos de su mujer y sus tres hijos, decide mudarse a esta pequeña aldea, donde pasó parte de su infancia. Pero la idílica villa oculta un mundo siniestro de miedo, ignorancia y superstición que afecta inmediatamente la vida de toda la familia. Sólo el apoyo del joven sacerdote local sirve de ayuda a los personajes, que poco a poco son sugestionados por este pesado ambiente... ¿o será algo en la casa? (FILMAFFINITY)

Historia sobre el Rey Sebastián I de Portugal (el que originó el mito del sebastianismo), un rey obsesionado con reemprender las gestas bélicas de los antiguos reyes de Portugal a pesar de que su reino está empobrecido. La historia se basa en una novela de José Regio.

The way in which we cross, one time only, the space of a public swimming pool reminds us of life, from birth until the end.

Vanitas is the new feature film by veteran Portuguese director Paulo Rocha. With a script by Regina Guimarães, the film brings together actresses Isabel Ruth and Joana Bárcia – no strangers to this director's world – in a story about a depressed fashion designer who falls in love with the daughter of one her tailors.

Mariana is a 17 year old girl, who, after being rapped by drug addict, finds out she's pregnant and, in her path, discovers how difficult it can be entering adulthood.

An act of passion, filmed in a church turned into a bar, on Easter 2003, and starring as many actors as the days of the year… Taking the sacred painting as a reference, the film questions the human condition: letting oneself die like Christ or betray scientifically like Peter?

An old, rusty freighter enters the harbor on the morning of December 24th. A board brings a clandestine passenger who tries, at night, to jump into the country.