Alexandre Pinto

Villaverde’s answer to the “Venice 70: Future Reloaded” challenge.

Dora divides her time between her work as a beautician, her policeman husband António, and her involvement in left-wing politics. A tale of love and how we must learn to cherish it against all odds in the pursuit of happiness.

The darkness of night, a barely lit place, motorbikes flirting with danger: a group of teenagers at a crossroads playing chicken with unaware passing cars. Jota (Eduardo Frazão) stands out from this group, unclassifiable; his destiny has no straight lines save those on the asphalt. Jota lives in permanent conflict with everything and everybody in his small town. No room for stillness. And then comes Margarida (Ana Moreira). Jota has no inside, Margarida has no outside. In spite of, or because of, that, they meet. What can they do? They can just ride, they can get away with it even if its all messed up. Love is to be lived.

Messias, the husband, a dentist, almost magician. Felizbela, the beautiful wife, almost happy. Joana, the daughter, almost a singer, and Nuts, her boyfriend, almost a filmmaker. Finally the grand father Tobias, a shepherd, almost immortal.

Rui, A teenage boy works in his father shop and has an old brother that is a policeman. His father is about to close the shop, because of money issues, and Rui needs to get money for him and also to help his father. By the hand of a friend he enters in the criminal world to make money.

Ana lives in a little village by the sea, with her husband and daughter. He decides to leave for a few days. That seems to be the ideal solution, because Ana needs to finish a work she has been doing for a long time. But her concentration seems threatened when she starts doing her daily walks by the village and the beach: she saves a stranger from death in the sea, meets young Alexandre and Emilia, and her friend Vera turns up in her house. And then, everything changes…

'Mal' reúne varias historias: la de Pedro y Cathy, separados por todo pero unidos por un inmenso amor; la de la constante angustia del joven delincuente Daniel y su búsqueda de un lugar bajo las estrellas; la historia de un abuelo que llega a Lisboa a buscar a su nieta; y la de los Cruz, que viven juntos por necesidad. Según Alberto Seixas Santos, "'es un mosaico narrativo en el que temas cotidianos de vidas separadas se encuentran".

What stops two people from being together? A third one. What stops one person from fighting for another? Nothing. Pedro lives in the suburbs, where he works with his father in a garage. Everyday he takes the bus downtown where he goes to school and meets his friends. It's summertime and they all go down to the river where they spend their free time or even their school time. Among joints, motorbike riding and swimming, everything seems to go well with this group of friends, until the moment when Pedro and his best friend find out that both of them like the same girl. Pedro finds himself inside a downward spiral, where everything around him seems to fall apart. Like a magnet attracts the iron, Pedro seems to attract problems, from the school until his relationship with his parents. This is the story of Pedro, who by having his head being pushed down so much learned how to breathe under water.

Three homeless teenage rejects struggle to survive together. Of them, Andreia is pregnant, while Pedro and Ricardo hustle, steal and are exploited by a pornographer.