Miguel Martins

UM CORPO DE DANÇA is a proposal for the history of the body, showed through the path of the biggest Portuguese dance company of the 20th century. The documentary follows the rise of dance in Portugal along with the country’s political, economic and sociocultural ongoings as background. It is the story of a transforming body that frees itself from a fascist dictatorship, and of a changing society that opens itself to the world. From unreleased archive images and interviews with several creators and dancers, we follow the path of an extraordinary dance company through the movements and words of its protagonists, from creation in the early 1960s to its extinction in 2005.

Beatriz married Henrique on the day of her 21st birthday. Henrique, a naval officer, would spend long periods at sea. Ashore, Beatriz, who learned everything from the verticality of plants, took great care of the roots of their six children. The oldest son, Jacinto (Hyacinth), my father, dreamed he could be a bird. One day, suddenly, Beatriz died. My mom didn’t die suddenly, but she too died when I was 17 years-old. On that day, me and my father met in the loss of our mothers and our relationship was no longer just that of father and daughter.

Emilio is a lifelong farmer in his eighties who lives alone on his abandoned farm. Everyone close is gone. One animal is all there is left. Today is the day he decides to sell it.

Emilio is a lifelong farmer in his eighties who lives alone on his abandoned farm. Everyone close is gone. One animal is all there is left. Today is the day he decides to sell it.

A bear is sighted somewhere in the northwest of Trás-os-Montes. The animal causes a natural uproar, but his existence seems to be called into question by some.

'In the course of my cleaning duties, I examined the belongings of each guest of the hotel and observed through the details, lives that will remain unknown', says the temporary Chambermaid in a large seaside hotel, which, unable to communicate, lives through a rigid methodology of analysis of the exterior and a ritualised quotidian. Until the uncontrollable comes to disrupts this dynamic. Hotel Royal is fragmented and incomplete mosaic of contemporary societies. It could be dubbed a film about the horrors of the soul, about voyeurs or simply about misfits.

Crista, Carloto and João are building an airy greenhouse for butterflies in the garden. The three of them share household routines, day after day… And they are not the only ones.

Crista, Carloto and João are building an airy greenhouse for butterflies in the garden. The three of them share household routines, day after day… And they are not the only ones.

Crista, Carloto and João are building an airy greenhouse for butterflies in the garden. The three of them share household routines, day after day… And they are not the only ones.

Crista, Carloto and João are building an airy greenhouse for butterflies in the garden. The three of them share household routines, day after day… And they are not the only ones.

Anxo returns to his home village in the Galician countryside. There, he is greeted with concern by the victorious and the defeated, who see in him the danger of diving back into their silenced memories.

The start of Luís Rovisco’s old age isn’t exactly cheerful. Already in his sixties, he’s still roaming the country by himself, carrying out his tasks — increasingly less real — as sales director for the company SegurVale. Sadness, resignation? Not with the songs Luís makes up behind the wheel, and that take over this film from start to finish.

The start of Luís Rovisco’s old age isn’t exactly cheerful. Already in his sixties, he’s still roaming the country by himself, carrying out his tasks — increasingly less real — as sales director for the company SegurVale. Sadness, resignation? Not with the songs Luís makes up behind the wheel, and that take over this film from start to finish.

One of the most far-reaching events in a human life is the birth of your baby. But life with a newborn can be so ordinary and at the same time all-embracing: the wash is drying in the corridor, the bathroom has to be cleaned. In the calm rhythm of the day, 'Ordinary Time' skims past authentic moments like this.

Underscored by French film legend Delphine Seyrig’s evocative recitation of a Henri Michaux poem, Maureen Fazendeiro’s film is a mysterious, multi-textured portrait of eclipse spectators in Portugal.

A chronology of the Avenue Almirante Reis in Lisbon. Its past and present. A portrait of those that inhabit it.

The story of the adventures, in the twilight of the eighteenth century, of a singular couple formed by a little orphan with mysterious origins and his young Italian nurse of a similarly uncertain birth. They lead us in their wake, from Rome to Paris, from Lisbon to London, from Parma to Venice. Always followed in the shadows, for obscure reasons, by a suspicious-looking Calabrian and a troubling cardinal, they make us explore the dark intrigues of the Vatican, the pangs of a fatal passion, a gruesome duel, banter at the court of Versailles and the convulsions of the French Revolution.

The end of the Cold War did not bring about a definitive thaw in the former republics of the Soviet Union, so that today there are several frozen conflicts, unresolved for decades, in that vast territory. As in Transnistria, an unrecognized state, seceded from Moldova since 1990. Kolja is a silent witness of how borders and bureaucracy shape the lives of citizens, finally forced to lose their identity.

The end of the Cold War did not bring about a definitive thaw in the former republics of the Soviet Union, so that today there are several frozen conflicts, unresolved for decades, in that vast territory. As in Transnistria, an unrecognized state, seceded from Moldova since 1990. Kolja is a silent witness of how borders and bureaucracy shape the lives of citizens, finally forced to lose their identity.

The end of the Cold War did not bring about a definitive thaw in the former republics of the Soviet Union, so that today there are several frozen conflicts, unresolved for decades, in that vast territory. As in Transnistria, an unrecognized state, seceded from Moldova since 1990. Kolja is a silent witness of how borders and bureaucracy shape the lives of citizens, finally forced to lose their identity.

A woman returns. Now that the night has fallen, a storm approaches.

Ramiro is a bookstore owner in Lisbon and a poet in perpetual creative block. He lives, somewhat frustrated, somewhat conformed, between his shop and the tavern, accompanied by his dog, his faithful drinking companions and his neighbors: a pregnant teenager and her grandmother recovering from a stroke. He would gladly continue living this quiet and somewhat anachronistic routine if events worthy of a soap opera did not invade his bubble.

'The Temptation of Saint Anthony' is a triptych by the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, exhibited in the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon. In a visionary manner, it reproduces the temptations of the holy man in the desert by playing with the religious allegory, the mystical symbols of his age and the popular taste for illustration. More than a real image, it is a mental image. This mental image, which transforms very quickly into imagination, is therefore the subject of 'Anthony, the Invisible One', in which a guide presents the famous painting to three different audiences: sighted people, blind people, and a deaf and blind man.

A man, Francisco, works in an open-pit mine. He goes to see his boss about taking the following day off. At first the boss doesn’t want to allow it as there is so much to do, but he finally concedes. The next day his daughter calls on him, a visit he no longer counted on. They spend the day with one another. The longer they are together, and the later the night gets, the more absurd the situations and moments they experience become.

Manuel Teixeira Gomes the Portuguese President who left everything behind with only one premise: become who he really wanted to be

Ubi Sunt. Porto. Cartography of an imaginary place attracted by the margins (social and geographical) Hybrid and eclectic project, it is the outcome of a audiovisual research residency of humam and urban exploration of an expanding city. Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt?, meaning "Where are those who were before us?". Reflective essay on mortality and life's transience, it emerges from that dialectic, of a and episodic and fragmented structure with a choreographed cinematography; where the memory intersects the contemporary.

In the year when cinema was paralyzed in Portugal due to lack of funding, a group of friends embarks on a mysterious expedition to see wolves in their natural habitat, but ends up being trapped in a house without much to do. The night goes by and the expedition’s main goal seems increasingly compromised until the biologist who promised them adventures shows up.

Rita is fifteen and spends the summer between warm afternoons of teenage love and party nights with her friend Sara. From Portugal to the South Pacific, the pleasures of this routine will take a turn when the young girl visits the art show of a new neighbor in the local community.

In which Scheherazade doubts that she will still be able to tell stories to please the King, given that what she has to tell weighs three thousand tonnes. She therefore escapes from the palace and travels the Kingdom in search of pleasure and enchantment. Her father, the Grand-Vizier, arranges to meet her at the Ferris wheel, and Scheherazade resumes her narration: “Auspicious King, in old shanty towns of Lisbon there was a community of bewitched men who, in all rigour and passion, dedicated themselves to teaching birds to sing…”. And seeing the morning break, Scheherazade fell silent.

In which Scheherazade tells of how desolation invaded men : “It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that a Judge will cry instead of giving out her sentence. A runaway murderer will wander through the land for over forty days and will teletransport himself to escape the Guard while dreaming of prostitutes and partridges. A wounded cow will reminisce about a thousand-year-old olive tree while saying what she must say, which will sound none less than sad ! The residents of a tower block in the suburbs will save parrots and piss inside lifts while surrounded by dead people and ghosts; including in fact a dog that…”. And seeing the morning break, Scheherazade fell silent.

Every night, in danger of being beheaded, Scheherazade tells King Shahryar unfinished tales to continue them the following night, hence defying his promise of murdering his new wives after their wedding night. Scheherazade tells king Shahryar her stories but these are not those in the book. These are stories based on whatever will be happening in Portugal during the production time of the film. As in the book, these stories will be tragic and comical, with rich and poor, powerless and powerful people, filled with surprising and extraordinary events. This film will be about the reality of a disgraced country, Portugal, under the effects of a global economic crisis.

This film tries to make a silent record of the arrival of an economy of scale, its flows, and its effects upon the transformation of an island’s physical and human landscape.

Two lovers hit the road for a holiday. They find a car that has been hit, and a dead woman by the accident. Two production assistants try to leave the set, but all the roads seem to hit the same spot, where they find a dead woman that walks.

A ten year-old boy faces up to the struggles of life in a summer camp. It’s not easy to be ignored by the girl of his heart or seeing his dormitory vandalised by adolescent thugs. Fortunately, in the forest, the wild haggis insists on remaining out of sight.

A ten year-old boy faces up to the struggles of life in a summer camp. It’s not easy to be ignored by the girl of his heart or seeing his dormitory vandalised by adolescent thugs. Fortunately, in the forest, the wild haggis insists on remaining out of sight.

Tiago is a final-year secondary school student who has failed to graduate twice. Despite praying to the divine, he will fail once again. Between lying to his benevolent mother and giving in to the temptation of a school trip with his girlfriend, Tiago is faced with making decisions. Tiago may not be a lost case.

Tiago is a final-year secondary school student who has failed to graduate twice. Despite praying to the divine, he will fail once again. Between lying to his benevolent mother and giving in to the temptation of a school trip with his girlfriend, Tiago is faced with making decisions. Tiago may not be a lost case.

A princess and a hunter. An iconographic journey immersed in Lusitanian fantasy.

A film about General Humberto Delgado's brutal assassination by the Portuguese fascist police in 1965.

Paulo Lima is an engineer responsible for a multinational factory. Due to the recession, the factory receives a visit from the factory's owner's daughter, Luísa, who is sent to increase the factory's profit. Some cuts are due to make.

Lisbon, Portugal, 2010. Pilar, a pious woman devoted to social causes, maintains a peculiar relationship with her neighbor Aurora, a temperamental old woman obsessed with gambling who lives tormented by a mysterious past.

Lisbon, Portugal, 2010. Pilar, a pious woman devoted to social causes, maintains a peculiar relationship with her neighbor Aurora, a temperamental old woman obsessed with gambling who lives tormented by a mysterious past.

Salvador knew Contança and Santiago. He did not know, but admired, Laurence. Among them, Laurence knew Santiago. Constance did not know Laurence. Only Santiago knew Laurence, Constança and Salvador.

The tragic story of the many lives of Father Dinis, his dark origins and his pious works, and the different fates of all those who, trapped in a sinister web of love, hate and crime, cross paths with him through years of adventure and misfortune in the convulsed Europe of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The tragic story of the many lives of Father Dinis, his dark origins and his pious works, and the different fates of all those who, trapped in a sinister web of love, hate and crime, cross paths with him through years of adventure and misfortune in the convulsed Europe of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

A portrait of a first relationship, previous to the external world, the one of the family. In a winter in Lisbon, father, mother, son and daughter trace the path of a day by themselves. A film that develops through characters who have for their antagonist life itself, with nothing (and everything) heroic about it.

A father and a son. The father will be seventy years old, the son is in his twenties. The son drives the father to the hospital. Classical music in the radio. The father did not know that the son liked classical music, and the son did not know that that would be the last time he would speak to his father. But Mozart asks that souls rejoice, that men rejoice.

ポルトガルの首都リスボンから南の保養地へ向かう列車の中で、青年のマカリオは、隣に座る見知らぬ婦人を相手に、自らの衝撃的な恋愛体験を物語り始める。叔父の経営する用品店で会計士として働いていた彼は、通りの向かいの家の窓辺にたたずむ美しい少女ルイザの姿を目にして、彼女に一目惚れ。彼女との結婚の承諾を叔父に求めたものの、断られた彼は、その後、数々の苦労を味わった末、ついに晴れて結婚の許しを得るのだが…。

In the heart of Portugal, amid the mountains, the month of August is abuzz with people and activity...

A writer awakens one day to find a strange but beautiful woman in bed with him. He quickly falls in love with her, thinking he has found his muse, but as time passes she becomes more and more unattainable.

Ana Catarina returns from Brazil with her father and her nanny to marry a man she doesn't know and doesn't like. A terrible coincidence happens when, on the same day, the young woman becomes a widow and an orphan, a fact that leaves her heir to an incalculable fortune and coveted by all the aristocrats in the region.

An interpretation of the life of Francis of Assisi.

An interpretation of the life of Francis of Assisi.

He and she don't know each other. They randomly meet at a gas station, while drifting. "Where are we going? Far away. Where is that? Near."

After finishing his MA in Anthropology, Hugo spends his days giving his brain a rest from the endless reading of texts by unknown authors. His only company is Luisa, the cleaning lady, with whom he plays cat and mouse. To escape the sleep of reason – which creates monsters -, Hugo exercises his lyrical vein by writing, with his friend Manuel, songs about their neighbourhood. The quiet dilettantism of our protagonist is shaken by Catarina, a young and beautiful translator who’s starting her professional life as a freelancer. Hugo is hooked and wavers. High above, a kestrel falcon hovers. It’s not the only bird of prey that can do it.

The journey begins in the Roman ruins of Milreu in Portugal, where a mother reads to her son Seneca's advice on the importance of reading. It then takes them through villages and shores where light reigns.

Cecília is sixteen years old. She has a prosthesis in her left hand and a new love, but she does not have her mother's attention.

Cecília is sixteen years old. She has a prosthesis in her left hand and a new love, but she does not have her mother's attention.

The complex relationship between master and servant is explored in director João Botelho's adaptation of Denis Diderot's popular novel Jacques le Fataliste et Son Maître. As Tiago (Rogério Samora) drives his master (André Gomes) through the Portuguese countryside to an unspecified destination, the traveling pair embark on a series of highly philosophical discussions. Flowing with tales of his life in the military and previous sexual escapades, Tiago trades a series of tales with his rapt passenger, including the story of a vengeful spurned lover who plots revenge on the nobleman who rejected her by transforming a prostitute into a society lady and convincing him to marry the tainted bride.

Francisco, behave! I Know it's your birthday, you are thirty now, it's carnival, you've dressed as a cowboy for the school party and you are surrounded by kids you hate. But that's no reason to be so annoying... Francisco, repeat after me: "Up to your 30s you have the face God has given you. After that, you get the face you deserve".

Lisboners (people of Lisbon) celebrates the ancient notion of citizenship, the right to the city in the making, in each migrant’s daily life, living and working. It is set in Lisbon but it happens in London, New York, Paris, Rome… anywhere. The Lisboners are people from Brazil, Guiné-Bissau, Nigeria, China, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, Ukraine, Moldavia, Russia, and Estonia.

An intriguing story about a family and a manor house (where some terrible crimes were committed in the past by a member of that family) adapted from a novel with the same title by Tabajara Ruas.

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.

Based on a the short story "Low Flying Aircraft" by J.G. Ballard and set in a near future where humans are dying breed. Judite and André flee to a semi-abandoned apartment complex to protect their mutant child from certain death.

A family gathers to celebrate Christmas.

Three people in a car, who will stay there the longest, wins the car.