Maria Paola Porru

Um cão ladra e esgravata uma porta fechada. Uns olhos e uma boca por trás de uma máscara de borracha negra. Sérgio construiu um mundo à sua medida. Perseguido por um desejo insaciável, só joga a ganhar. Indiferente a tudo, passa os dias entre o quarto alugado numa pensão barata, sexo anónimo com outros homens e o trabalho na recolha do lixo na zona norte de Lisboa.

The city during the beginning of cinema. The typical city at the time of the dictatorship. The New Lisbon of the New Cinema. Lisbon after the Revolution. The white city of foreigners. A geographical and moviegoer screenplay of Lisbon through the images of films and testimonies of several filmmakers who filmed in Lisbon.

Numa noite de insônia de 1978, Francisco e Rita se encontram para relembrar João, um amigo de infância assassinado recentemente. João pertencera a um grupo subversivo de esquerda durante a ditadura e era produtor de cinema, que estava filmando uma adaptação do drama de Alexandre Herculano, O Bobo.

Ambulatory history, freely inspired by Georg Büchner's biography (1813-37) and the reasons that led him first to political intervention and then to strict isolation. With students of unidentified present time (1968? 1970?), the themes developed, in Büchner, are triggered by the publication of "The Messenger of Hesse", a pamphlet addressed to the peasants, urging them to revolt. Their misunderstanding, as well as the repression of the young revolutionaries, leads Büchner to a particularly skeptical and painful attitude...

Álvaro Serpa, jornalista, estaciona o carro junto ao mar. Assiste por acaso a uma discussão entre Álvaro Allen e Ana Mónica, que se refugia dentro do carro de Serpa. A pedido de Ana, Serpa leva-a dali, mas passados alguns quilómetros Ana quer regressar. Encontram Allen morto com um tiro na cabeça. Suicídio? Ana foge e desaparece. Fascinado pelo ar misterioso dessa mulher, o jornalista não a menciona nas declarações à Polícia, e tenta encontrá-la.

"Essay on the Military and the Power", a phrase that also belongs to the title of "Gestures & Fragments", sums up the spirit of the film, based on three points of view on the same theme: Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho and Eduardo Lourenço, in their own roles, and the one played by Robert Kramer, as an American journalist bent on seeking explanations for the process of the Portuguese Revolution.

A bewitching combinatory adaptation of the Bluebeard tale and a 15th century Portuguese fable of a damsel who disguises herself as a knight errant.

Dina (Maria Santiago) is a teenager brought up by her grandmother, employed as a housekeeper for a fairly well-off family. Since Dina only has her grandmother, she spends her time fantasizing about her life and reading comic-book love stories -- activities that do nothing to improve her dim perspective of reality. Due to these handicaps and her own inexperience, she gets involved with Django (Luis Lucas), a shady character who decides to use her as bait to attract men and then rob them. One day when both are in a taxi with robbery in mind, the driver gets suspicious so Django shoots him, and so does Dina. She escapes and runs away -- though it seems like she has learned too little too late. This story unfolds against a time of upheaval in Portugal (mid-1970s) when the military government is formulating a constitution and social changes are happening everywhere.

Woman packs up her things to go to an elderly care facility, and talks.

The film of a performance of a selection of cabaret comedy sketches by Karl Valentin, with Jorge Silva Melo as stage director. The show was a complete success and has become almost legendary. Solveig Nordlund shot it, adding some more sketches that weren’t included on the show.

A woman arrives home, apparently coming from her job, and sets out about house chores and placing every object around her with extreme care. The only company she has is the radio, tuned to a station of popular music hits that the audience can ask for by telephone. There is a single hint that she may have breast cancer. Then, she sets the table for a large dinner - for one - including a champagne bottle. She commits suicide by pills overdose, before she utters a word.

A woman translates the front page of H.P. Lovecraft's book “The Silver Key”. Her husband, a journalist, listens. The book describes the conflicts between the real and the imaginary, and tells how Randolph Carter, the film's character, leaves everyday life in search of his childhood dreams.

A train trip with a mother and her son, to whom she speaks.

A short film.