Língua - Vidas em Português

Maria Bethânia takes her poetic narrative to Mozambique for the first time. The interpreter presents excerpts of works connected by different forms of expression in the Portuguese language. With testimonies from Mia Couto, José Agualusa and several Mozambican and Angolan writers and literary critics, the documentary shows the development of literature in these countries, delving on its importance during the anti-colonial resistance, the connection with native languages, the oral traditions and the influence of Brazilian writers.

A digressive quest, through conversations with various people, about the need humanity has always had to tell stories about itself, about the power and enchantment of fiction.

Callado said he had to leave Brazil to get to know Brazil. His six-year trip to England and France during World War II sparked a "hunger for Brazil." As a journalist, he traveled to the "geographic center" of his Brazilian identity. As a writer, he reached the depths of his passion for a more just, less prejudiced, freer, and more democratic country.

Lost in the Atlantic, the Azores have kept an identity of their own: sea and volcanic mountains, lush vegetation and fields of black lava, a light that changes from one moment to the next. Teresa Salgueiro, the singer of Madredeus, and Pedro Ayres Magalhães, the composer, travel from island to island and find the mixed origins of their music, traces of an imaginary Portugal: traditions that have vanished on the mainland live on here. A landscape, the words of an old man, a village feast call up their songs. Teresa’s voice, with a single guitar, rises on the shore of a still lake. “Madredeus is an isolated case,” says Pedro, “a little like the Azores, lost in the ocean.”

Documentary about Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha, one of the most important names in the Cinema Novo, with interviews with some of his friends and colleagues.

A documentary overview on the life and work of the writer Mia Couto.

Amaranta Cano, daughter of Carlos Cano, reconstructs, in a journey connecting Andalusia with Portugal, the events that took place on the eve of Three Kings Day in 1985: a murder, a mysterious woman, and a setting marked by the border culture between Ayamonte and Vila-Real de Santo António, with smuggling as a backdrop. The documentary not only delves into the historical and social context of the song, but also pays tribute to Portuguese fado, a musical genre that deeply fascinated Carlos Cano, as well as its most emblematic author, Amália Rodrigues. Throughout the narrative, Amaranta talks to key witnesses of the event and prominent artists such as Teresa Salgueiro, Antonio Chainho, Rozalén, Raúl Rodríguez, and Martirio, who perform their own versions of the legendary song.

A mild-mannered college professor discovers a look-alike actor and delves into the other man's private affairs.

When a rich man's son is kidnapped, he cooperates with the police at first but then tries a unique tactic against the criminals.

Reflections on childhood, individualism and existentialism in the form of visual poetry.

When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.

The dawn is strange, with a harbinger of change. The next morning, Maria receives a mysterious visitor that leaves José disturbed and will lead her to re-signify her own destiny.

“Embargo” is a short story by José Saramago that follows a person who becomes mysteriously trapped inside his own car during a national fuel crisis.

The marriage of mutual friends reunites former college roommates Bob and Brendan, who tried to ignore the sexual tension that always flowed between them. Brendan finally comes out to Bob at the reception, but is it a case of too little, too late?

In the 40s, a sergeant is ordered to escort a political prisoner from Paulo Afonso to Aracaju, Brazil. During the trip, there's a change in the Government and he is ordered to release the prisoner. But he decides to go all the way.

Wim Wenders' homage to Lisbon and films. A sound engineer obtains a mysterious postcard from a friend who at the moment is filming a film in Lisbon. He sets out across Europe to find him and help him.

A NYC artist is witness to his best friend's murder - or was he? Due to a drug problem, he can't recall what happened. Now he is the prime suspect and desperately tries to remember before it's too late.

Azarias is a young orphan shepherd, keeper of a herd of oxen, where the ox Mabata Bata stands out. The oxen will be the basis of the "lobolo" payment, a traditional dowry that his uncle Raul must pay for his own marriage. Azarias’ dream is to be a normal child, to go to school, goals that are supported by his grandmother. One day, when Azariah is in the pasture, Mabata Bata steps into a mine - the result of the civil war in the country - and explodes. The young man fears his uncle's reprisals and flees to the forest, taking with him the remaining oxen. The grandmother and uncle leave in their quest to rescue him and persuade him to return.

Drawing inspiration from a poem penned by Castro Alves, this film vividly captures the political, cultural, and intellectual climate of Brazil during the late 1970s. At its core, the story revolves around four distinctive embodiments of Christ's image: a black man, a soldier, an Indian, and a guerrilla fighter. These courageous individuals, hailed as the harbingers of doom in the tupiniquim lands, valiantly combat the insatiable avarice and oppressive "civilizing" brutality propagated by the formidable John Brahms—a foreign exploiter devoid of morals.

In Mozambique, Izidine, a young police inspector, is called to investigate the murder of Vasto Excelêncio, the director of a nursing home built within the walls of an old colonial slave fortress. He is shocked when all the elderly residents, as well as the head nurse, Marta, confess to the murder. Each one has motive, given Excelêncio’s abusive behavior. With only a week to solve the case, the detective slowly unravels truths about the murder, Mozambique's colonial past, and himself.

Two lovers meet again in strange circumstances, when she is a recent widow not particularly grieving, and he is a divorcée mourning his daughter. They reunite, only to break again - this time for good.

Using the Internet and global satellites, a group of gangsters pull off the biggest bank heist in the Mafia's history.

Meg, Raychel and Kate are three waitresses at a restaurant frequented by mob bosses. Their lives become complicated when one of the women witnesses a crime, and the three friends suddenly find themselves entangled in their customers’ dangerous world.

God decides to take a vacation, but first He has to find a saint who can rule the universe while He's away. So He goes to the Northeast of Brazil, where He believes there's a very good man for the job. As soon as He comes down to Earth, a young man comes along to help on His quest.

A story of love, lust and black magic, in a little vilage of Mozambique

Five disengaged, misplaced people whose paths collide in a New Jersey roadside motel.

Fernanda, António and Quim are travelling by train to a provincial Portuguese industrial city. Fernanda, a teacher, agrees to replace a pregnant colleague. António is returning to the home he was forced to flee long ago, accused of setting fire to the Duarte’s factory. At the station he bumps into Mariana who is in love of him. António is not welcome and is violently attacked by a group connected to Duarte ...

A bizarre and tragic ballad of an impossible love between a nameless topographer and Leonor in a swamp soon to be destroyed by the forces of Man. She (Teresa Salgueiro, ethereal voice of Madredeus) is the “swamp-flower”, protégée of a Socratic Director (and his goat Plato). In a world without women, she is kept safe from the temptations of the flesh by her strict and grotesque Aunt. The sound-track entirely played by the workers (fado and bossa nova singers) reveals parallel narratives of suspicion and conspiracy that unfold to the pace of the unconscious leading to a confrontation between Man and River. Inspired by a hypnotic story by Branquinho da Fonseca (1905-1974).