Crooked Lines

In 1917, outside the parish of Fátima, Portugal, a 10-year-old girl and her two younger cousins witness multiple visitations of the Virgin Mary, who tells them that only prayer and suffering will bring an end to World War I. As secularist government officials and Church leaders try to force the children to recant their story, word of the sighting spreads across the country, inspiring religious pilgrims to flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle..

THE LOVEBIRDS intertwines six stories about love, friendship and survival. The film stars an international cast of American and Portuguese actors who create a colorful mix of off-beat characters that lead us through a complex labyrinth of emotions. Set in the old Romanesque city of Lisbon during the course of one night where love is the art of survival. Written by Anonymous

Maria Vitória lives in a remote village in the Portuguese mountains and plays football on the local boys youth team. Determined to become a professional, she devotes all her free time to intense training with her father. Their routine is shaken by the unexpected return of her older brother, who left many years earlier after a tragic fire that took their mother’s life. As she prepares for the most important match of her life, Maria begins to question her father’s authority and gradually seeks a way to break free and take control of her own future.

Vera is a singer in her thirties; she is back in Lisbon for the final performance of her concert tour. The heat and beauty of Lisbon makes one want to be happy. Pablo, the companion she selected from among the many who answered her questionnaire, helps her through the sleepless nights. He has no family, but wishes he had. Vera concerns herself with the mysteries surrounding Pablo's life. Vera is not afraid of the night; she is not afraid of anything.

A powerful entrepreneur wants to build an exclusive resort hotel in Villanova, but he discovers the location he has in mind is protected by local land-use regulations. He hires Maria, a beautiful and elegant prostitute, to seduce the mayor, leaving him open to blackmail if he won't give the entrepreneur what he wants. Maria has no trouble twisting Meireles around her finger, but police detectives Madeira and Neves get wind of the plan and set out to expose the plot...

Antonio runs away from home and tries to spend the night at his ex-girlfriend's apartment. There he finds a brazilian girl, an unexpected guest. Johnny is struggling to stage his first theater play in Lisbon. His friendship with the young light technician will make him face his real problems. Débora is passing by, finally returning home. When she goes to the theater, she falls asleep, and is awaken by the protagonist. Three dimensions of the same story.

Passionate romance, brutal treachery, and selfless nobility are set against the background of Napoleon’s 1810 invasion of Portugal.

When her mother dies, 40-year-old Helena now has time for herself after years of taking care of her family. She works at a film production company, dances boisterously, gets drunk. A quiet film about letting go morphs into a coming of middle age story.

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. As in the book, these stories are tragic and comical, with rich and poor, powerless and powerful people, filled with surprising and extraordinary events.

Gilda is terminally ill. Her only wish is to die without pain, and as all her suicide attempts comically fail, she decides to seek professional help.

Burma, 1917. Edward, a civil servant for the British Empire, jilts his lovestruck fiancée Molly the day she arrives to be married. As he flees into an unexpected odyssey across Asia, the free-spirited Molly-amused by his moves-follows in pursuit, embarking on a globe-trotting cat-and-mouse chase.

You already know the legendary singer. For the first time, you'll get to know the woman behind the myth. The story of singing legend Amália Rodrigues who ruled the famous Portuguese acoustic guitar and vocals based music genre called fado.

A cabaret owner tries to keep his club from being taken over by the powers that be.

In this single shot thriller, we're in the driver's seat with small-time dealer Budge as he tries to pull one last deal with cash borrowed from a dangerous loan shark. When the handover goes catastrophically wrong, Budge finds himself in a race against time to find his missing product and get a new buyer before the loan shark tracks him down.

Scheherazade narrates three more tales, supposedly selected from the 470th, 484th and 497th nights of her ordeal: “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!

In a distant past, Léon and Elvira Berthelini, itinerant artists, make their living hopping from town to town. In Covarronca, harassed by the Police Commissioner, they are forced to spend the night out in the open. That’s when they meet Stubbs, a young Cambridge student, with whom they find shelter in the home of a painter at odds with his wife. In return for the hospitality, they remind their hosts that the love of art resolves the art of love. Meanwhile, an unusual curse sends them on absurd journeys into the 21st century, where the future of social security and of a rock band are at stake.

An American writer visits the old Portuguese town of Guimarães for a lecture on the work of Edgar Allan Poe. What would seem like a nice little trip goes terrible wrong when his own paranoia takes over the events that follow... or maybe not.

Before Dawn charts the years of exile in the life of famous Jewish Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, his inner struggle for the "right attitude" towards the events in war torn Europe and his search for a new home.

Between February and July 1858, in the Massabielle cave, the Virgin appeared eighteen times to Bernadette Soubirous, a miserable little girl from Lourdes. A true revolution in the heart of the Second Empire that shakes the established order by his universal message of love and prayer.

In the mid-20th century, a troubled relationship between Germana, a young writer, and Quina, her aunt who lives in the northern Portuguese countryside. Feelings of jealousy, admiration and the complex magnetism between these two strong women arise.

One night, a group of workers realises that the administration is stealing machines and raw materials from their own factory. As they organize to survey the equipment and block the relocation of production, they are forced to stand at their posts with no work to do, as a form of retaliation, while negotiations over general lay-offs take place. The pressure leads to a breakdown of the workers along with the world around them.

In 1971, António Lobo Antunes' life is brutally interrupted when he is drafted into the Portuguese Army to serve as a doctor in one of the worst zones of the Colonial War – the East of Angola. Away from everything dear he writes letters to his wife while he is immersed in an increasingly violent setting. While he moves between several military posts he falls in love for Africa and matures politically. At his side, an entire generation struggles and despairs for the return home. In the uncertainty of war events, only the letters can make him survive.

Amo-te Teresa tells the forbidden love story of Teresa and Miguel, aged 35 and 15, respectively. Teresa is a doctor and, after a frustrated love life, she decides to abandon Lisbon and returns to her native land. Immediately, a strong attraction forms between Teresa and Miguel, a friend of her oldest son.

In love with Trás-os-Montes and with his Guide of Portugal as a source of inspiration, Miguel looks for stories for his new documentary. One day, the appearance of a man riding a donkey changes his future.

In an old house, around a table, under a lamp, four men play a game of cards. This house is a haven where all failures are accepted, where all are allowed. Failure is the rule, not the exception. Money has disappeared, as has any possibility of personal success.

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.

Xavier returns to Lisbon after a military stint, determined to lead a meaningful life, only to find his world closing in on him.

This is the story of a young Mozambican footballer called Eusébio, a gifted athlete destined to great achievements, coveted by rival clubs, Sporting and Benfica, which ends up hiring him. Blackmail, kidnapping attempts, ministers involved, press hysteria and huge money offers make the story of this football transfer into a saga evolving between the two continents. It ends up when the legend begins: with Eusébio’s first match at the Benfica Stadium.

Evan McCauley has skills he never learned and memories of places he has never visited. Self-medicated and on the brink of a mental breakdown, a secret group that call themselves “Infinites” come to his rescue, revealing that his memories are real.

Toby, a cynical film director finds himself trapped in the outrageous delusions of an old Spanish shoe-maker who believes himself to be Don Quixote. In the course of their comic and increasingly surreal adventures, Toby is forced to confront the tragic repercussions of a film he made in his idealistic youth.

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

A story about two people (Clara and Tó), from different economic backgrounds, who love each other, but whose love is not accepted by everyone, especially by the father of Clara, who will do everything he can to stop their love. Things go even worse when Clara becomes pregnant.

Rodrigo has to return home. He is received by Filipe, the brother who didn’t leave. There are things in that apartment that Rodrigo would prefer to avoid. Like finally having to face his father. During that night, his girlfriend Lena watches everything. In one of the rooms the grandmother is dying.

In 'Os Fotocines', an intimate portrait of the war is built with those who lived it. This documentary feature film aims to investigate who were those, that in the Portuguese colonial war, lived with the simultaneous responsibility of fighting, defending their own lives and also, of permanently recording that same collective mission, through cameras and shooting, as well as screening.

In a small Portuguese village, a tragedy occurred. An old lady is found dead in her garden, surrounded by snakes, while her 40 year-old daughter, Lurdes, fled without telling anyone. The gossips in town about the mysterious destiny of this house are spreading fast...

The hypochondriac Sebastião and his not so normal family must save the country from the prime minister's plan of selling the country to China, Germany, France and Angola, and show that Portugal is not for sale.

An inexplicable crack in the Pyrenees Mountains provokes excitement and scientific curiosity. As the geological fracture deepens and widens, the European community begins to disassociate itself from the calamity, and panic ensues among tourists and residents attempting to escape. When Spain and Portugal physically separate from the continent, the detached Iberian peninsula aimlessly floats off to sea, becoming home to a group of god-like humans.

A walk for half a century, yes, a letter perhaps. Travels in my life, I could call it, which I like Garrett so much. A traveling as he would like, a loose story, memories, projects, meetings. Also because, since 1995, I have done several portraits of artists (Palolo, Bravo, Lapa, Skapinakis, Bartolomeu, Angelo, Sena, Ana Vieira and I prepare Sofia Areal and Fernando Lemos), I started to think that this is my life, these meetings , see, hear, cut, show, tease. I want, with this film continue to show what I see. [Jorge Silva Melo]