It is an initiative of the film club of the Confederation of the theatrical core of Miragaia, form the 17th to 23 rd of January, at 21.30h.

It is a different cinematographic approach for five days, the auditorium of the musical group Miragaia, shows a film series dedicated to the 24th of December of the seventies, during the colonial war. According to the filmmakers invited to this event, Margarida Cardoso, "is difficult for me to think of them as a cycle, since this was the original proposal put to us, Cineclube. It is an opportunity we give to ourselves, the later generation, trying to understand this complex web of Colonial Decembers. My grandmother told me repeatedly the story of the 24 days from the 70's he received a reel, in which my father was in it. This thing seems so far distance from us, the now generation, an impossible thing to achieve. We want, we have, (let's admit it is not so linear, but when I speak of these things, are trying to guess the possible pain of my grandmother Beatrice). The only news that she had from my father was from a brown ribbon that she also could not hear over and over, because she didn't own a reader, was dependent on a body and soul player of a longing multiplier (s ). "This is the slogan for one of the documentaries "Christmas 1971" which shows the reports of the experiences of the Portuguese military in Africa, by recording these memories erased by the Salazar regime. It shows the impoverished and dumb countryman who did not question the national goal urging their young to leave for the colonial war. Another highlight of the film is Antonio Pedro de Vasconselos with, "Goodbye until my return," which describes some of the most significant scenes of the war in Guinea and the tragic fate of those who returned with the "mystic paranoid."

Fourteen short films on display show the versatility and national talent, between the 13th and January 14th at the Civic Center of Camara de Lobos. In this event we can watch different topics of cinematography and also shows the new national values ​​that do much with very little.

The flagrant short is a platform for young filmmakers and disclosure a health professionals, leading to nationwide works that often do not leave the shelves. Are a reconnaissance trip and the discovery of new national talent. During the three editions, which took place in 2009, 2010 and 2011, it were viewed more than 60 short films in 25 cities, with 50 sessions in 36 different places, always relying quite adherence by the public.This festival is a part of the initiative of young people connected to the cinema and audiovisual sector and also has socio-cultural aspects, as privileged partnerships with other cultural facilitators from across the country, allowing a closer approximation of the diverse areas and the interested of the public in general creating a new network of communication in the audiovisual medium.
In Madeira, this experimental partnership is promoted by the young choir of the Estreito and seeks two objectives: to promote critical awareness to decode the mediated discourse, and encourage the discovery of filmmaking by the young people of the parish of Camara de Lobos and exploring the educational potential of the films.One approach aims to sensitize young people to the art of cinema and the perception of frame construction of media discourses, and in this way, spread its fundamental values ​​for human growth, such as teamwork, perseverance, imagination, critical sense and creativity. The project also includes photography workshops. Right now there are ongoing activities "small high performers" in partnership with the primary and secondary school of Estreito and through which it is intended to bring young people to have a first contact with films, providing the ability to learn to make your own short feature.

http://cineanima.wordpress.com/

The Uxu Kalhus are a band that revisits the Portuguese repertoire. Come and meet them.

The "xucalhadas", (they created a new lexicon: meaning rattler) we hear on this album bring a new approach to the more traditional music from the Portuguese songbook. It's a world of mixing sounds, which raises our Iberian origins dotted with original compositions and some more moderns. Altogether there are nine new themes, the CD has eleven songs that this band that defines itself as a traditional folk with rock pot. Fancy is the gateway of this work, a traditional music of Alentejo, often associated with a more male vocal universe transformed by the voice of Joan Margaça. "The skirt of Carolina" is another pearl of this discographic work with unusual arrangements, and even daring, the same approach can be heard in the song "Lemon Balm", which was also revisited by the group. I found it curious the introduction of the electric guitar in many of the songs as opposition to the flute and other more traditional instruments. The fusion of that merges of these different sounds are excellent to some extent, but not all songs benefit in terms of sound with so many changes. However, overall it's an album for people who want to hear their musical backgrounds with a more modern and explosive twist. Listen without prejudice and let yourself go into this "xucalhado" universe that sounds familiar and new at the same time.

 Rita Azevedo Gomes has a long career in cinema, although made and produced a few films. The revenge of a woman, her most recent work was a perfect excuse to talk about ideas and films in our country.

The idea of adapting "the revenge of a woman" emerged from where? Where you discovered the story?
Rita Azevedo Gomes: This is one of Barbey D'Aurevilly texts from his book the "Les Diaboliques". It is a story I read many years and thought it would be an extraordinary film. It was very hard for me to adapt it, because the text is amazing, so I did not want escape from it and wanted to preserve the author's writing. The film adaptation was only a way to make the representation of an era, though is not a period film. There are certain facts that lead to this effect, I did not wanted to, and I could review it maximum through the imagination. I thought it was a good starting point to do a simulation, hence the idea of ​​the studio, because it represents a mask, it's a device that serves to form a truth. There were several attempts thru the years to arrange conditions for filming.

You wrote the screenplay at the time, or just recently?
RAG: I wrote at the time the script and I applied several times to subsidies I do not know how many times I tried to get financial conditions to kick-start production, because I could not go to this movie without means, as I often did, required an extended work of the actors. I could not ask them to stay with me for weeks to work, because people have their own lives. After requiring the studio, because I always had that idea from the beginning. So the start was delayed with the hypothesis always to do it only when I had the minimum conditions and then advance. I obviously was reviewing the script.

It was essential to the project so many weeks of rehearsals before filming? There is a very theatrical component?
RAG: In my head was. It can be said that there is an element of theater, everyone says this, but it is not a play, never the author wrote it as such. What happens? I worked a lot the text with the actors, in particular Rita Durao. These first trials were in a room, all this preparation was regimenting some ideas, and I found others who passed through as film marks of the actors on the scene. There should we say a job similar to what a stage actor does, but it is not staged as a play, not with all actors, there are people who are not even professionals also in this movie. And then there is Fernando Roberto Rodrigues, who makes a late entry to the project and with whom I had never worked before and I liked a lot, came in the last minute and went into the skin of the character as best as possible. But, yes there is a different job when you have a play in front of you, because when the film moves thru the techniques. I suppose in a theater there is a whole movement, gestures and voice projection that has nothing to do with cinema. There are several factors at stake that we were looking for, but it was very good in terms of preparatory work and I wish it was longer and then especially during the shooting because we could refine the technique indefinitely. The text is rich and evocative. The actors bring, and we don't expect that, other viewpoints, other readings, then we have the scenic elements of the décor, the wardrobe and finally the soundtrack that somehow allows you to add sound here or there and everything is built except the voice actor who is recorded live.

When I focused on the issue of theatricality I was referring to static plans.
RAG: I have long shots, but in this film have stumbled upon a few are in full swing. It's a slow film. The camera goes into everything. It's not like a theater, where there is a box with depth and the viewer chooses to look everywhere. In the film there is a camera that will show you what I want, you can be close, away, is a different point of view.

The month of May of next year will host the first Madera Film Festival(MFF'12) an initiative that focuses on the topic of environment, specifically in the laurel forest as was announced by the director of this event Aitken Pearson. For five days the organization intends to show the best documentaries and short films about nature in the Reid's palace hotel. An international contest that wishes to make the difference thru the quality of the films in competition, the alert towards conservation issues, but also has a strong educational component, as all the schools of the island may participate in three distinct areas.

What's the main objective of the Madera Film Festival?
Aitken Pearson: The Madera Film Festival will run from 2th until the 6th of May of 2012. The fundamental objective of the festival, it's to pay homage to the resilience of the laurissilva forest. We are going to do that by screening films, which are somehow nature related, or have a connotation with the natural world.

There's all ready one film festival in the island. Is there space for one more?
AP: Absolutely, definitely. We've done our marketing research and we firmly believe there is room for two festivals in Madera. Our takes place in a different localization at a different time of the year, and we have a specific theme, that is nature.

How many films have already been selected for the MFF'12?
AP: We are still in the process of selecting the films. I think that 90% of the works submitted are from filmmakers all around the world. The quality is phenomenal. Some of them have wan awards in other nature festivals.

Were any Portuguese films submitted?
AP: Yes. We received a lot of Portuguese films. Excellent works in terms of quality. I don't want to disclosure the tittles, but 40% of the works we want to screen are Portuguese.

Is one of the most innovative Portuguese comedies of its kind.

The history of Mano began in an old warehouse that will be demolished. He is a character from a silent movie of the 20s who decides to jump into the real world, where he meets a girl with whom he falls in love, but there's a catch. As always I will not unveil the rest, I'll just say it's a fun comedy. Basically, the plot is supported by three actors, George Felner, Adelaide de Sousa and Diogo Infante. This last one does a remarkable job in this movie is the funniest character, for his constant unwillingness to help Mano, incidentally, is not by chance that he continues to be one of the hottest actors of Portuguese cinema, mainly due to his talent and also by his great-sex-appeal. George Felner also stars and directs in this movie. His character is mud, expresses his feelings in a non-verbal language, through his facial and body expression and although he could pass the message, the fact is that is not much fun, as I expect. Something is missing I cannot say what. As a director of this film he imprints movement, which is very good. Recently, this feature film was adapted to 3D, the first of its kind to be adapted to this format. What I propose, however is you see the original! Good movie!

I love live concerts. It's a mix of excitement, anxiety, sweat, laugh and high expectations. We always hope to be it better than we ever imagined. We aim for everything; even what we do not fantasize, what matters deep down is that our favorite band does not defraud our expectations that is nobody wants to hear just the tracks. If it was just that might as well stay at home. Above all we want the magic, the claw, the energy and the empathy that is created from the stage. All this to say what? I love the "azeitonas" and even more live. To watch a concert from the stage was a serious case of love for life. So come and enjoy me on our conversation.

Your music takes us to another time, the great American bands, with much swing, many arrangements, this style is deliberate?
Marlon: It is our genre. It is the result of our taste.

Salsa: It is a mixture of both, we chose or found these musicians that have our taste. Some well hid others less, who have played with the "expensive soul" and other bands and are now with us. What we got a common is the fact that we all like this hidden music, which is older.

When you released your first album it occurred to you that your music style was directed only to a very specific audience?
M: We did not think much about it, honestly. We enjoyed making music and we hoped for the public reaction basically. We did not think in making a genre of music for a kind of people, we make music that we liked and we waited for the reaction of people and see who really likes and who does not.

What were your expectations of the following album after the success of the "somewhat baffled?
Salsa: The first was successful? (Laughs)
M: The first is always the first. It was a first experience. Making an album is already a success, never thought about recording an album, was a novelty for us all to be in recording studio at that point we were a little "green" yet, on the second album there was a qualitative leap, a greater maturity and learning. We never thought much in a long term, or reach a particular audience, but we make music we liked and once again, we waited for the public reaction.

Nena, what is like to be the only woman in the midst of these men?
Nena: It is usually easy, but extended for a long time; sometimes I lack the female familiarity and go crazy! (Laughs)
M: She keeps looking for a friend!
N: Yes! A female friend, I need to have her! (Laughs).

It is a short story for a horror movie

This work of Ana Almeida is a recurring theme of that horror cinema, which is a dissatisfied with a spirit seeking for revenge, killing indiscriminately. The innovation is in how she films the history, with unusual plans, such as the image overlooking the car and the two young people who encounter the girl's body. This bride provokes certain suspense and gives the impression of being unfinished, i.e., the end would eventually be the starting point, the beginning of an investigation, or the prelude to a bloodbath, we will never now. What happened to the boyfriend? Or was he involved in the crime? There are many questions and few answers. It deserved more this little short film, deserved more time to develop an idea that seems very interesting. I think that if there was a creative space, funding and a consistent script this bride could become a feature film of great dramatic intensity and would attract a large audience. If memory serves me correctly, there are few or almost no horror movies, or Portuguese police thriller, which is a curious fact in Portuguese cinema, on the other hand, only the younger filmmakers venture into this field of cinematography, in short films the examples in the genre are immense. Too bad! However, the work of Ana Almeida shows a very disturbing bride. Good movie!
http://filmesportugueses.com/a-noiva/

Bernardo Nascimento wrote, directed and produced a short film that reflects his island roots. North Atlantic is the simple story of two men who do not know each other, both isolated from the world and whose single point of connection is the ocean. A universe which addresses the influences of his origins and won its tenth award in the category of short films in Funchal International Film Festival.

This is your first film. I wonder if beeing an islander influenced the choice of theme?
Bernardo Nascimento: Sure. Film was based on real events that happened in the Azores – it was one of those articles that I always thought one day could become a movie – and the poetry of the meeting between these two men seduced me. At the time, I was actually focused on another script, when I suddenly came up with a solution to make the exterior shots of the plane. That got me going and later, while playing guitar by myself, I felt the nostalgia of playing with other people. That's when I decided to bring the music playing into the film, which is something that never happened in the original story. So, it all came from a newspaper article, a 3D animation solution to make the exterior shots of the plane and my background as a musician, together with some research. I actually found several similar stories to the first one and used components from all of them, trying to keep the poetry of the encounter between these two men. The idea was not to document a specific history.

Where can we find the "island" then?
BN: There is a geographical identification between the two characters. One is an islander and another comes from a fishing village in Scotland. There's a geographical element to our identity which I feel is very important, I do not speak of the socio-cultural aspect, rather our relationship with nature - in this case with the sea - which is difficult to put into words. This story seduced me because I felt reflected on it. The story is about the loneliness and the isolation of the characters. These men are islands themselves. There's a parallel between anthropological and geographical isolation if you want. All of this has to do with my roots but also with my migrant nature. I've been living in London for seven years now and that's where I got the funds to shoot North Atlantic, so it was interesting to find a story between a Portuguese and a Scotsman, a bilingual film.

How do you kick start a project of this nature?
BN: When I had the "music" idea, I wrote the script overnight, then applied for a screenplay competition in London and got something like 3,000 euros, which was very little money but enough to get us going.

The initial idea was always to be a short film?
BN: Yeah, that was always the goal. I knew I wanted to make a short film, because it was more manageable, cheaper, and would serve as a calling card for a feature, which is what I want do. So, with this funding and with a lot of help from friends and family we went for it. I worked for ten years as an assistant director, but this was the first creative work with my name on it. My goal was not to market it but rather to try to get some exposure through the film festivals. Only secondly I was thinking about sales for TV, VOD, etc. Both festivals and sales are going well.

She is a citizen of the world that was born Portuguese almost by accident. Writes by an inner impulse that led her to create one of the short films in competition at the Funchal International Film Festival'11. Caessa Sofia is also the mind behind the project of little film academy. Come and meet her.

What led you to choose the topic of "Should the wife confess?"
Sofia Caessa: I was working for a magazine, where I wrote articles on multi-cultural couples, were people who could not communicate very well verbally. They had a language barrier, could do it otherwise. They chose the city of Brussels because it was neutral territory and so they could in a way to communicate and understand each other. I've always been fond of other cultures and I was excited about this idea. I went to Brussels with my partner, two Portuguese in this city, were nothing unusual. I started thinking about communication between two people, it is based on what? In the language? To communicate and speak the same words? That has to do with an internal communication?

But the film seals this cultural gap, the difference that separates them?
SC: No it is lay opened. Neither can be seen, because the male character, her husband speaks a little, but not enough to know they are the same country, the same culture or are opposites. The idea is that being from the same country, the same culture, speaking the same language, if internal communication is not present, there is nothing, no matter if we use the same words, same expressions, if there is no such link. Without communication there is nothing, that's where the idea came. I tend to write things more comical, more ironic. This short has that aspect, an ironic side.

When you idealize this movie, the concept was to produce a short film?
SC: The idea was and perhaps still is to be part of a trilogy about communication between couples. This is the first, which is lack of communication. The second and third would be would be infidelity and resignation. It is the evolution of a relationship over time. This first film has a couple with 30 years, the second would be 50 and the third would be 70 to 80 years old. I follow the chronological route of the couples. That would be the idea and intention, but when there is no financing, everything is on stand-by.

Do you think this is the reality of the current Portuguese cinema or more European?
SC: I do not know very well the reality in terms of funding for young filmmakers. I know how I produce my short. I wanted to do it. It was important for me to take the project forward. At the time I was working for a magazine and interviewed, François Schuiten, he draws graphic novels, "dark towns". I was talking to him, because he had renewed a house of Victor Horta, a Belgian architect and became a museum, but also a kind of home culture with concerts, exhibitions, etc. The Autrique house is located in a neighborhood less good of the city of Brussels, less visited by the international community. Because the magazine was targeted for this type of audience they wanted to give more prominence to sites that were interesting and out of the most popular and tourist neighborhoods where people normally circulate. I went to interview him and in the end I asked if they accepted projects. He said yes, I send the file and was evaluated. The following week I sent the documents to request that they cede the space to shoot the film. After a few weeks we had the endorsement to do it in the house. It's a beautiful building, inspired by art nouveau at our disposal. Do not make it here will be a crime. At the time was also in contact with a cinematographer and producer, he is also Portuguese, who had a lot of equipment. He needed a feature film written in English and we did an exchange of services. Me and Bernard Camisão wrote a script and he in turn gave me the material and in the end was also co-producer.