It's a movie based on the works of José Saramago. The adaptation to film of a fable, a dream of the writer.

And if one day it opened a huge crack and the Iberian Peninsula to separate it from the rest of Europe? Who would we be? Iberia is an enchanting fable concocted by José Saramago, the famous stone raft drifting across the Atlantic Ocean, which was transposed to the silver screen by director George Sluizer. The film is an adaptation of the book of the Nobel Prize, played by actress Ana Padrao, Diogo Infante, Federico Luppi, among others. This adaptation is of curious cultural heterogeneity. This is a Spanish-language film, starring Portuguese, Argentine and Spanish actors, with a Dutch director, funny is not it? Imagine the director trying to convey a concept to a cast as diverse? However, against all expectations, the movie is very unattractive and detracts from the literary work of José Saramago. I love the work of Ana Padrao, but in particular Diogo Infante. This Portuguese actor, not only is hot and one of the most beautiful of Portugal, (forgive me for this silly comment, but he deserves it), it is also one of the most talented of his generation. And this film stands out for his well achieved performance. The same cannot be said of the rest. The Stone Raft is a very complex work and full of symbolism that was lost a little along the way, such as the famous ball of string that appears in the film. In fact it is a titanic work to pass the underlying ideas of the author and translate them into a movie, maybe there are publications that simply cannot be adapted. The stone raft must be one of them, if you think about it, it is extremely difficult to squeeze in two hours the essential message of this work. Thanks for the effort.

Hugo Reis nurtures a passion for records on the island of Madeira, has a collection of 70 films that reflect the daily lives of islanders in the past century. A legacy that he intents to preserve and show the locals.

How did you began this collection?
Hugo Reis: Nobody collected films, they were forgotten. Images of many people. I checked the Internet, many persons, some merchants who sell this type of material, either on ebay or in other websites. And I found that these films could be get by insignificant amounts, others less so, I came to pay a thousand euros for five minutes of film of Madeira, just to give you an idea. The fact that led me to collect movies, because is a record of moving images of Madeira. Taking into account that RTP Madeira has only emerged in 1972 little was preserved. This type of film deteriorates with ease but is scanned into a support that the conserves it, at least it won’t be lost forever.

Then you scanned all the movies that has acquired over time?
HR: Not everyone. Only 40% of the collection I have yet to scan the rest. I have about 70 films, including celluloid film and reels. Many of them may even be only images of the region, may have Canary Islands and Morocco, because they were recording made by passing tourists, some of the cruise stopped here and then followed for other destinations. Of course, They film a little bit of the island and the other places. By purchasing these images, I have to buy the whole movie, since only one section is impossible due to fragility and damage state of the tape itself. These films are crude, some dating back to 1920-30 in both the focus and exposure, there was no automatic mechanisms, it was all done by the operator of the camera. The developing process was very expensive, also at that time. And very few people had access to such equipment. As you can imagine pictures of Madeira were very few and most have already been lost forever.

Why?
HR: In most cases, the heirs have thrown then away because it has no interest in staying with them, or were already in such a state of disrepair that they had no commercial value. From the year 1996 with the advent of the internet have opened up many doors used to acquire those movies, made it possible for people anywhere in the world, instead of throwing them away, they put on sale online. Of course, my interest is to get them to preserve them and others to see. Generations of islanders who had not yet even born.

You always had this interest in collecting?
HR: I collect everything that has to do with Madeira, in terms of images. I also collect pictures of the island, must belong to the Vincent's, I have one of the largest private collections in the region. Most images are amateurs,  not from professional photographers at the time like Perestrelo, Camacho, etc.. That is to say they were taken by ordinary people who came to the island. If they were thrown in the trash were lost. Some show the American car that existed at that time and that few people know that existed. There are not the typical pictures of old postcards that we are accustomed to see. It goes beyond that. What interests me is this kind of image amateur, because they capture are more significant, are unique. If it disappears, negative, or support sealed, are lost forever.

It is a feature film signed by Jose Fonseca e Costa on the life of a woman widowed more often than it should.

The film "a wealthy widow doesn’t stay single” tells the story of  Dona Ana Catarina returning from Brazil accompanied by her father, marries a man who she doesn’t knows and ends shortly thereafter been a widowed twice, as almost simultaneously her husband and father dies. This unfortunate coincidence makes her a rich woman who is uncompromising and a natural target of male lust. The premise of this plot is a comedy due to the originality of the script. It is above all a film that entertains with great style. The performance of Brazilian actress, Bianca Byington, the protagonist, creates that feeling of weightlessness to the characther that goes throughout the movie widowed many times. An evil creature with an angel's face. The secondary characters played by the magnificent and José Raposo  and Cucha Carvalheiro respectively Father Palacios and Mariana make up a trio that are no saints either. The cinema of José Fonseca e Costa, who directed and wrote the screenplay of this film is always an event, because the almost theatrical skill he prints on the movie. It is a new kind of cinema by the positioning of the actors in front of the cameras and the planes that merges to create the impression of movement. Being a filmmaker almost cursed in our country, much derived of his critical views on the cinema that is made in Portugal and in particular the institutions that supposedly support the seventh art, José Fonseca e Costa has shoot very little, according to his statements made in a tribute held in Fantasporto, "I film only what that let me shoot," which in my opinion is a shame. This movie may not be its greatest masterpiece, this is for a next time, but it is undoubtedly one of the most fun. Good movie!

http://filmesportugueses.com/viuva-rica-solteira-nao-fica/

This is the zero year of the first documentary festival held on the island of Madeira. The honoree was the filmmaker, photographer and painter, William Klein, one of the most influential and controversial artists of the twentieth century, but the project is more audacious goals since it intends to differentiate itself by searching the island component in future editions and a bet on young filmmakers work for the documentary genre.

Makes sense having another festival of documentary cinema?
Henrique Teixeira: I think it makes perfect sense because Madeira has to follow the modern global world, there is a gap in the documentary genre and makes sense, because you see that there is an audience you want to watch this film genre. This is just the same principle, nor will I consider this the first edition, this is a zero. It's experimental and reach the public takes some time.

Then you need to educate the public to watch documentaries?
The Madeira public is not accustomed. The documentary does not reach the cinema business, if wasn't the festival people have no access to them, except in sporadic versions of the DVD, but watching a documentary at home is one thing, and seeing it in a theater is another, which is the place to see movies. So festivals of documentary are growing in the world why? Becouse audience grows, the highest ratings are in Doc.Lisboa, so I think in Madeira we should not be left behind. Of course, everything is measure thinking on scale. The scale of the island. I am delighted to say that finally we have a documentay film festival. I'm not worried at all if we have much, or little public support. What I am sure that there is a 100% interest in those who come looking for this kind of gathering.

But what will differentiate it from other festivals of its kind?
There is such a strategy, not in this issue start. There is a concept that will grab and build for the future. The very name of the festival we want to invoke the concept of the island to the documentary filmmaking. The theme is very comprehensive. Emigration is a side of the islands. Speaking of fishing and isolation that implies social situations. There are many islands in the world and they produce documentary films and many festivals and Madeira island did not now have one.

There will be greater investment in national documentary, as was the case with this?
There has to be, because the production of the documentary genre in Portugal is of high quality judging by the awards obtained world wide. Here we have some examples. We have the movie Filipe Ferraz, "Rock on Tchaikovsky." "The stop, listen and look" was hugh succes of box office and wan a prize. Will also have the objective and the obligation to support young local filmmakers, who are by the way few. I want to feel they can do it, you can document a lot and all you need is a digital camera to shoot with high resolution. Just creativity, needs no direction of actors, not big productions.

One of the most celebrated documentaries of Portuguese cinema, which portrays the life of a village in the summer, which coincides with the return of emigrants.

The documentary by Miguel Gomes is the current picture of the interior of Portugal, who won a new lease of life with the arrival of immigrants, during the month of August. The villages of Riverside and beyond, throughout the year, are a ghostly legacy of the old country and the exodus of people to the coast in search of a better life. Except in the month of August, a period of pilgrimage dedicated to the patron saints and feasts, this coincides with the arrival of immigrants from France. The portrait of a country, which follows a music band and the sentimental relations among group members.

It is a biopic of the deep portuguese way life over on a specific period of the year. Who has not danced in one of these festivities? And drank wine in private cellars among the company of friends and neighbors? That darling month of August is the second work of director Miguel Gomes, a result of production that suffered financial ups and downs, typical drawbacks of a film made ​​in Portugal. But it paid off in end on terms of screenplay and editing.

http://filmesportugueses.com/aquele-querido-mes-de-agosto/

It is a comedy with the two most famous scoundrels of Portugal, Zeze and Toni. A film with many twists and turns stared by the two largest idiots of Lisbon.

The Crap movie was the second biggest box office in our country, with about 279 000 spectators, who went to the movies to see or review the misadventures of two good rogues, Zeze and Toni, respectively played by José Pedro Gomes António Feio unfortunately disappeared. These two comedians were without any doubt one of the greatest duo in Portuguese artistic history. This comedy of Jose Sacramento is the transposition to film of a radio show, that resulted into a play that was on the scene for years in our country, such was the success of these two very unique characters with the Portuguese public. I chose this movie because I wanted to pay a tribute to these two sacred monsters of the Portuguese theater, and I say this with conviction, because over the years I had the pleasure of seeing them on stage in more than one occasion.
The film version of the sucked conversation unfortunately leaves much to be desired in my opinion, was a mess. The sketches were too much which created a degree of detuning as the action went along for almost two hours of film, less would have been more. The argument of Filipe Madeira and Eduardo Fonseca was lost somewhere in the various scenarios that we watched during the film, leaving a certain taste the disappointment for those who had watched the plays and the series filmed for television. What was the success of this duo? It was a great conversation they had about the idiosyncrasies of life, their everyday lives and politics in Portugal. All this was lost on the road. It would have been more productive to have been fewer "dummies" and more humorous dialogues. The movie would benefit, since the rest was in the capable hands of these two great comedians.
The morst positive of this film, in addition to José Pedro Gomes and António Feio, was the work of the supporting actors. The compositions of Marco Horacio, Maria Rueff, John Raposo, António Melo and Rui Paulo are to be commended for the quality they also demonstrate as comedians that composes the rest of the "loonies" who are part of Zeze and Toni universe.

http://filmesportugueses.com/filme-da-treta/

It is a film about love, loss and betrayal all revolving around the kidnapping of a minor. A great story with a psychological nature that leaves no one indifferent.

The argument of "a shot in the dark" is a recurring theme of our day that flood the pages of newspapers, in the case of the text of Jorge Almeida and João Nunes, the part  I appreciate in this film is the moral turmoil and psychological stress with which the character of Joaquim de Almeida has to live as the result of an event that will totally change the events of his life. It is an excellent role for this actor with a long-standing international career, and was created for him. His interpretation of this judicial police officer, Rafael, earned a distinction, in my opinion deserved, because he is perhaps the most complex character in the whole movie by Leonel Vieira. He loves a woman who theft a minor and knows what he must do as an agent of the law but at the same time suffers because he tries to understand the reason that led her to commit this crime. The counter-point is the character of Margarida Marinho, a TAP host, and one of my favorite portuguese actresses. Her work in this film is like a layered cake. She, at first it seems a balanced person, trusting even, but as time passes by we discover other facets of her personality more obscure, in the end we are looking at the whole and find out that she is a person with an emotional imbalance that leads hers to abduct a child. Vanessa Machado is the flip side of this triangle that will do anything to retrieve her daughter. This unknown actress by the Portuguese public made her auspicious debut in this film. Ivo Canelas complete a bunch of great quality actors, in the skin of a villain, a role to die for if you allow me the expression. The steering of Leonel Vieira is a safe one, the film has a great rhythm that does not die as the plot gets more dramatic. The fact that Joaquim de Almeida had participated in other projects of the director is an asset, both already established a relationship of understanding that enables us to watch great performances by the actor and we really benefit from that in this film.

http://filmesportugueses.com/um-tiro-no-escuro/

A film by Jorge Queiroga about the adventure of a boy who decides to launch a trip to visit his grandfather. And ends up discovering something else ...

It is a tender movie, because it has a delightful theme that is trying to find justification for our existence, not mine, of course, Paulo's. This boy feels that he can not assuage his anxiety, a yearning for yourself and to find some answers what he decides to do? Decides go on a trip in search of this grandfather and discover the answers to the questions about his father.

Then there is another crossing, which is also a trip, only a magical one, where he begins to learn some things about his family and himself. It is a spiritual journey, because despite his young age he has the notion that to know who he is, he needs to uncover the story of his parents before his existence. I like this movie because it reminds me of how, sometimes, often we omit the truth for love with the justification that supposedly avoids major pain. And there may even be true in it, for good or evil, the truth always turns out to come up and we have to face the consequences. Here, in the film that does not happen abruptly and rawly. In "Behind the Clouds" we dive deep into fantasy and even do a very special journey of discovery on the life of Paulo and his grandfather and also of how two strangers create a bond that will last a lifetime. I like this movie because it has a message of hope and because it has a flying car. Good cinema!

http://filmesportugueses.com/atras-das-nuvens/

A compelling film of Manoel de Oliveira about the golden age. A personal view on the life of an actor in the end of this career, with the interpretation of the magnificent Michel Piccoli.

Speaking of "going home" is talking about a very personal film by Manuel de Oliveira. This film tells the story of an actor in a downward phase of his life. It is the route of the man who lost almost everything, his child, hisb family, his friends, to whom nothing remains but his grandson. It is his hope,  his lifesaving and it is  who he clings so he wont be lost in his  pain. I choose this movie because it traces the story of a man who sees this weaknesses due to time and he doesn’t  gives up. Not an easy film I know. You  already thinking another boring film of Manuel de Oliveira. Yeah. To put an end once and for all with that typical phrase associated with the centenary man, I'll make my own the words of my professor of television, surnamed also curiously, Oliveira that explained to our class in a very simple way the genius of the filmmaker and I think many of you already  know.
Manuel de Oliveira uses only one camera on a following scene. I will explain and blame the Americans. Take the case of Steven Spielberg, this filmmaker does what? Raises several cameras at the most unimaginable and impossible spots to shoot a single scene. Then all those little segments are assembled in a single scene that results in such a hellish persecution that we love and in a breathtaking speed, because the idea of ​​speed results of these various points that were previously filmed, cut and pasted. What makes our most misunderstood filmmaker? For the same scene, puts a single camera and the actors are interacting in a single space before the lens. The result is a sequence that seems slow because we are already accustomed to speed printed by Mr. Spielberg and his colleagues.
And why time does not seem to pass in the films of Oliveira, we must recall our own everyday lives. If I shoot all the actions of my day with a camera, without cutting what is the end result? An Oliveira is not a for sure! But neither is a hallucinatory masterpiece. And this is also the genius of Oliver, he forces us to be aware of the time. Time passes as it has to pass, slow and sure. And remember on this theme, of time passing, a book by Umberto Eco, "the name of the rose." It is the story of a very special Franciscan monk who tries to discover the author of a series of deaths in a monastery, but where to establish the analogy with Oliveira? In terms of temporal notion, the author describes by chapter only a parcial time of the day of the friars, because as he states in the preface, in the medieval ages  time was mesured by sunrise and sunset. They  had a lower sense of urgency. People lived more. Now today, we run against time. You undestand now  Manuel de Oliveira? His films are to be savored like fine wine. Calmly and unhurriedly. I urge you to rediscover the filmmaker, but this time without the switch on your hand and without getting up from the chair. Go, see it and will like it. Good movie!


http://filmesportugueses.com/vou-para-casa/

It is one more interpretation of the trends for spring-summer that I leave as a suggestion.

One of the big bets, fashionable, are the stripes that literally flooded the catwalks, refreshing the look of those who pass through, and is the best way to advertise the summer in lightweight fabrics, almost floating up and that leave us well-prepared in advance. One of the good examples of this trend is the collections of John Melo e Costa and Teresa Martins.

The shorts are almost in all coordinated clothes of this spring and summer- Are rather very short, but beware, it is a garment-key, only appropriate for younger women with beautiful legs. I leave two notes of consecrated designers respectively Miguel Vieira and Ricardo Prieto.

http://www.portugalfashion.com/galerias/