PORTUGUESE COMPETITION
Friday 29 | 22 :00 pm| Cinema São Jorge | Sala Manoel de Oliveira
Portuguese Competition – Prémio SPAutores – Vasco Granja |100’ (VO, LEG. EN)
Portuguese competition for the 18th edition of the Festival is comprised of 10 Portuguese shorts, 4 of which will have their world premieres at this festival. These films are competing for the SPA / Vasco Granja award for Best Portuguese Short Film.
SELECTED FILMS
MOULLA, directed by Rui Cardoso, will have its world premiere at MONSTRA. This short is about Moulla, a reputable Peshmerga, who can choose any woman of the tribe for himself, as long as she is from the same ethnicity, the same tribe and has the blessing of the patriarchy.
Another premiere is the short À FLOR DA PELE/UNDERSKIN, directed by Francisca Coutinho of the Lusófona, University, a poetic film about the brokenness of an individual and his internal expression.
From the Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão of Portalegre, we receive SENTIR-ME/FEELING MYSELF, directed by Débora Rodrigues, Joana Flauzino and Vanessa Santos, a premiere about a man who allows himself to be led by a woman, who takes him to meet his true self.
DON’T FEED THESE ANIMALS, by Guilherme Afonso and Miguel Madaíl de Freitas, is one of the first independently produced Portuguese animated films, coming out of Nebula Studios, which specialize in animation for publicity. The film, which premieres at Monstra, tells the story of a lobotomized rabbit, who lives in a laboratory, and who was bipolar.
AGOURO/AUGUR by the duo Vasco Sá and David Doutel is presented for the first time in Lisbon é, after having made a run through international and some national festivals. The film was sponsored by the Monstra Festival after the directors received the SPA/Vasco Granja Palmaré award for Best Portuguese Short in 2016 with the film “Fuligem”.
Mónica Santos and Alice Guimarães return to the MONSTRA Festival to present their second work, ENTRE SOMBRAS/BETWEEN THE SHADOWS, a highly awarded short shot in a noir ambience, which utilizes animation and live action.
ENSAIO SOBRE A MORTE/PLAYING DEATH, by Margarida Madeira, is a non-figurative, almost abstract documentary, about death and how a person goes on telling her/his own story.
Tiago Albuquerque presents his most recent film, OUTUBRO 28/OCTOBER 28, about a virtuous being in all its animal plenitude, which gradually metamorphosizes into an intelligent force destined to dominate brute force.
PORQUE É ESTE O MEU OFÍCIO/BECAUSE THIS IS MY CRAFT is the third film by Paulo Monteiro, which is a sort of homage to his father.
And finally, to round up the Portuguese competition, we have the most recent film by Filipe Abranches, À TONA /AFLOAT, about the rescue of a combat pilot who drops into the middle of the ocean.
Image: Best Portuguese Short Film – SPA | Vasco Granja Award 2019: PORQUE É ESTE O MEU OFÍCIO/BECAUSE THIS IS MY CRAFT by Paulo Monteiro