This year, Foco Silvestre is about Work and the Trade Union Movement, in anticipation of the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, and in line with the theme defined by the Commemorative Commission. Four axes of programming were worked on by different teams of programmers of the festival. These 4 axis – Decent Work, Factories and Workers in Movement, Work Tools and Profession: Work – gave rise to 4 screenings of short films, and an invitation, evoking the way in which the themes of work and the trade union movement have been present in cinema, where a free, non-dogmatic approach was privileged, which constitutes a programming proposal within the multiple possibilities that these themes would allow.
We also invited the FILMar project, operated by Cinemateca Portuguesa, to idealize together a sub-programme within the focus. Revolts, Work and Labour explores the Portuguese context linked to the sea, through a look at work in this context, at the working conditions in factories or in fishing, or even the pre-revolution revolts closely linked to workers’ movements struggling for better social, economic and political conditions.
This year’s Silvestre Focus gathers films by authors such as António Campos, Manoel de Oliveira, Harun Farocki or Ben Russell. Check the complete selection on the section’s page.