The competitive section composed of a set of films by young filmmakers who are taking their first steps in cinema brings, this year, 18 short films, some made in a school context, others made independently of any support. In 2023, the section has a new MUTIM Award – Women Working in Moving Images, in a programme with many intimate and personal films.
The search for family memories in an envelope of old photographs is the starting point of in my life, by José Lobo Antunes, and also of the first Brand New screening, where a tribute to Natália Correia will be made with Mátria, by Catarina Gonçalves, a film where reality and fiction are sewn together with the poetry of the Portuguese writer. By My Hair, by Laura Andrade, continues the portrait of the female experience from the conversations of a group of friends who don’t shave, and the poetry continues with Close or Far, by Beatriz Brajal, where nature becomes a metaphor for the inner landscape of the character that inhabits it. Inês Ariana Pereira brings us a record of lesbian affection as a cure in Land Song, and Francisco Dias shows us the strength of nature in Coast.
The second screening includes Memories of Blackwood and Ivory, by Inês Costa, which mixes animation and personal archives to work on the Portuguese colonial past, or Troubled Times, by Carlos Tavares Pedro, that focuses on the first moments of Angolan independence. In presenting Construction Work, Carolina Rosendo opens the doors to the world of construction and takes us to immigrant workers, mainly from the former Portuguese colonies, who build houses that will soon be inhabited. Inês Pinto França presents an autobiographical project, An Ode, the result of times of confinement and isolation. Juliana Julieta thinks about the mutability and fragmentation of the concept of identity in Impressions of Light, while Diogo Figueira films the ideas of family and sacred in his Holy Family.
In the third and last Brand New screening, Hannah, Anna, Ana, by Ana Teresa and Bruno Alves, is a love letter to the heritage of a woman who taught her daughter the experience of freedom. My Rage is Underground, or the first-person account of Francisca Antunes, deals with the idea of trauma and its parallelism with the city. Margarida Fonseca reproduces her own sound experience in Dead Nerve, while Jump, by Mariana Nunes, tests the limits through a fictional character. Kayla Fragma portrays her uncle in Tio Kevin, navigating the themes of mourning and loss. The documentary Rubab, by Marta Vaz, takes us to discover the Afghan music school that took refuge in Portugal, bringing 100 students to the Conservatory after music was forbidden in Afghanistan.
You can find out more about these films on the Brand New section page.
IndieLisboa’s 20th edition will start on the April 27 and will be at Cinema São Jorge, Culturgest, Cinemateca Portuguesa, Cinema Ideal, Cinema Fernando Lopes and Penha de França Swimming Pool until May 7.
