Portugal Film is at Berlinale with three films. [02/02/2016]

Berlinale Shorts just anounced its oficial selection where there are two films represented by Portugal Film - Portuguese Film Agency: Batrachian's Ballad, by Leonor Teles, and Freud und Friends, by Gabriel Abrantes.

Batrachian's Ballad is Leonor Tele's first film after graduating from Film School. It is an 11 minute documentary, produced by Uma Pedra no Sapato, which according to its director "occurred when I learnt a surprising fact  – the Portuguese tradition of placing ceramic frogs in the doorways of restaurants and other commercial premises to ward off Gypsies." The film is thus an active protest against this practice. Leonor Teles says she felt the need to treat the topic with the sincerity and honesty it deserved" (…) breaking rules and defying convention - basically breaking it all!

Gabriel Abrantes returns to Berlinale competition after Taprobana in 2014. This time he presents Freund und Friends, one of the segments that compose the feature Here in Lisbon, produced by IndieLisboa to celebrate the festival's 10th anniversary. "With the help of the most consacrated neuroscientists, “Herner Werzog” travels inside the brain of artists and filmmakers from all over the world and documents their dreams. In Lisbon (Portugal), young director Gabriel Abrantes will be the victim."

Out of competition, in the Forum Expanded, which this year is "Traversing the Phantasm", is L'Oiseau de la Nuit, by Marie Losier, which is also part of the feature Here in Lisbon. Appropriately the film is a mysterious portrait of Fernando, aka Deborah Krystal, the glittering and poetic performer of the Lisbon club Finalmente, where he has been performing every night over thirty years in golden dresses. Under the layers of his colorful fabrics, the many skins of Fernando are revealed, letting Lisbon’s legends come to life. Alternately woman mermaid, female birds, woman lion, we are taken into the desires and dreams of metamorphosis and myths.



Berlinale takes place between 11th and 21st February.


For more information go to:

https://www.berlinale.de/en/das_festival/sektionen_sonderveranstaltungen/forum/index.html

[02/02/2016]