Portuguese film production beats presence records in Locarno [29/07/2016]


Portugal Film will have two films in this year's edition of Locarno Film Festival: The Hunchback by Gabriel Abrantes and Ben Rivers, and Cinema, Manoel de Oliveira and Me, by João Botelho, who will present his session together with the actress Leonor Silveira.

This year, Locarno receives a significant Portuguese representation. The Ornithologist, by João Pedro Rodrigues, and Correspondences, by Rita Azevedo Gomes are in competition for the Golden Leopard. The short films contest will show Fragments, an animation by José Miguel Ribeiro, September, by Leonor Noivo, Friends After Dark, by Rita Barbosa, and An Aviation Field, by Joana Pimenta.

Out of competition will be Far, by José Oliveira, A Brief History of Princess X, by Gabriel Abrantes, The Hunchback, directed by Gabriel Abrantes together with Ben Rivers, which won the National Short Film Competition at 2016 IndieLisboa, and Cinema, Manoel de Oliveira and Me, by João Botelho, which is scheduled to premiere on October 13th, along with the short film Ascension, by Pedro Peralta.

In contention for the Golden Leopard is also Jeunesse, from the French director Julien Samani, a Portuguese co-production shot in our country with Portuguese actors and technicians.

Locarno Film Festival, which ends on August 13th, will still present The Train of Salt and Sugar, by the Mozambican Licínio Azevedo, also a co-production with Portugal, and Rio Corgo, a Portuguese-Swiss production directed by Maya Kosa and Sérgio da Costa, already commercially released in our country.

[29/07/2016]