The films ‘Banzo’, directed by Margarida Cardoso, ‘Hanami’ by Denise Fernandes, ‘Os Papéis do Inglês’ directed by Sérgio Graciano, ‘Sobreviventes’ by filmmaker José Barahona, and ‘Sonhar com Leões’ directed by Paolo Marinou-Blanco, have been pre-selected, as announced by the APC.
The five works were chosen by the pre-selection committee from “24 eligible feature films submitted by production entities for consideration,” the statement reads.
The selection was made by director and producer Ana Sofia Fonseca, actor Fernando Luís, producer Joana Domingues, director and producer Jorge António, journalist and film critic Jorge Leitão Ramos, director Renata Sancho, screenwriter Rui Cardoso Martins, and cinematographer Susana Gomes.
The selection process for Portugal’s entry in the Best International Film category at the 98th Academy Awards “will now go through a voting period among all active Academy members,” from August 22 to September 10, with the candidate to be announced at a later date.
‘Banzo’ is a fiction set in the early 20th century on an African tropical island, depicting the violent relationship between Portuguese settlers and enslaved Black workers. In the film, Carloto Cotta plays a metropolitan doctor sent to the island to cure a group of Black slaves forcibly taken to plantations and dying from profound sadness.
‘Hanami’ is Denise Fernandes’ first feature film, shot on Fogo Island, Cape Verde, featuring mostly non-actors in their first cinematic experience, as explained by the Portuguese producer O Som e a Fúria about the work distinguished at several festivals, including Locarno in 2024.
Produced by Leopardo Filmes, ‘Os Papéis do Inglês’ features a screenplay by José Eduardo Agualusa and is based on the poetry and fiction of writer Ruy Duarte de Carvalho, particularly the trilogy ‘Os Filhos de Próspero’, consisting of the works ‘Os Papéis do Inglês’ (2000), ‘As Paisagens Propícias’ (2005), and ‘A Terceira Metade’ (2009). The film is a personal project of Paulo Branco brought to life with “two extraordinary accomplices,” Agualusa on the script and Sérgio Graciano directing, who spent ten weeks filming in the Namibe Desert in southern Angola.
‘Sobreviventes’, an idea of José Barahona (who died in November at 55), with a script co-written with José Eduardo Agualusa, also references the book ‘Nação Crioula’ by the Angolan author and the fictional character Fradique Mendes. It was filmed in 2022 on the Portuguese coast, featuring performances by Anabela Moreira, Zia Soares, Ângelo Torres, and Miguel Damião, among others.
‘Sonhar com Leões’ is a dark comedy about Gilda, a woman with a terminal illness who, after several suicide attempts, enrolls in a program by a clandestine company to die. There, she meets Amadeu, who works at a funeral home, depressed and suffering from chronic insomnia. The film, shot in Portugal and Spain with Brazilian co-production, is described as a romantic and surreal tragicomedy about life and the right to die.
The 98th Academy Awards will take place on March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
