The premiere of the film ‘Camarada Cunhal’ at the UCI El Corte Inglés cinema will feature notable attendees, including the current secretary-general of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), Paulo Raimundo, former communist leader Carlos Carvalhas, deputy António Filipe, MEP João Oliveira, and Lisbon City Councillor João Ferreira.
Joining them will be notable anti-fascist activists Domingos Abrantes and Conceição Matos, as well as Adelino Cunha, the author of the book that inspired the film, titled “Álvaro Cunhal, Portrait of a Private and Intimate Life” (2010).
‘Camarada Cunhal’ is being released in the year marking a decade since the death of Álvaro Cunhal (1913-2005). Presented by the production company Sky Dreams, the film is described as “an opportunity” for the new generation of Portuguese to learn about “one of the most decisive moments in history and one of the most iconic figures in the struggle for freedom.”
The film primarily focuses on the January 1960 escape of Álvaro Cunhal and other communist militants from the Peniche Fortress, which had been converted into a political prison by Salazar’s regime.
Starring actor Romeu Vala as Álvaro Cunhal, the film also highlights the dictatorship’s repression, the harsh prison conditions, and the secret communication strategies among prisoners and with the outside world, which facilitated the escape, aided by a National Republican Guard officer.
In depicting Álvaro Cunhal, the film recalls the torture he endured, his political mobilization efforts within the prison, and the writings he produced, documented in various notebooks.
Following 11 years of imprisonment and the famed escape from Peniche, Álvaro Cunhal went underground and was elected secretary-general of the PCP in 1961, a position he held until 1992.
Leading the party from exile for several years, Cunhal returned to Portugal on April 30, 1974, five days after the revolution that ended the dictatorship.
Beyond his political career, Álvaro Cunhal left a legacy in literature, as a Marxist-Leninist ideologue and novelist, recognized in 1995 under his pen name Manuel Tiago in literary fiction.
Alongside Romeu Vala, ‘Camarada Cunhal’ features performances by António Mortágua, Tiago Teotónio-Pereira, Luís Lobão, Filipa Nascimento, Frederico Barata, Gonçalo Neto Arroja, Tobias Monteiro, Guilherme Moura, and Helena Caldeira, among others.
‘Camarada Cunhal’ is another biographical and historical film by Sky Dreams, contributing to a series that includes ‘Soares é fixe’ (2024) and ‘Salgueiro Maia – O Implicado’ (2022), both directed by Sérgio Graciano, and ‘Snu’ (2019), directed by Patrícia Sequeira.
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