Today marks the beginning of the 20th edition of the IndieLisboa Film Festival, which will feature a program of more than 300 films and a focus on the industry in order to position itself on the international stage.
In mid-April, Susana Santos Rodrigues, one of the festival’s three directors, reminded PPulse of the “predisposition of the programmers to seek new voices, new ways of doing things, and new ways of telling a story, aesthetically and formally.”
“I believe there is a prominent theme in the festivals we attended, and that theme is gender issues. Susana Santos Rodrigues stated, “It’s a theme that may have been present in previous years in a more subdued manner, but is more pronounced this year.”
In this context, we highlight the opening film, “Something You Said Last Night,” which transcends gender identity issues, and the premiere of “Orlando, My Political Biography,” by the Spanish essayist Paul B. Preciado, based on Virginia Woolf’s work of the same name and featuring trans and non-binary participants.
This year, a prize was created in collaboration with the Mutim – Women Workers of Moving Images association, as well as a laboratory to develop projects that “go against the stereotype of more conventional and stereotypical characters and stories in cinema.”
From this year’s program, the national competition will have more than twenty films, such as “Rosinha e outros bichos do mato”, by Marta Pessoa, “Índia”, Telmo Churro’s first feature film, the diptych “Mal Viver” and “Viver Mal”, by João Canijo, and the short films “Dildotectónica”, by Tomás Paula Marques, “Pátio do Carrasco”, by André Gil Mata, and “A febre de Maria João”, by brothers Afonso and Bernardo Rapazote.
Out of competition, the standout is “Primeira obra” (First Work) by Rui Simes, “a veteran documentarist who, after 40 years of trying, received support for his debut in fiction.”
The announced program also includes a focus on “Labor and the union movement” in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of April 25, with a selection of films by António Campos, Manoel de Oliveira, Harun Farocki, and Ben Russell.
According to Carlos Ramos, the 2024 edition of IndieLisboa will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the dictatorship, but all other details remain undetermined.
Still on the 20th edition, Susana Santos Rodrigues and Carlos Ramos emphasized the objective of strengthening the contact between cinema and audiovisual industry professionals.
“This year there is an increase in activities, there will be a co-production forum, and there is an increase in industry activities,” they explained, citing the recent Smart7, a network of seven European film festivals created to promote “the transnational circulation” of European films, as an illustration.
This year, IndieLisboa will once again occupy the So Jorge cinema, Culturgest, Cinemateca Portuguesa, and Cinema Ideal, as well as the Fernando Lopes Cinema – a cinema room at Universidade Lusófona – and the Penha de Franca swimming pool, where there will be three sessions where spectators can watch films while in the water.
HERE IS THE COMPLETE PROGRAMME OF THE 20TH EDITION OF INDIELISBOA
- Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Just in time to celebrate together the 20 years of the festival, the usual partners return and new accomplices are discovered, such as Cinema Fernando Lopes and Penha de França Swimming Pool, for the in-water screenings, in what will be the edition with more selected films than ever: 314.
The announcement of the complete programme happened today, in a Happy Hour, where we finally revealed the titles of the National Competition and Brand New, as well as what fits within the Special Screenings of this 20th edition. Besides the Cinema at the Pool scheduled for the last day of the festival, both for grown-ups and little ones, Lisboa 5L renewed its partnership with IndieLisboa and presents this year the programme Cinema-City, that highlights connections and ruptures between the urban centre and the periphery, through a selection of films that work on issues such as social urbanism, uprooting, or violence and integration. The highlight also goes to films such as Orlando, My Political Biography, by Paul B. Preciado, recently awarded at the Berlinale, or the most recent IndieMusic entry Little Richard: I Am Everything, by Lisa Cortes. The section that links music and cinema will also present a mini-cycle dedicated to the 50 years of hip-hop, curated by Sam the Kid.
Finally, the 7 films chosen to compete in the first edition of Smart7 will arrive in Lisbon. Índia, by Telmo Churro, is the Portuguese film that will travel through the European festivals that are part of the new network created with the intention of encouraging the circulation of European titles, and is also one of the titles in National Competition, alongside films such as Rosinha and Other Wild Animals, by Marta Pessoa, Bad Living | Living Bad, by João Canijo, or Dildotectonics, by Tomás Paula Marques. The Novíssimos section has 18 short films in competition, directed by young filmmakers who are taking their first steps in cinema. This year the section has an international jury, a new MUTIM prize – Women Working in Moving Images, in a programme with many intimate and personal films.
The complete line-up can be seen on the programme page.
IndieLisboa’s 20th edition will start on 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.
