AGÊNCIA, A DECADE IN SHORT FILMS

The Portuguese short film has grown in importance, visibility and in production conditions in the last twenty years in such a way that, in the beginning of the decade, it has been suggested the hypothesis of a “shorts generation”. As a consequence of this “boom” new production structures arose as well as new distribution and exhibition channels were created. One of the agents that widely contributed to that transformation of the Portuguese short film panorama was the Agência – Portuguese Short Film Agency, who promotes, programmes and distributes the Portuguese short films worldwide. The Agência celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009.

This occasion led to the initiation of a number of initiatives, including the publication of a book (the Portuguese version is available for download here) and the non-commercial distribution of a program that gathers together the most iconic films who composed the Agencia’s catalogue over those ten years of affirmation of national production in Portugal and the World.

The receptivity to this set of programs since its launch in October 2009, consolidated an even larger presence of Portuguese cinema short films, both at national level or internationally at festivals, cinema events and new audiences.

The program was screened so far in Portuguese territory in Porto, Aveiro, Espinho, Ovar and Lisbon, and abroad in Brazil, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Cape Verde, Estonia, United States of America, Spain, Mozambique, Hungary, Holland, Switzerland, Japan, Denmark, China, Venezuela and India.

This program was also the subject of a protocol with the Camões Institute (IC) for its disposal on loan for screening with non-commercial purposes, with the aim of promoting the Portuguese language and culture, within the IC Networks.

special programmes being distributed within the 10th aniversary of the Agência da Curta Metragem

COUNTRY "SAUDADE"
Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal, total duration 91'

Portugal is about the Portuguese, their identity, recent history, anachronisms and respective endogenous mimicry.

PASSEIO DE DOMINGO (SUNDAY DRIVE)

José Miguel Ribeiro

Portugal·Belgium·France·Netherlands, 2009, ANI, 35mm, Colour, 20'

ANTES DE AMANHÃ (BEFORE TOMORROW)

Gonçalo Galvão Teles

Portugal, 2007, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 16'

A SUSPEITA (THE SUSPECT)

José Miguel Ribeiro

Portugal, 1999, ANI, 35mm, Colour, 25'

TONY

Bruno Lourenço

Portugal, 2009, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 25'

GUISADO DE GALINHA (CHICKEN STEW)

Joana Toste

Portugal, 2008, ANI, Betacam SP, Colour, 5'

PORTRAITS
Portugal, total duration 69'

Lives and moments in portraits that at the same time examine, explore and expose characters from familiar daily lives and which maybe for that reason are not completely intelligible to us.

O PEDIDO DE EMPREGO (APPLICATION FOR A JOB )

Pedro Caldas

Portugal, 1999, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 7'30''

A OLHAR PARA CIMA (LOOKING UP)

João Figueiras

Portugal, 2003, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 15'

INVENTÁRIO DE NATAL (CHRISTMAS INVENTORY)

Miguel Gomes

Portugal, 2000, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 23'

A DROGARIA (THE DRUGSTORE)

Elsa Bruxelas

Portugal, 2001, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 24'

THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Portugal, total duration 66'

Characters don’t start singing between the films’ dialogues, but, just like in the classic musicals, time stands still, like clouds, suspended for the length of a melody. In addition, there’s dancing, choreographies and songs, from Doris Day to Prince Buster.

ENTRETANTO (MEANWHILE)

Miguel Gomes

Portugal, 1999, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 25'

CINEMAAMOR (LOVECINEMA)

Jacinto Lucas Pires

Portugal, 1999, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 16'35''

RAPACE (BIRD OF PREY)

João Nicolau

Portugal, 2006, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 25'

WITHIN THE FAMILY
Portugal, Belgium, France, Netherlands, total duration 69'

The intervals, timeless in origin, of core family relationships, where silences communicate with us but rarely themselves. Confident and aesthetically diverse approaches to the increasing complexity of the world of family relationships.

FIM-DE-SEMANA (WEEKEND)

Cláudia Varejão

Portugal, 2007, FIC, Betacam SP, Colour, 8'30''

AGORA TU (HANDING OVER)

Jeanne Waltz

Portugal, 2007, FIC, Betacam SP, Colour, 14'

UM DIA FRIO (COLD DAY)

Cláudia Varejão

Portugal, 2009, FIC, HD, Colour, 27'

PASSEIO DE DOMINGO (SUNDAY DRIVE)

José Miguel Ribeiro

Portugal·Belgium·France·Netherlands, 2009, ANI, 35mm, Colour, 20'

TEN YEARS OF ANIMATION
Canada, France, Portugal, total duration 76'

Cartoon d’Or and the Grand Prix Le Cristal d’Annecy are two of the most important awards in animated film. These and over two hundred other prizes have been awarded to a set of short films that have marked Agência da Curta Metragem’s trajectory during its first 10 years. At the same time, they represent the scope of Portuguese animation: its undisputed masters, the new wave of prominent directors, the fulfilled promises and the irreverence of young filmmakers.

HISTÓRIA TRÁGICA COM FINAL FELIZ (TRAGIC STORY WITH HAPPY ENDING)

Regina Pessoa

Portugal·Canada·France, 2005, ANI, 35mm, B&W, 7'46''

A SUSPEITA (THE SUSPECT)

José Miguel Ribeiro

Portugal, 1999, ANI, 35mm, Colour, 25'

ABRAÇO DO VENTO (WIND’S EMBRACE)

José Miguel Ribeiro

Portugal, 2004, ANI, 35mm, Colour, 2'34''

A NOITE (THE NIGHT)

Regina Pessoa

Portugal, 1999, ANI, 35mm, Colour, 6'35''

CÂNDIDO (CANDID)

1. Zepe (José Pedro Cavalheiro)

Portugal, 2007, ANI, 35mm·Betacam SP, Colour, 11'20''

CLANDESTINO (STOWAWAY)

Abi Feijó

Portugal·Canada, 2000, ANI, 35mm, Colour, 7'

A DAMA DA LAPA (THE LADY OF LAPA)

Joana Toste

Portugal, 2004, ANI, 35mm, Colour, 4'30''

STUART

1. Zepe (José Pedro Cavalheiro)

Portugal, 2006, ANI, 35mm, B&W, 11'26''

ESCAPE
Portugal, total duration 69'

It’s being away from where we’re from that turns our minds and feelings to exile.

RAPACE (BIRD OF PREY)

João Nicolau

Portugal, 2006, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 25'

CHINA, CHINA

João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata

Portugal, 2007, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 19'

O NOME E O N.I.M. (NAMES AND NUMBERS)

Inês Oliveira

Portugal, 2003, FIC, 35mm, Colour·B&W, 25'

BONDS
Portugal, total duration 68'

Three “episodes”, which are different in both form and content, but which approach in a very particular way the poetry of affection, from the nostalgia of adolescence, to made-to-order artificial human beings and an evocation of a past-present through a simple, rudimentary and primitive look.

ENTRETANTO (MEANWHILE)

Miguel Gomes

Portugal, 1999, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 25'

ALPHA

Miguel Fonseca

Portugal, 2008, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 28'

CORRENTE (FLOW)

Rodrigo Areias

Portugal, 2008, FIC, 35mm, B&W, 15'45''

BETWEEN SLEEP AND DREAM
Portugal, total duration 65'

Impressions from two worlds that coexist, between the rough and monotonous day-to-day and the escape to a place somewhere “between sleep and dream”.

ACORDAR (WAKING UP)

Frederico Serra, Tiago Guedes

Portugal, 2001, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 28'

À MARGEM (ASIDE)

João Carrilho

Portugal, 2001, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 12'

CORPO E MEIO (IN BETWEEN)

Sandro Aguilar

Portugal, 2001, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 25'

OUT OF THE WATER
Portugal, Canada, France, total duration 71'

Someone’s particular distinctiveness may provide a trampoline to achieve a special place among the crowd.

KALKITOS

Miguel Gomes

Portugal, 2002, FIC, Betacam SP, B&W, 19'

3x3

Nuno Rocha

Portugal, 2009, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 6'

A RAPARIGA NO ESPELHO (THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR)

Pedro Fortes

Portugal, 2003, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 23'

HISTÓRIA TRÁGICA COM FINAL FELIZ (TRAGIC STORY WITH HAPPY ENDING)

Regina Pessoa

Portugal·Canada·France, 2005, ANI, 35mm, B&W, 7'46''

TRAVELOGUES
Portugal, Russia, Germany, total duration 56'

Since its beginning, cinema has shown us the most distant parts of the globe, substituting or enriching the travel literature of bygone eras.
Diaries and visual impressions from real or perceived worlds organized around a sequential logic based on the filmmakers’ journey, be it real, imagined or suggested.

MONTANHA FRIA (COLD MOUNTAIN)

Luis Alves de Matos

Portugal, 2009, EXP, Betacam SP, B&W, 12'

OUTSIDE

Sérgio Cruz

Portugal, 2008, DOC·EXP, Betacam SP, Colour, 15'

TERRITÓRIOS (TERRITORIES)

Mónica Baptista

Portugal·Russia, 2009, DOC, Betacam SP, Colour, 11'

ANNUAL REPORT

Cristina Braga

Portugal, 2007, ANI·EXP, Betacam SP, Colour, 3'50''

BEACON

Christoph Girardet, Matthias Müller

Portugal·Germany, 2002, EXP, Betacam SP, Colour, 15'

FLOWS
Portugal, total duration 75'

Our space is created and organized based on references that we deem essential to our expectations and dreams. The search for references and for the conditions for the structuring process of our space often involves a break from the physical space that shapes us to different degrees. It is this movement of constant search and its fortuitous events that we wanted to look at and feel.

SUPERFÍCIE (SURFACE)

Rui Xavier

Portugal, 2007, FIC, Betacam SP, Colour, 13'30''

CHINA, CHINA

João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata

Portugal, 2007, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 19'

EUROPA 2007 (EUROPE 2007)

Pedro Caldas

Portugal, 2007, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 18'40''

LOST IN ART
Portugal, total duration 39'

Cinema revisits other arts. Four different looks at art and artists.

STUART

1. Zepe (José Pedro Cavalheiro)

Portugal, 2006, ANI, 35mm, B&W, 11'26''

ABRAÇO DO VENTO (WIND’S EMBRACE)

José Miguel Ribeiro

Portugal, 2004, ANI, 35mm, Colour, 2'34''

LOST IN ART - LOOKING FOR WITTGENSTEIN

João Louro, Luis Alves de Matos

Portugal, 2007, EXP, Betacam SP, Colour, 10'30''

EXPERIMENTAL
Portugal, Austria, total duration 62'

Portuguese cinema still does not have a strong tradition in experimental and non-narrative film and this area is mostly explored by visual artists. However, in recent years, short films have explored the path of a more conceptual and less narrative cinema.

A PISCINA (THE SWIMMING POOL)

Iana Ferreira, João Viana

Portugal, 2004, FIC, 35mm, Colour, 16'

SUPER 8 SERIES #3 “MEMORY”

Pedro Maia

Portugal, 2007, EXP, Betacam SP, Colour, 7'

REMAINS

Sandro Aguilar

Portugal, 2002, EXP, 35mm, Colour, 12'

OF.BALANCE

Edgar Santinhos, João Biscaia

Portugal, 2005, EXP, Betacam SP, Colour, 3'30''

PAISAGEM (LANDSCAPE)

Renata Sancho

Portugal, 2001, EXP, 35mm, Colour, 17'

o68

Lia

Portugal·Austria, 2008, EXP, Betacam SP, Colour/B&W, 5'54''