Doclisboa 25

Hugo Pedro’s deliciously-titled feature project portrays a “constellation” of young friends who refuse to kowtow to the world they live in. “By portraying this intimate space shared among a group of friends, we have this unfiltered and unique look into the lives of a non-conformed youth,” says production co-ordinator Vasco Esteves. “Hoping for a more humane world, their daily experiences are fuelled by the desire to conceive a parallel world, a refuge, a community, where they can play, feel happy and be free.”

Representatives of Film Fund Luxembourg, Flanders Image, SEE NL and Wallonie Bruxelles Images are in Lisbon to attend Nebulae, the Doclisboa Industry Space, in order to boost collaboration with the Portuguese and wider doc industries. The program sees the presentation of 11 projects in development and works-in-progress from the Benelux, a Jumpgate session designed to foster wider cross-border collaboration, and two core Industry round tables.

Victoria Hely-Hutchinson’s deliciously paced Vacances is neither a reductive portrait of an old eccentric nor a sensationalist dissection of a dysfunctional family. Although either could probably have been edited from her material. Instead, we mostly find ourselves lounging languidly around a sunny villa in Provence, as the uninhibited, at times inexcusably rude, Granny dominates the proceedings. But at some point, something’s gotta give…

This elegiac ode to a crumbling cinema in Amman intertwines the messy reality of making a documentary [which entails the filmmaker constantly steering his protagonists from behind the camera] with archival news footage on Palestine-Israel. Both meta levels reflect on this beautiful portrayal of the cinema’s last two elderly employees, who struggle daily to keep their doomed movie theatre afloat. Thus say I, a critic and lover of cinema…and of this film.

“The Industry section at Doclisboa is a space for fostering both creative and production-based collaborations. It is also a space for the kind of cinema that the festival believes in — one that values artistic integrity, reflection, and community,” Marina Thomé, the festival’s Director of Industry and Development, underlines to Business Doc Europe as doors opened on the 2025 edition of the Portuguese docfest.

“We need to care for the people that bring the films here, and we need to care for the people that come to watch the films - it's like a mantra,” director Helder Beja tells BDE on the eve of Doclisboa 2025. The Portuguese docfest (Oct 16 to 26) presents 211 films from 54 countries, which include 93 feature films and 118 shorts. Thirty-nine of the films play as world premieres, while 31 films are made by Portuguese filmmakers. The 23rd edition of Doclisboa opens October 16 with Palestinian Kamal Aljafari’s With Hasan in Gaza.

The International Competition brings together 12 films, including seven world premieres, three international premieres, one European premiere, and three debut works. The Portuguese Competition will feature 12 titles, including seven world premieres, one European premiere, and four national premieres. In total, the festival will present 211 films from 54 countries, including 93 feature films and 118 short films. Doclisboa 2025 will take place from October 16 to 26.

Films on Madonna, David Lynch, Boy George, Jeff Buckley are selected for the Heart Beat section, whose selections span “multiple art forms and expressions, celebrating the creative act,” write organisers. From the Earth to the Moon section features three heavyweights of world cinema — Werner Herzog with Ghost Elephants, Lucrecia Martel with Landmarks, and Laura Poitras, co-director of Cover-Up. The 22nd edition of Doclisboa runs 16 - 26 October.

The Portuguese docfest will open October 16 with the documentary With Hasan in Gaza, by Palestinian director Kamal Aljafari, described as “a road movie that transports us to a territory in resistance.” The festival will close October 26 with Eugène Green’s The Tree of Knowledge, labelled “a fable about a teenager, an ogre, and a dark pact.” The complete programme for the 23rd Doclisboa will be announced September 25.

The board of Apordoc has appointed Hélder Beja as the new Director of Doclisboa as part of a renewed structure that now includes Boris Nelepo as Co-Head of Programming, with Cíntia Gil continuing in the role of Associate Programmer. Beja is an arts journalist, editor, and screenwriter who co-founded and directed the Macau Literary Festival for seven editions (2012–2018), and has been one of the organisers of the biennial Asia Pacific Writers & Translators conference since 2019.