Rare opportunity to sample dark side of Portuguese cinema

The three-day festival entitled ‘Colossal Youth: A Festival of Portuguese Film' which opens this Friday 8 February will feature free screenings of films by some of Portugal's new generation of directors.

The festival is a rare opportunity to see Portuguese films that examine issue including poverty, crime and death and offer an alternate view of a country usually associated with sunshine and holiday resorts.

Friday's screening of A Costa Dos Murmurios will be introduced by Dr Maria Manuel Lisboa the Reader in Portuguese at the University's Department of Spanish and Portuguese. There will also be an opportunity for question with the film's director who will be attending.

A Costa Dos Murmurios (Murmuring Coast) is the first full length feature by documentary maker Margarida Cardoso. The film tells the story of Evita, a young woman who travels to Mozambique in the late 60s to marry her partner Luis who is on national service. The story focuses on the turmoil of war and the effect it has on the characters involved.

Originally planned as a documentary, director Terresa Villeverde was forced to rethink her film Os Mutantes (The Mutants) after government authorities refused to co-operate with her. The film, which uses a largely non-professional cast, inspired national debate in Portugal due to its examination of the Portuguese juvenile care system.

Pedro Costa, a highly acclaimed director throughout Europe who has received little attention in Britain, is known for his films that combine elements of documentary and fiction. Ossos (Bones) is the first part of his trilogy looking at the impoverished youth in the shanty towns of Lisbon.

Festival organiser Mónica Brito Vieira said: ‘With the choice of these three hard-edged films, we are trying to challenge the common perception of Portugal. These films, we hope, will bring to Cambridge a Portugal people have never seen'.

New Hall has held biannual film festivals for the last 10 years, with specific interest in world and arthouse cinema. This is the second festival of the academic year following on from the Cambridge African Film Festival last term.

The festival is supported by Instituto Camões (IC), Instituto do Cinema e Audiovisual (ICA), St John's College, Cambridge, and the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages.

All are welcome and admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis; no advance bookings are available. All films are in Portuguese with English subtitles.

Screenings take place at the Buckingham House Lecture Theatre, New Hall, Huntingdon Road.

For further details please see the link at the top right of the page.