A SERIES of Portuguese films will be shown next weekend to celebrate the nation’s 50 years of democracy as part of a film festival.
The 13th Parish International Film Festival has partnered with the Portuguese short film agency Agencia to bring the short films to the Jersey Arts Centre on Sunday.
The festival will run from Thursday until Sunday featuring international shorts from various languages and cultural backgrounds.
The programme on Sunday will mark half a century since the Carnation Revolution that ended Europe’s longest fascist dictatorship and led Portugal to democracy.
It will offer an overview of how the Estado Novo regime, the Portuguese Colonial War, and the 1974 Revolution have been depicted in Portuguese cinema. It covers themes of resistance, fascism, and the memories and traumas of the colonial war.
Films include a political musical called “The Pink Jacket” and “Menina”, about a young housewife set in Lisbon in 1971.
The special programme follows the success of last year’s “Taster Day”, an evening screening of the music documentary “Silêncio – Voices of Lisbon” which explored the roots of Fado singing. The film highlighted how the traditional home of this mournful-style of music is under threat through excessive tourism and gentrification.
The festival’s programme co-ordinator Una Langlois said: “We were honoured that so many of the Portuguese community and their representatives enjoyed the experience last year.
“It’s always our aim to have a diverse and accessible programme, reaching out to as many Islanders, tastes, genres and interests as possible.
“We’re hoping that this will continue to grow in future – our festival is always a celebration of incredible films and stories, told in many formats and in many languages.”
Alongside a diverse selection of contemporary short films and documentaries, the festival will feature a virtual reality experience, public interviews with figures from the film industry such as Hollywood director John Schultz and Jersey filmmaker Rebecca Coley, and a DIY filmmaking workshop.
More information can be found at: 13thparish.org.je
