Joana Bárcia

In 1917 Burma (now Myanmar), a British diplomat is set to marry his fiancée, but after a sudden panic, escapes to Singapore, sending her on what evolves into a chase across Asia.

Alice, a recently widowed director, is alone on her grief after her daughter leaves home. Alice clings to the only structure she has, a fragile foundation at risk of collapsing: an essay film project, about first loves, dependent on funding. Suddenly we enter in another dimension, another place and without prior notice we are in the film conceived by the director.

Emilia is a writer, living in Lisbon in the year 1959. She is the “Damsel Warrior”, a fictional woman composed from the literary universes of Maria Judite de Carvalho and Irene Lisboa, writers of the city and the characters that inhabit it.

The story of Maria, a woman betrayed by his companion, David, when he steals a sack of money and flees, taking refuge in the island of Pico. Furious and determined to avenge herself, she proposes to an Police Inspector, Lucas, to chase and to find David. However, David, on a visit to the island of Faial, falls in love with a local, Marina. Maria and Lucas look for David in the Azores, they cross with Mariana in Faial and the three will discover David in his house of the mountain, at the top of the Peak. In a final confrontation, as in a Greek tragedy, Mary and David adjust the accounts that fate has traced to them.

João still lives at home with his parents. With absolutely no idea what to do with his life, he leaves the city centre to hang out in the outskirts. The abandoned factory where he spends his days is the lingering echo of a better past. What lies ahead seems worse as João comes face to face with the failure of youth.

1920s. Vitalino, a small farmer from São Vicente sees his father die of the epidemic which decimated the country. Some years later, of all the brothers, Vitalino is the strongest and takes his father’s place in the house. But the village is too small for his aspirations and he decides to head to Brazil, leaving his sisters in charge of the household. In parallel with Vitalino’s story, If I Were a Thief… I’d Steal portrays the world of Paulo Rocha rummaging through his films and ghosts over the years.

The story of Carla and Marta, the daughter who is seriously ill. In Barcelona, Carla discovers a special mirror, which is an open door to the past: it keeps the reflection for several years instead of returning it immediately. Carla offers her daughter the mirror and it will change their lives forever.

Guilherme and Sofia, brother and sister, grow up sharing experiences and slowly discovering their sexuality. The thing that Sofia doesn't know is how far Guilherme will go to keep her inside his own perverse, dark and perfect circle.

Vanitas is the new feature film by veteran Portuguese director Paulo Rocha. With a script by Regina Guimarães, the film brings together actresses Isabel Ruth and Joana Bárcia – no strangers to this director's world – in a story about a depressed fashion designer who falls in love with the daughter of one her tailors.

In mid-September 1992, journalist Guida Fontes have to go to Luanda to cover the elections in Angola. In the meantime, she had committed herself to discovering and interviewing the poet Júlio Vera. In 1988, he wrote a series of poems in which he mysteriously anticipated the fall of the USSR. Guida has only 12 days to complete the mission.