Started today our 7th edition, with 7 days of programming sailing the 7 seas of cinema, the 7th art. With 10 sessions and 3 workshops sold out, the festival runs until Sunday, January 29th and will occupy Batalha Film Center, Almeida Garrett Library, Casa das Artes, Casa Comum – Reitoria UP, Biodiversity Gallery, Soares dos Reis National Museum, Novo Ático at Coliseu Porto Ageas and Maus Hábitos. Over the 7 days, we propose film sessions organised by themes and age groups, immersive experiences for babies, workshops, a cine-concert and relaxed activities for families.
Having the Sea as its central theme, the festival, in partnership with the FILMar project, will present special sessions composed of ten restored fiction, documentary and animation titles, resulting from institutional commissions or with recreational, informative or advertising purposes, made between 1929 and 1956, where the region’s relationship with the sea, the city of Oporto and its coastal zone are explored. In a parallel work carried out by the festival with the OSMOPE school, two of the 10 films will be presented with sound produced in a workshop with students from the institution.
The most welcoming space of the festival, Baby Cinema returns this year to the festival. Based in the Novo Ático, in the Coliseu Porto Ageas a scenography specially designed for children aged between 3 and 30 months, the experience allows a first exploration of the big screen. Along with the projection sessions, Baby Cinema integrates, for the first time, a workshop, where elements such as water, colour and sound will be used, in a creative way, to stimulate the senses of the little ones.
For the weekend, besides the family sessions, with films for all ages, the festival takes to Batalha a Film Concert with music by The Banksy’s (Vítor Rua and Teresa Ilda de Castro). Aligned is also a focus dedicated to Norwegian cinema, which includes the screening of the feature film Sisters: The Summer We Found Our Superpowers, as well as a selection of animated shorts for children, which showcase the work of current directors.
Outside the cinema, the highlights are the Film+Debate around the way cinema and art can be important tools to mourn (26 January, 11am, Casa Comum – Reitoria da UP), the Scrapbook Animation workshop (29 January, 10.30am, Soares dos Reis National Museum, Porto) or the workshop Let’s Imagine a Sustainable City? (26 January, 2pm and 6pm, Biodiversity Gallery).
There is also an emphasis on Portuguese cinema with the screening of four Portuguese films, Ice Merchants by João Gonzalez, O Homem do Lixo by Laura Gonçalves, O Casaco Rosa by Mónica Santos and Foxtale by Alexandra Allen, which will be accompanied by conversations between the directors and the viewers.
A final note to the section My First Film, where Marie Antoinette, by Sofia Coppola, will be shown, a choice of the digital influencer and DJ Peter Castro, the Dancing Matinee scheduled for January 29th, at 17h30, at Batalha Café, and the session Cinema at the Table, to be held at Maus Hábitos on Wednesday January 25th, at 22h00.
Tickets on sale now!
See you soon =)