One can’t say that the Berlinale is not keeping an eye on Portuguese cinema.
What do the films Batrachian’s Balad, directed by Leonor Teles, and Freud und Friends, directed by Gabriel Abrantes, have in common ? Both are two strong entries for Berlinale’s short film competition and they both defy a canon of traditional cinema. We would also like to highlight the selection of L’oiseau de la nuit, afilm directed by Marie Losier at Forum Expanded.
Leonor Teles gets to enter the Berlin competition with her first film. Batrachian’s Balad shows us that discrimination against Romani is more obvious than we think. A film that takes the seductive form of a fable but indeed is about a xenophobic behaviour.
Gabriel Abrantes, a young director with an already broad international career, again proves his unpredictability with Freud und Friends – a mockumentary about the journey of “Herner Werzog” inside the human brain.
The city in L’oiseau de la nuit, Marie Losier’s film, is mysterious and beautiful, colourful and nightly, just like the life of Fernando – AKA Deborah Krystal – the poetic and scintillating performer of the mythical nightclub Finalmente. Fernando gathers all of Lisbon’s legends: mermaid, bird-woman, woman-lion.
The short films directed by Marie Losier and Gabriel Abrantes are part of the collective film Here in Lisbon, commissioned and produced by IndieLisboa on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the festival.
Batrachian’s Balad was produced by Uma Pedra no Sapato
All films are represented by Portugal Film – Portuguese Film Agency