Cinema of Portugal
Encyclopedia
Portuguese cinema has a long tradition, reaching back to the birth of the medium in the late 19th century. In the 1950s, Cinema Novo, (literally "New Cinema") sprang up as a movement concerned with showing realism in film, in the vein of Italian Neorealism
and the French New Wave
. Directors Manoel de Oliveira
and João César Monteiro
have gained Portuguese cinema international attention.
, as Edwin Rousby presented Robert William Paul's Animatograph, using a Teatrograph projector. This places the Portuguese début around six months after the Lumière brothers's inaugural presentation in Paris.
audience was already familiar with photograph projection, first at the "cicloramas", "dioramas" and the "stereoscopic" views and, later, the magic lantern, with the projection of transparent photographs in glass plate then colored.
On December 28, 1894, the German
photographer Carlos Eisenlohr opened his "Imperial Exhibition" at the galleries of the Avenida Palace Hotel. Beyond the projections already familiar to the Lisbon audience, he presented the great novelty: the live photograph - shown not through an Edison
Kinetograph, as it was announced at the time, but by the Elektrotachyscop or Schnellseher, an invention by Ottomar Anschutz, that A. J. Ferreira calls Electro-Tachiscópio Eisenlohr. The device projected images of actions, of a dog passing by or the gallop of a horse, contained in disks of small diameter that produced images of extremely short seconds.
In the beginning of 1895, the tobacco shop Tabacaria Neves presents Edison's Kinetoscope
(in fact, a copy of said invention, built in London by Robert William Paul, ordered by the Greek George Georgiades, who presented the machine in Lisbon). Unlike the precededing invention, the Kinestoscope provided individual visioning and the film with about 1380 photographs enabled a projection of 20 seconds.
The machine that presented the movie session at the Real Colyseu was not the Cinematograph of the Lumiére brothers, but rather one of its competitors, the Teatrograph, also by Robert W. Paul, that merely projected. The machine projected behind the screen, where natural size images appeared for about a minute. The session was very well received and in the upcoming months, many were the machines swirling at the movie theatres of Lisbon, vying for the favour of the movie audience.
At the Real Colyseu of the Rua da Palma of António Santos Júnior, on June 18, 1896, Edwin Rousby showed the films of the producing house of British Robert-William Paul, for whom it worked. Those are films of about a minute, "animated views" taken by the operators of the British proucer: "Parisian balls", "The Pont Neuf in Paris", "The Train", "The Serpentine Dance", "A Barber and Shoeshine Store in Washington".
Edwin Rousby meets Manuel Maria da Costa Veiga, a photographer with electrical and mechanical skills, who assisted him in preparing his session. Thrilled, Costa Veiga begins acting as an exhibitor, acquiring a projectoscope from Edison that same year and showing films in Lisbon venues.
Robert W. Paul will also send his operator Henry Short to Southern Europe, to record the animated views of landscapes enrichening the programme of the English producing house. Short also passes by Portugal, registering several views that, though destined to be shown in London, would be integrated in the program of Rousby's Portuguese sessions, in 1897.
The success is overwhelming, prolonging his stays and increasing the sessions. However, when Rousby proceeds with his tour to the Teatro-Circo Príncipe Real, in Oporto, that the animated photograph gains not only an enthusiast but also a professional, who would found Portuguese cinema: Aurélio da Paz dos Reis.
From July to August, Rousby presents his films at the Teatro do Príncipe Real (currently the Teatro Sá da Bandeira), without achieving, however, the success of Lisbon.
bathing in Cascais
. Costa Veiga begins recording official visits and other relevant political events of the nation. He founds the first Portuguese producing house, "Portugal Film", headquartered in Algés
, close to his home.
In 1909 are born, in Lisbon, the "Portugália Film", of João Freire Correia and Manuel Cardoso, financed by D. Nuno de Almada, and the"Empresa Cinematográfica Ideal" of Júlio Costa.
João Freire Correia, a photographer, begins his activity by buying a projector for the opening of the "Salão Ideal ao Loreto" in 1904, the first Portuguese movie theatre. He founds his producing company five years later, for which he'll turn several films, such as the Batalha de Flores ("Battle of Flowers") that garnered vast success. He was the operator of O Rapto de Uma Actriz ("The kidnapping of an Actress"), the first scripted Portuguese film, directed by Lino Ferreira in 1907.
Freire Correia however directed two documentaries of significant success in 1909: A Cavalaria Portuguesa ("The Portuguese Cavalry") and the O Terramoto de Benavente ("The earthquake of Benavente"). The first showed already some technique on image capture, displaying the prowess of Portuguese cavalry in such a way as to create situations of danger, fictitious, to the audience. The earthquake was filmed in April, having been shown two days later - a remarkable speed - and with the export of 22 copies abroad.
João Freire Correia would also be responsible for the production of the two versions of Os Crimes de Diogo Alves ("The Crimes of Diogo Alves"), whose direction he entrusted first to Lino Ferreira in 1909 but that remained incomplete, with João Tavares a then directing a second version in 1911.
Of note still the early attempt at sound films with the incomplete Grisette (1908), using the Gaumont
method but with the adaptations by Freire Correia, who attempted to synchronize image and sound. Portugália produced also the first film from the adaptation of a literary work. Carlota Ângela was based in the work with the same name by Camilo Castelo Branco
and was directed by João Tavares, in 1912.
Júlio Costa, partnering with João Almeida, acquired the "Salão Ideal" from Freire Correia and Nuno Almada in 1908 and starts the "Empresa Cinematográfica Ideal", producer and distributor. Remodelled and appropriately refitted, the Salão Ideal presents a predecessor of the talkies, the "Animatógrafo Falado" (Spoken Animatograph): a group of people reads the texts and produces sound in synch with the film's exhibition. That group was made up by the Volunteer Firefighters of Ajuda
, of which not only Júlio Costa but also António Silva
, the unforgettable actor of the Portuguese Golden Age comedies, were members.
While waiting for the construction of his studio at Rua Marquês Ponte de Lima, Júlio Costa begins his activity filming "views". He begins filming features with Chantecler Atraiçoado ("Chantecler Betrayed") and then with Rainha depois de Morta ("Queen After Dead"), by Carlos Santos, the first Portuguese film with an historic motif. Júlio Costa's company was also a pioneer for having grouped for the first time production, distribution and exhibition. The company would cease activity after a suspicious fire.
In 1918, "Lusitânia Film" is born, a production company with an ambitious project, led by Celestino Soares and Luís Reis Santos. They rework the old studio of Portugália Film, in São Bento, and begin activities filming documentaries.
Still in 1918, two short films are done outdoors by Costa Veiga and directed by young Leitão de Barros: Malmequer ("Daisy") and Mal de Espanha ("Evil From Spain"). The shooting of O Homem dos Olhos Tortos ("The man with the Twisted Eyes") begins, based upon a police serial by Reinaldo Ferreira, directed by Leitão de Barros. However, due to financial pressures, it would remain incompelte. A well-organized conspiracy would close down the company that intended to film A Severa as its next production.
Closed the "cycle of Lisbon", the first Oporto producer is founded, who would ensure for some years the continuous production of cinema in Portugal.
The company films current events and documentaries, among them O Naufrágio do Silurian ("The Sinking of the Silurian"), of which 108 copies will be shipped to Europe. In November 1917, Nunes de Mattos decides to found the second "Invicta Film, Lda", increasing the number of partners and the equity. Henrique Alegria takes over the Art Direction and they acquire the Quinta da Prelada, in Oporto, where the studios and laboratories of the producer are to be built.
In 1918 they leave for Paris, from where they bring a technical team from the Pathé
studios. The team is led by Georges Pallu, the director who would author virtually all the feature films of the Oporto producing house. In the team were also André Lecointe, architect-decorator; Albert Durot, camera operator and Georges and Valentine Coutable - the couple who would be, respectively, the Chief Lab and Chief Editor. Durot would later be replaced by Maurice Laumann, also from Pathé.
For six years, "Invicta Film" produces several films and documentaries, enrichening the Portuguese film landscape. In 1924, however, the company shows severe financial distress, leading to laying off all its personnel and ensuring only the lab work. They would shutdown in 1928.
Rino Lupo is another milestone of cinematography. He shows up through Georges Pallu, who accepts his direction of Mulheres da Beira ("Women from Beira"), after a tale by Abel Botelho
, with photography by Artur Costa de Macedo. Though the financial disagreements and the unfulfilment of deadlines force his removal from the company, Rino Lupo still directs Os Lobos ("The Wolves"), another pearl of the Portuguese silent cinema. He'll direct other movies, however without the quality of the earlier works.
Three other companies are set up in the 20s to fill in the gap from the brief existence of the Portuguese studios: "Caldevilla Film", "Fortuna Film" and "Pátria Film". These also follow the Portuguese motif, hiring foreign technicians to use their experience in the Portuguese production. Though the directors brought from French production houses were presented as recognised stars in their countries, in fact, they made use of that limelight to progress their careers without having the claimed background.
Raul de Caldevilla founds in 1920 his "Caldevilla Film", placing production in Lisbon, at Quinta das Conchas, in Lumiar. Frenchman Maurice Mariaud is the director chosen for the works Os Faroleiros ("The Lighthouse Men") and As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor ("The Wards of the Dean"), for its only two productions. The company would shut down due to acute disagreement among partners due to financial matters.
Virgínia de Castro e Almeida, a writer of children's books, founds in Lisbon the studio "Fortuna Film". She hires a French lawyer, Roger Lion, to direct productions based upon her books. With him, he brings actress Gil-Clary, his wife, Maxudian and the cameramen Daniel Quintin and Marcel Bizot. They shoot A Sereia de Pedra ("The Stone Mermaid") and Olhos da Alma ("Eyes of the Soul"), the latter shot in Nazaré
, in what was its first screen register.
Henrique Alegria leaves "Invicta Film", in 1922, to found "Pátria Film" with Raul Lopes Freire. They buy Quinta das Conchas, where Maurice Mariaud directs O Fado ("The Fado"). This company too would cease to operate after shooting Aventuras de Agapito - Fotografia Comprometedora ("Adventures of Agapito - Compromising Photograph"), the fourth film directed by Roger Lion in Portugal.
(who would soon launch Manoel de Oliveira
), Jorge Brum do Canto
, Chianca de Garcia and Arthur Duarte
.
Their agenda is to move away from the previous productions, taking inspiration in the esthetic designs of the French, German and Russian cinemas. The casts also support this disruptive move, bringing to the screen the stars of the Revista, by contrast to the spoken theatre. Stars such as Eduardo Brazão, Brunilde Júdice, António Pinheiro or Pato Moniz fade, and a new school begins with the presence of Vasco Santana
, António Silva
, Maria Matos
, Ribeirinho
or Maria Olguim.
At the same time, the relationship of the State with cinema was also to change from the end of the 20s. The installed powers understood these youngsters dominated the cinema press and influenced masses with the perspectives and the way the conveyed their messages, a privileged means of propaganda for the new regime.
António Lopes Ribeiro
launches his career benefiting from the 100 metres Law. He films Uma Batida em Malpique ("A huntin Malpique") and Bailando ao Sol ("Dancing in the Sun") (1928), the latter with photography by Aníbal Contreiras. He will later depart with Leitão de Barros in a visit through the European studios, where he'll meet Dziga Vertov
and Eiseinstein
.
Leitão de Barros, who screens at Lopes Ribeiro's home the 9,5 mm film he had made with his brother-in-law in Nazaré, is spurred and returns to filming with Nazaré, Praia de Pescadores ("Nazaré, Beach of Fishermen"). Again in Nazaré, Leitão de Barros films Maria do Mar ("Mary of the Sea"), the second ethnofiction
in the history of cinema, a milestone for the bleak Portuguese cinematography esthetics. He also directs Lisboa, Crónica Anedótica ("Lisbon, an Anectodal Chronicle") (1929), where in a gathering of multiple city scenes, he displays Chaby Pinheiro, repeaters Adelina Abranches and Alves da Cunha, Nascimento Fernandes, and the unforgettable Vasco Santana
and Beatriz Costa
.
Inspired by Marcel l'Herbier, Jorge Brum do Canto
opens with A Dança dos Paroxismos ("The Dance of the Paroxisms") (1928), with his own script and where he plays the main role. It opens with a private session in 1930, and will only be seen again in 1984.
Manoel de Oliveira
shoots Douro, Faina Fluvial ("Douro, River Works"), and António Lopes Ribeiro persuades him to take it to the V International Critics Congress, where it receives the praise of Pirandello.
But will again be Leitão de Barros who will leave a print in movie history, with A Severa, based upon the work by Júlio Dantas
, with the direction of the first Portuguese talkie. A new era of Portuguese cinema was to begin.
The Golden Age, as it is known, began that same year with the release of A Canção de Lisboa
, and dominated the country for the next two decades, eventually fading away during the 1950s and giving way to the Novo Cinema in the 1960s. Another famous titles from this popular era are Aldeia da Roupa Branca (1938), O Pátio das Cantigas
and O Pai Tirano (1941), O Costa do Castelo
(1943), A Menina da Rádio
(1944) and O Leão da Estrela (1947).
During this period historic films also emerged as an important genre in the Portuguese industry, as a medium for the state party to develop its nationalist propaganda and conservative values, namely As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor
(1935), Bocage
(1936), Amor de Perdição
(1943), Inês de Castro
(1945), Camões (1946) and Frei Luís de Sousa (1950). A sub-genre of these nationalist films were those related to the culture of Fado and the rise to popularity of Amália Rodrigues, the greatest name of the Portuguese song. Some of those films are Capas Negras and Fado, História de Uma Cantadeira, both from 1947.
1942 saw the release of Aniki-Bóbó
, the first full-length non-documentary film from Manoel de Oliveira, who would only return to fiction film-making twenty-one years later. This film is a milestone in Portuguese film not only because it differ from the tone most in vogue at the time, dealing with social issues, but also because it can be stated that it predated the first Italian neo-realism movies for a few years.
(1952), both directed by Manuel Guimarães and inspired by the Italian neo-realism.
In 1958 opens the Portuguese Cinematheque with a retrospective of American movies that inspired the French filmmakers of the Nouvelle Vague, an event lauded by then new critics Alberto Seixas Santos e António Pedro Vasconcelos.
This new fase was named Cinema Novo
or Novo Cinema (New Cinema), referring to Portuguese cinema made between 1963 and the revolution in 1974 by directors such as Fernando Lopes
, Paulo Rocha
or António da Cunha Telles
, amongst others. Like other new waves of the period, the influence of Italian Neo-Realism and the burgeoning ideas of the Nouvelle Vague can be felt keenly.
During the following years appeared films like Belarmino
(1964), Domingo à Tarde (1965), Sete balas para Selma (1967) and O Cerco (1969).
The term Novo Cinema is now used to avoid confusion with the Brazilian movement
of the same name. This movement gains particular relevance after the Carnation Revolution
, pursuing certain experiences of the French New Wave, both in the field of visual anthropology
and of political cinema
. The generation of the seventies, taking advantage of the new liberties, explores realism
and legend
, politics
and ethnography
, until the late eighties, in conjunction with some directors of the liberated colonies, such as Flora Gomes. Portugal has a notable tradition in the field of docufiction
and ethnofiction
since Leitão de Barros, a contemporary to Robert Flaherty.
. The most successful film this year was O Crime do Padre Amaro
, with more than 300 000 viewers, grossing more than 1.3 million euros. The following year, 22 feature films were released, five of them documentaries. The most successful film this year was Filme da Treta, with more than 270 000 viewers, grossing more than 1 million euros.
In Portuguese
Italian neorealism
Italian neorealism is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors...
and the French New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
. Directors Manoel de Oliveira
Manoel de Oliveira
Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira, GCSE is a Portuguese film director born in Cedofeita, Porto. He began working on films in the late 1920s, but did not receive international recognition until the early 1970s. Since the late 1980s he has been one of the most prolific working film directors and...
and João César Monteiro
João César Monteiro
João César Monteiro was a Portuguese film director, actor, writer and film critic . He was born in Figueira da Foz on February 2, 1939 and died of cancer in Lisbon on February 3, 2003.- Life and career :...
have gained Portuguese cinema international attention.
Silent film
Portuguese silent film began its course on June 18, 1896, at the Real Colyseu da Rua da Palma nº 288, in LisbonLisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, as Edwin Rousby presented Robert William Paul's Animatograph, using a Teatrograph projector. This places the Portuguese début around six months after the Lumière brothers's inaugural presentation in Paris.
The early days
However, the PortuguesePortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
audience was already familiar with photograph projection, first at the "cicloramas", "dioramas" and the "stereoscopic" views and, later, the magic lantern, with the projection of transparent photographs in glass plate then colored.
On December 28, 1894, the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
photographer Carlos Eisenlohr opened his "Imperial Exhibition" at the galleries of the Avenida Palace Hotel. Beyond the projections already familiar to the Lisbon audience, he presented the great novelty: the live photograph - shown not through an Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
Kinetograph, as it was announced at the time, but by the Elektrotachyscop or Schnellseher, an invention by Ottomar Anschutz, that A. J. Ferreira calls Electro-Tachiscópio Eisenlohr. The device projected images of actions, of a dog passing by or the gallop of a horse, contained in disks of small diameter that produced images of extremely short seconds.
In the beginning of 1895, the tobacco shop Tabacaria Neves presents Edison's Kinetoscope
Kinetoscope
The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
(in fact, a copy of said invention, built in London by Robert William Paul, ordered by the Greek George Georgiades, who presented the machine in Lisbon). Unlike the precededing invention, the Kinestoscope provided individual visioning and the film with about 1380 photographs enabled a projection of 20 seconds.
The machine that presented the movie session at the Real Colyseu was not the Cinematograph of the Lumiére brothers, but rather one of its competitors, the Teatrograph, also by Robert W. Paul, that merely projected. The machine projected behind the screen, where natural size images appeared for about a minute. The session was very well received and in the upcoming months, many were the machines swirling at the movie theatres of Lisbon, vying for the favour of the movie audience.
At the Real Colyseu of the Rua da Palma of António Santos Júnior, on June 18, 1896, Edwin Rousby showed the films of the producing house of British Robert-William Paul, for whom it worked. Those are films of about a minute, "animated views" taken by the operators of the British proucer: "Parisian balls", "The Pont Neuf in Paris", "The Train", "The Serpentine Dance", "A Barber and Shoeshine Store in Washington".
Edwin Rousby meets Manuel Maria da Costa Veiga, a photographer with electrical and mechanical skills, who assisted him in preparing his session. Thrilled, Costa Veiga begins acting as an exhibitor, acquiring a projectoscope from Edison that same year and showing films in Lisbon venues.
Robert W. Paul will also send his operator Henry Short to Southern Europe, to record the animated views of landscapes enrichening the programme of the English producing house. Short also passes by Portugal, registering several views that, though destined to be shown in London, would be integrated in the program of Rousby's Portuguese sessions, in 1897.
The success is overwhelming, prolonging his stays and increasing the sessions. However, when Rousby proceeds with his tour to the Teatro-Circo Príncipe Real, in Oporto, that the animated photograph gains not only an enthusiast but also a professional, who would found Portuguese cinema: Aurélio da Paz dos Reis.
The pioneers and the producing houses
Three years after beginning is exhibition business, Costa Veiga purchases a movie camera and registers his first film, Aspectos da Praia de Cascais ("Views of the Cascais beach"), with images of King D. CarlosCarlos I of Portugal
-Assassination:On 1 February 1908 the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They travelled by train to Barreiro and, from there, they took a steamer to cross the Tagus River and disembarked at Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon. On their way to the royal palace, the open...
bathing in Cascais
Cascais
Cascais is a coastal town in Cascais Municipality in Portugal, 30 kilometres west of Lisbon, with about 35,000 residents. It is a cosmopolitan suburb of the Portuguese capital and one of the richest municipalities in Portugal. The former fishing village gained fame as a resort for Portugal's royal...
. Costa Veiga begins recording official visits and other relevant political events of the nation. He founds the first Portuguese producing house, "Portugal Film", headquartered in Algés
Algés
Algés may refer to:* Algés Parish, a parish in Oeiras, Portugal* Algés River, a river in Algés Parish, Portugal...
, close to his home.
In 1909 are born, in Lisbon, the "Portugália Film", of João Freire Correia and Manuel Cardoso, financed by D. Nuno de Almada, and the"Empresa Cinematográfica Ideal" of Júlio Costa.
João Freire Correia, a photographer, begins his activity by buying a projector for the opening of the "Salão Ideal ao Loreto" in 1904, the first Portuguese movie theatre. He founds his producing company five years later, for which he'll turn several films, such as the Batalha de Flores ("Battle of Flowers") that garnered vast success. He was the operator of O Rapto de Uma Actriz ("The kidnapping of an Actress"), the first scripted Portuguese film, directed by Lino Ferreira in 1907.
Freire Correia however directed two documentaries of significant success in 1909: A Cavalaria Portuguesa ("The Portuguese Cavalry") and the O Terramoto de Benavente ("The earthquake of Benavente"). The first showed already some technique on image capture, displaying the prowess of Portuguese cavalry in such a way as to create situations of danger, fictitious, to the audience. The earthquake was filmed in April, having been shown two days later - a remarkable speed - and with the export of 22 copies abroad.
João Freire Correia would also be responsible for the production of the two versions of Os Crimes de Diogo Alves ("The Crimes of Diogo Alves"), whose direction he entrusted first to Lino Ferreira in 1909 but that remained incomplete, with João Tavares a then directing a second version in 1911.
Of note still the early attempt at sound films with the incomplete Grisette (1908), using the Gaumont
Léon Gaumont
Léon Gaumont was a French inventor, engineer, and industrialist who was a pioneer of the motion picture industry....
method but with the adaptations by Freire Correia, who attempted to synchronize image and sound. Portugália produced also the first film from the adaptation of a literary work. Carlota Ângela was based in the work with the same name by Camilo Castelo Branco
Camilo Castelo Branco
Camilo Ferreira Botelho Castelo-Branco,1st Viscount de Correia Botelho , was a prolific Portuguese writer of the 19th century, having authored over 260 books . His writing is, overall, considered original in that it combines the dramatic and sentimental spirit of Romanticism with a highly personal...
and was directed by João Tavares, in 1912.
Júlio Costa, partnering with João Almeida, acquired the "Salão Ideal" from Freire Correia and Nuno Almada in 1908 and starts the "Empresa Cinematográfica Ideal", producer and distributor. Remodelled and appropriately refitted, the Salão Ideal presents a predecessor of the talkies, the "Animatógrafo Falado" (Spoken Animatograph): a group of people reads the texts and produces sound in synch with the film's exhibition. That group was made up by the Volunteer Firefighters of Ajuda
Ajuda
Ajuda is a Portuguese civil parish in the municipality of Lisbon with an area and 17,961 inhabitants ; its density was 5707.3 inhabitants/km².-History:...
, of which not only Júlio Costa but also António Silva
António Silva
António Maria da Silva was a Portuguese actor. He accumulated over 40 credits over his more than 50 years in acting.-Early life:...
, the unforgettable actor of the Portuguese Golden Age comedies, were members.
While waiting for the construction of his studio at Rua Marquês Ponte de Lima, Júlio Costa begins his activity filming "views". He begins filming features with Chantecler Atraiçoado ("Chantecler Betrayed") and then with Rainha depois de Morta ("Queen After Dead"), by Carlos Santos, the first Portuguese film with an historic motif. Júlio Costa's company was also a pioneer for having grouped for the first time production, distribution and exhibition. The company would cease activity after a suspicious fire.
In 1918, "Lusitânia Film" is born, a production company with an ambitious project, led by Celestino Soares and Luís Reis Santos. They rework the old studio of Portugália Film, in São Bento, and begin activities filming documentaries.
Still in 1918, two short films are done outdoors by Costa Veiga and directed by young Leitão de Barros: Malmequer ("Daisy") and Mal de Espanha ("Evil From Spain"). The shooting of O Homem dos Olhos Tortos ("The man with the Twisted Eyes") begins, based upon a police serial by Reinaldo Ferreira, directed by Leitão de Barros. However, due to financial pressures, it would remain incompelte. A well-organized conspiracy would close down the company that intended to film A Severa as its next production.
Closed the "cycle of Lisbon", the first Oporto producer is founded, who would ensure for some years the continuous production of cinema in Portugal.
The foreign Portuguese cinematography
After founding a production company bearing his name in 1910, the Oporto exhibitor Nunes de Mattos, adds "Invicta Film" to its corporate name, two years later.The company films current events and documentaries, among them O Naufrágio do Silurian ("The Sinking of the Silurian"), of which 108 copies will be shipped to Europe. In November 1917, Nunes de Mattos decides to found the second "Invicta Film, Lda", increasing the number of partners and the equity. Henrique Alegria takes over the Art Direction and they acquire the Quinta da Prelada, in Oporto, where the studios and laboratories of the producer are to be built.
In 1918 they leave for Paris, from where they bring a technical team from the Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
studios. The team is led by Georges Pallu, the director who would author virtually all the feature films of the Oporto producing house. In the team were also André Lecointe, architect-decorator; Albert Durot, camera operator and Georges and Valentine Coutable - the couple who would be, respectively, the Chief Lab and Chief Editor. Durot would later be replaced by Maurice Laumann, also from Pathé.
For six years, "Invicta Film" produces several films and documentaries, enrichening the Portuguese film landscape. In 1924, however, the company shows severe financial distress, leading to laying off all its personnel and ensuring only the lab work. They would shutdown in 1928.
Rino Lupo is another milestone of cinematography. He shows up through Georges Pallu, who accepts his direction of Mulheres da Beira ("Women from Beira"), after a tale by Abel Botelho
Abel Botelho
Abel Acácio de Almeida Botelho , born in Tabuaço and deceased in Argentina, was a Portuguese military officer and diplomat, but distinguish himself as a writer. In 1911, he took part on the commission which chose and approved the draft for what would be the current flag of Portugal.-References:...
, with photography by Artur Costa de Macedo. Though the financial disagreements and the unfulfilment of deadlines force his removal from the company, Rino Lupo still directs Os Lobos ("The Wolves"), another pearl of the Portuguese silent cinema. He'll direct other movies, however without the quality of the earlier works.
Three other companies are set up in the 20s to fill in the gap from the brief existence of the Portuguese studios: "Caldevilla Film", "Fortuna Film" and "Pátria Film". These also follow the Portuguese motif, hiring foreign technicians to use their experience in the Portuguese production. Though the directors brought from French production houses were presented as recognised stars in their countries, in fact, they made use of that limelight to progress their careers without having the claimed background.
Raul de Caldevilla founds in 1920 his "Caldevilla Film", placing production in Lisbon, at Quinta das Conchas, in Lumiar. Frenchman Maurice Mariaud is the director chosen for the works Os Faroleiros ("The Lighthouse Men") and As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor ("The Wards of the Dean"), for its only two productions. The company would shut down due to acute disagreement among partners due to financial matters.
Virgínia de Castro e Almeida, a writer of children's books, founds in Lisbon the studio "Fortuna Film". She hires a French lawyer, Roger Lion, to direct productions based upon her books. With him, he brings actress Gil-Clary, his wife, Maxudian and the cameramen Daniel Quintin and Marcel Bizot. They shoot A Sereia de Pedra ("The Stone Mermaid") and Olhos da Alma ("Eyes of the Soul"), the latter shot in Nazaré
Nazaré
-In Brazil:*Nazaré, Bahia*Nazaré, Tocantins*Nazaré Paulista, São Paulo...
, in what was its first screen register.
Henrique Alegria leaves "Invicta Film", in 1922, to found "Pátria Film" with Raul Lopes Freire. They buy Quinta das Conchas, where Maurice Mariaud directs O Fado ("The Fado"). This company too would cease to operate after shooting Aventuras de Agapito - Fotografia Comprometedora ("Adventures of Agapito - Compromising Photograph"), the fourth film directed by Roger Lion in Portugal.
The new generation
At the end of the roaring twenties, the "young Turks" begin the regency of the cinema estates, with the return of Leitão de Barros and the emergence of young António Lopes RibeiroAntónio Lopes Ribeiro
António Filipe Lopes Ribeiro was a Portuguese film director.Son of Manuel Henrique Correia da Silva Ribeiro and wife Ester da Nazaré Lopes, he was the older brother of actor Ribeirinho.-Filmography:...
(who would soon launch Manoel de Oliveira
Manoel de Oliveira
Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira, GCSE is a Portuguese film director born in Cedofeita, Porto. He began working on films in the late 1920s, but did not receive international recognition until the early 1970s. Since the late 1980s he has been one of the most prolific working film directors and...
), Jorge Brum do Canto
Jorge Brum do Canto
Jorge Brum do Canto was a Portuguese film director.-Biography:Jorge Brum do Canto was born in Lisbon, on February 10, 1910, from a family with aristocratic Flemish and English roots. In Lisbon he attended high school and entered in the University of Lisbon, Faculty of Law but did not conclude his...
, Chianca de Garcia and Arthur Duarte
Arthur Duarte
Arthur Duarte was a Portuguese film director.-Selected filmography:*1938 - Os Fidalgos da Casa Mourisca*1943 - O Costa do Castelo*1944 - A Menina da Rádio*1947 - O Leão da Estrela*1954 - A Garça e a Serpente...
.
Their agenda is to move away from the previous productions, taking inspiration in the esthetic designs of the French, German and Russian cinemas. The casts also support this disruptive move, bringing to the screen the stars of the Revista, by contrast to the spoken theatre. Stars such as Eduardo Brazão, Brunilde Júdice, António Pinheiro or Pato Moniz fade, and a new school begins with the presence of Vasco Santana
Vasco Santana
Vasco Santana was a Portuguese actor, one of the most renowned of the classical era of Portuguese cinema....
, António Silva
António Silva
António Maria da Silva was a Portuguese actor. He accumulated over 40 credits over his more than 50 years in acting.-Early life:...
, Maria Matos
Maria Matos
Maria de Conceição de Matos Ferreira da Silva was a Portuguese actress and theatre personality.-Career:...
, Ribeirinho
Ribeirinho
Ribeirinho, stage name of Francisco Carlos Lopes Ribeiro was a Portuguese actor and director....
or Maria Olguim.
At the same time, the relationship of the State with cinema was also to change from the end of the 20s. The installed powers understood these youngsters dominated the cinema press and influenced masses with the perspectives and the way the conveyed their messages, a privileged means of propaganda for the new regime.
António Lopes Ribeiro
António Lopes Ribeiro
António Filipe Lopes Ribeiro was a Portuguese film director.Son of Manuel Henrique Correia da Silva Ribeiro and wife Ester da Nazaré Lopes, he was the older brother of actor Ribeirinho.-Filmography:...
launches his career benefiting from the 100 metres Law. He films Uma Batida em Malpique ("A huntin Malpique") and Bailando ao Sol ("Dancing in the Sun") (1928), the latter with photography by Aníbal Contreiras. He will later depart with Leitão de Barros in a visit through the European studios, where he'll meet Dziga Vertov
Dziga Vertov
David Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
and Eiseinstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
.
Leitão de Barros, who screens at Lopes Ribeiro's home the 9,5 mm film he had made with his brother-in-law in Nazaré, is spurred and returns to filming with Nazaré, Praia de Pescadores ("Nazaré, Beach of Fishermen"). Again in Nazaré, Leitão de Barros films Maria do Mar ("Mary of the Sea"), the second ethnofiction
Ethnofiction
Ethnofiction is a neologism which refers to an ethnographic docufiction sub-genre, a blend of documentary and fiction film in the area of visual anthropology. It is a film style in which the portrayed characters play their own roles as members of an ethnic or social group.Jean Rouch is considered...
in the history of cinema, a milestone for the bleak Portuguese cinematography esthetics. He also directs Lisboa, Crónica Anedótica ("Lisbon, an Anectodal Chronicle") (1929), where in a gathering of multiple city scenes, he displays Chaby Pinheiro, repeaters Adelina Abranches and Alves da Cunha, Nascimento Fernandes, and the unforgettable Vasco Santana
Vasco Santana
Vasco Santana was a Portuguese actor, one of the most renowned of the classical era of Portuguese cinema....
and Beatriz Costa
Beatriz Costa
Beatriz Costa was a Portuguese actress, the best-known actress of the golden age of Portuguese cinema....
.
Inspired by Marcel l'Herbier, Jorge Brum do Canto
Jorge Brum do Canto
Jorge Brum do Canto was a Portuguese film director.-Biography:Jorge Brum do Canto was born in Lisbon, on February 10, 1910, from a family with aristocratic Flemish and English roots. In Lisbon he attended high school and entered in the University of Lisbon, Faculty of Law but did not conclude his...
opens with A Dança dos Paroxismos ("The Dance of the Paroxisms") (1928), with his own script and where he plays the main role. It opens with a private session in 1930, and will only be seen again in 1984.
Manoel de Oliveira
Manoel de Oliveira
Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira, GCSE is a Portuguese film director born in Cedofeita, Porto. He began working on films in the late 1920s, but did not receive international recognition until the early 1970s. Since the late 1980s he has been one of the most prolific working film directors and...
shoots Douro, Faina Fluvial ("Douro, River Works"), and António Lopes Ribeiro persuades him to take it to the V International Critics Congress, where it receives the praise of Pirandello.
But will again be Leitão de Barros who will leave a print in movie history, with A Severa, based upon the work by Júlio Dantas
Júlio Dantas
Júlio Dantas, GCC was a Portuguese doctor, poet, journalist, politician, diplomat and dramatist.-Biography:...
, with the direction of the first Portuguese talkie. A new era of Portuguese cinema was to begin.
1930s - 1940s
With the rise to power of the right-wing party and the beginning of the Estado Novo, in 1933, a new genre of film started, based on the comedy and musical genres, famously the " A Comédia À Portuguesa", with focus in contemporary life and more light matters, and the intention of taking the minds of the people from the difficult times faced.The Golden Age, as it is known, began that same year with the release of A Canção de Lisboa
A Canção de Lisboa
A Canção de Lisboa is a Portuguese film comedy from 1933, directed by José Cottinelli Telmo, and starring Vasco Santana, Beatriz Costa, António Silva, Alfredo Silva, Ana Maria, Artur Rodrigues, Coralia Escobar, Eduardo Fernandes, Elvira Coutinho, Fernanda Campos, Francisco Costa, Henrique Alves,...
, and dominated the country for the next two decades, eventually fading away during the 1950s and giving way to the Novo Cinema in the 1960s. Another famous titles from this popular era are Aldeia da Roupa Branca (1938), O Pátio das Cantigas
O Pátio das Cantigas
O Pátio das Cantigas is a Portuguese film from 1942, directed by Francisco Ribeiro, "Ribeirinho", that takes place in a typical Lisbon neighbourhood during the Popular Saints festivals, through a maze of misunderstandings and innuendos, with Vasco Santana, António Silva, Laura Alves and...
and O Pai Tirano (1941), O Costa do Castelo
O Costa do Castelo
O Costa do Castelo is a Portuguese film comedy from 1943, directed by Arthur Duarte, and starring António Silva, Maria Matos, Curado Ribeiro, Milu, Hermínia Silva,the famous Fado singer, and Teresa Casal...
(1943), A Menina da Rádio
A Menina da Rádio
A Menina da Rádio is a 1944 Portuguese musical film comedy directed by Arthur Duarte.-Cast:* Maria Matos ... D. Rosa Gonçalves* António Silva ... Cipriano Lopes* María Eugenia ... Geninha, a Menina da Rádio* Francisco Ribeiro ... Fortunato...
(1944) and O Leão da Estrela (1947).
During this period historic films also emerged as an important genre in the Portuguese industry, as a medium for the state party to develop its nationalist propaganda and conservative values, namely As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor
As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor
As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor is a Portuguese romance novel by Júlio Dinis, written in 1863 and published in 1867. It was a success, and followed with a number of similar themed novels such as A Morgadinha dos Canaviais...
(1935), Bocage
Bocage
Bocage is a Norman word which has entered both the French and English languages. It may refer to a small forest, a decorative element of leaves, a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture, or a type of rubble-work, comparable with the English use of 'rustic' in relation to garden...
(1936), Amor de Perdição
Amor de Perdição
Amor de Perdição is a 19th century Portuguese novel by Camilo Castelo Branco. It has been adapted into several films, like Amor de Perdição and a telenovela.-Adaptations:...
(1943), Inês de Castro
Inês de Castro
Inês Peres de Castro was a Galician noblewoman born of a Portuguese mother...
(1945), Camões (1946) and Frei Luís de Sousa (1950). A sub-genre of these nationalist films were those related to the culture of Fado and the rise to popularity of Amália Rodrigues, the greatest name of the Portuguese song. Some of those films are Capas Negras and Fado, História de Uma Cantadeira, both from 1947.
1942 saw the release of Aniki-Bóbó
Aniki-Bóbó
Aniki-Bóbó is a 1942 Portuguese film directed by Manoel de Oliveira. It is his first feature-length film. Mostly children, from Oliveira's hometown, Porto, play in its story. The script was adapted by Manoel de Oliveira from a short story by José Rodrigues de Freitas, Meninos Milionários...
, the first full-length non-documentary film from Manoel de Oliveira, who would only return to fiction film-making twenty-one years later. This film is a milestone in Portuguese film not only because it differ from the tone most in vogue at the time, dealing with social issues, but also because it can be stated that it predated the first Italian neo-realism movies for a few years.
1950s
The Fifties were mainly years of stagnation with the continuity of the same movies made in the earlier decades, government censorship and glorification of the colonial empire - see Chaimite (1953); although the first signs of the winds to come were being given by films like Saltimbancos (1951) and NazaréNazaré
-In Brazil:*Nazaré, Bahia*Nazaré, Tocantins*Nazaré Paulista, São Paulo...
(1952), both directed by Manuel Guimarães and inspired by the Italian neo-realism.
In 1958 opens the Portuguese Cinematheque with a retrospective of American movies that inspired the French filmmakers of the Nouvelle Vague, an event lauded by then new critics Alberto Seixas Santos e António Pedro Vasconcelos.
1960s
The first year of the new decade brought a new generation, fronted by Dom Roberto (1962), Os Verdes Anos and Pássaros de Asas Cortadas (1963).This new fase was named Cinema Novo
Cinema Novo
Cinema Novo was practised by Brazilian filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s. In Portugal, Novo Cinema flourished after the 1960s, where it lasted, inspired by Italian Neo-Realism and the French movement of the New wave, the direct cinema techniques, and by the ideals the Carnation Revolution up to...
or Novo Cinema (New Cinema), referring to Portuguese cinema made between 1963 and the revolution in 1974 by directors such as Fernando Lopes
Fernando Lopes (filmmaker)
Fernando Lopes, GCIH is a Portuguese film director.-Filmography:*98 Octanas *Lá Fora *Delfim, O aka Dauphin, Le *Cinema *Gérard, Fotógrafo *Fio do Horizonte, O...
, Paulo Rocha
Paulo Rocha
Paulo Rocha is a Portuguese film director. Among his best known films are A Ilha dos Amores and O Rio do Ouro. A Ilha dos Amores was entered into the 1982 Cannes Film Festival and O Rio do Ouro was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1998 Festival.-Bibliographic references: O Cais do...
or António da Cunha Telles
António da Cunha Telles
António da Cunha Telles is a Portuguese film director and producer. He was born in Funchal.-Biography:António Cohen da Cunha Telles was born on February 26, 1935 in Funchal, Madeira. He studies Medicine in the University of Lisbon...
, amongst others. Like other new waves of the period, the influence of Italian Neo-Realism and the burgeoning ideas of the Nouvelle Vague can be felt keenly.
During the following years appeared films like Belarmino
Belarmino
Belarmino is a 1964 film. It charts the life and times of ex-boxer Belarmino Fragoso. It is one of the first films of the Portuguese Cinema Novo, itself part of a wave of New Cinemas sweeping the world in the 60s, and a break from the previous tradition of Portuguese cinema exemplified by the...
(1964), Domingo à Tarde (1965), Sete balas para Selma (1967) and O Cerco (1969).
The term Novo Cinema is now used to avoid confusion with the Brazilian movement
Cinema Novo
Cinema Novo was practised by Brazilian filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s. In Portugal, Novo Cinema flourished after the 1960s, where it lasted, inspired by Italian Neo-Realism and the French movement of the New wave, the direct cinema techniques, and by the ideals the Carnation Revolution up to...
of the same name. This movement gains particular relevance after the Carnation Revolution
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
, pursuing certain experiences of the French New Wave, both in the field of visual anthropology
Visual anthropology
Visual anthropology is a subfield of cultural anthropology that is concerned, in part, with the study and production of ethnographic photography, film and, since the mid-1990s, new media...
and of political cinema
Political cinema
Political cinema in the narrow sense of the term is a cinema which portrays current or historical events or social conditions in a partisan way in order to inform or to agitate the spectator...
. The generation of the seventies, taking advantage of the new liberties, explores realism
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
and legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
, politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
, until the late eighties, in conjunction with some directors of the liberated colonies, such as Flora Gomes. Portugal has a notable tradition in the field of docufiction
Docufiction
Docufiction is a neologism which refers to the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction. More precisely, it is a documentary contaminated with fictional elements, in real time, filmed when the events take place, and in which someone - the character - plays his own role in real life...
and ethnofiction
Ethnofiction
Ethnofiction is a neologism which refers to an ethnographic docufiction sub-genre, a blend of documentary and fiction film in the area of visual anthropology. It is a film style in which the portrayed characters play their own roles as members of an ethnic or social group.Jean Rouch is considered...
since Leitão de Barros, a contemporary to Robert Flaherty.
2000s
In 2005, there were 13 Portuguese feature films released, one of them an animation co-produced with Spain, Midsummer DreamMidsummer Dream
Midsummer Dream is a 2005 computer-animated film from Dygra Films, the creators of The Living Forest. Made in Spain and Portugal, the film is loosely based on William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.-Voice cast:...
. The most successful film this year was O Crime do Padre Amaro
O Crime do Padre Amaro
O Crime do Padre Amaro is a novel by the 19th-century Portuguese writer José Maria de Eça de Queiroz. It was first published in 1875 to great controversy.-Plot summary:...
, with more than 300 000 viewers, grossing more than 1.3 million euros. The following year, 22 feature films were released, five of them documentaries. The most successful film this year was Filme da Treta, with more than 270 000 viewers, grossing more than 1 million euros.
Festivals
- Caminhos do Cinema PortuguêsCaminhos do Cinema PortuguêsThe Caminhos do Cinema Português is the only festival of Portuguese cinema. It is a project of the "Centro de Estudos Cinematográficos" of the Associação Académica de Coimbra. The festival takes place annually in April in the city of Coimbra and reached its thirteenth season ....
- FantasportoFantasportoFantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from...
- Festival Audiovisual Black & White
External links
In English- Doc History : Portugal
- ICA (Audiovisual and Film Office)
- European-films.net - Reviews, trailers, interviews, news and previews of recent and upcoming
- José de Matos-CruzJosé de Matos-CruzJosé de Matos-Cruz is a Portuguese writer, journalist, editor, high-school teacher, investigator, encyclopedist. From 1980 to 2010, he works at the Cinemateca Portuguesa , in Lisbon...
- historian of the Portuguese cinema
In Portuguese
- Cinema português (instituto Camões)
- Amor de Perdição (film data base)