Praising the 50^th anniversary of the April 25 revolution, we join forces with Casa do Comum to screen some of most emblematic films directed by João Paulo Ferreira and Óscar Alves; subversive, independent, and queer filmmakers responsible for the first ever queer Portuguese films produced in the post-revolution period.

Founders of the film collective Cineground, they sketched a first attempt at distributing and showcasing Super 8 films in public venues, many of them patronized by LGBTQI+ individuals, such as the notorious Scarlatty Club, a venue that also served as set of some of these films. Embracing the drag culture of its time and the Lisbon drag clubs that gained a new life after the revolution, alongside the city’s cultural elite, and an acute criticism to Catholicism and a prevailing conservatism, these films resonate today as incredibly transgressive. And the truth is that we had to wait many more years for Portuguese cinema to embrace queer narratives in its productions. 

These two film programs scheduled for the first and second Sundays of April, at Casa do Comum, are a unique opportunity to discover these seminal and rarely screened films. Two nights at the recently inaugurated Bairro Alto venue, free of charge, for which you are all welcome.      

 

Cineground program at Casa do Comum

7 April – 9.30pm:

- “Solidão Povoada”, by Óscar Alves (Portugal, 1976, 45’)
- “Os Demónios da Liberdade”, by João Paulo Ferreira (Portugal, 1976, 20’)
- “Good-Bye, Chicago”, by Óscar Alves (Portugal, 1978, 16’)

14 April – 9.30pm:

- “Fatucha Superstar - Ópera Rock… Bufa”, by João Paulo Ferreira (Portugal, 1976, 43’)
- “Aventuras e Desventuras de Julieta Pipi ou o Processo Intrínseco Global Kafkiano de uma Vedeta Não Analisado por Freud”, by Óscar Alves (Portugal, 1978, 44’)


More info on the films, here.