18/10/2018 - Despite pressure to alter its programme, the 16th edition of the Portuguese event will screen 243 films from 54 countries, as originally planned

The 16th edition of Doclisboa starts this Thursday and will, until 28 October, present a rich programme of 243 films from 54 countries, including 68 world and 22 international premieres. The programme remains unchanged despite last-minute pressures from two embassies to remove a movie from its International Competition selection and to review a number of texts (related to the focus on the Euphrates). This gave Apordoc, the association behind the creation of the event, an opportunity to defend not only fundamental democratic and artistic values, but also the notion that the work of such a festival cannot be neutral and should spark debate, provided that it is open and constructive.

The festival, bookended by Ruth Beckermann's Austrian candidate for the Oscars, The Waldheim Waltz [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ruth Beckermann
film profile], and Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu's Infinite Football [+see also:
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film profile], will screen 22 films of various lengths as part of its International Competition, all of which are world or international premieres. Amongst them are 13 European (co-)productions, including Laurent Achard's Brisseau – 251, Marcadet’s Street (France), a conversation with the titular controversial filmmaker, Jean-Charles Hue's Topo y Wera (France), Michał Borczuch's Komodo Dragons (Poland), Ilan Serruya's Reunion [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Spain), Ivan Salatic's We Are the Sons of Your Rocks (Montenegro), Sabine Groenewegen's Odyssey (Netherlands/Belgium/France/Portugal) and Ian Soroka's Greetings from Free Forests [+see also:
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The Portuguese Competition selection consists of 18 films. The New Visions sidebar will gather various guests, including Jean-François Stévenin, around this year's theme, "Transmission, Imagined Territories". From the Earth to the Moon will show the most recent works by key documentary filmmakers: Wang Bing, Frederick Wiseman, Rithy Panh, Stefano Savona, Želimir Žilnik and Michael Moore.

Heart Beat, an exciting section that places the emphasis on music and dance (from Chilly Gonzales to Depeche Mode, via Blue Note Records, Rostropovich, "Godmother of Punk" Joan Jett and Aretha Franklin, to mention but a few great names), will also show Lorna Tucker's Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist [+see also:
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interview: Lorna Tucker
film profile] (UK), Croatian helmer Nebojša Slijepčević's Srbenka [+see also:
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interview: Nebojša Slijepčević
film profile], Boris Nicot's Deux, trois fois Branco, on famous Portuguese producer Paulo Branco, short films by Mathieu Amalric, Danielle Arbid, Clément Cogitore and installation artist Claude Lévêque, a documentary on William Friedkin by Francesco Zippel (Friedkin Uncut [+see also:
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film profile] – Italy), as well as The Exorcist director’s first-ever documentary, The People vs. Paul Crump.

The programme of Doclisboa 2018 also includes sections entitled Green Years and Cinema of Urgency, and a project development lab called Arché, which will welcome a total of 12 projects this year, four of which are Portuguese.