11/05/2026 - Two art-school friends on a trip to Lisbon quickly discover how different they are in a genuinely hilarious low-budget comedy directed by Ana Baldini and Roly Witherow

Two friends, one city, one weekend in Lisbon: what was meant to be a gleeful girls’ trip turns into a dramatic falling out in Kiss and Be Friends, the feature debut by directorial duo Ana Baldini and Roly Witherow, with a screenplay by Witherow. With the stylistic character of a small-scale cult film, this creatively small-scale comedy has just had its world premiere in the national competition of IndieLisboa.

Two friends from art school, Amandine (Marine Arradon) – demanding and entitled, French – and Sofia (Anu Loureiro) – tractable and quiet, Portuguese – stay for the weekend in Lisbon. At a party, Amandine immediately becomes enamoured by Guilherme (Gustavo Rebelo), a moustachioed young man that Gen Z might call a “performative male”, who is taken by her assertiveness and her claims to be a curator in London. She dives into a weekend of loveshacking, quickly forgetting about her plans with Sofia, who spends the trip alone at an amusement park.

While having one’s friend become distracted by an attractive person may be a universal experience, what they do with this lust is a different story. The film would be very different were it not for not the near-ridiculousness of Amandine (a fittingly pretentious name she granted herself at age 12), who delivers laugh-out-loud scene-closing one-liners for those willing to bask in her delightfully casual cruelty and complete disregard for others. Like a sitcom character oblivious to her own faults while still making questionable choices, Amandine is unforgettable in her dismissiveness. The film soars high thanks to the brilliantly caustic performance of Arradon, who, through her scowl and itty-bitty sunglasses, is able to straddle the border between insufferable and preposterous without turning us off to her personality.

A series of interjected conversations between other partygoers inventively gestures to how just as much drama could be playing out between others: we are simply witnesses to this one set of stories. Its richer-than-real-life colour palette is textured by what appears to be mainly natural lighting, meaning that the cinematography (by Will Tremlett) doesn’t try to elevate the movie beyond its size. With a disregard for over-staging scenes, the work thus feels vaguely theatrical – yet in a way that feels more friendly and welcoming than uncomfortably scrappy.

In the short but sweet Kiss and Be Friends, what you see is what you get: there is no redemption for Sofia in this toxic friendship, and no grand gestures to morals or life lessons, which would perhaps otherwise undermine its straightforward charm. Sofia’s forcibly solo venture feels appropriately pensive and relatable because of her dejection as she worries for her friend, who has seemingly disappeared off the face of the Earth. By the end, you begin to wonder why the two polar opposites were ever friends in the first place – but sometimes, people are just mean, and that’s how life is.

Kiss and Be Friends is a production by the filmmakers’ own Idioma Pictures (Portugal), with the support of Cinemate (Portugal) and Planar (Portugal), and in association with Idris Films (UK). Its world sales are also managed by Idioma Pictures.