Best International Film: Meet the Portuguese Finalists

by Cláudio Alves

THE BURITI FLOWER is one of Portugal's five finalists.

As the Best International Film Oscar race starts to take shape, the Portuguese Academy has begun the process of choosing the country's official submission. This year's selection committee was composed of nine individuals, all of whom work in the Portuguese film industry. The group ranged from directors to a distributor, encompassing actors, producers, a writer, and even a cinematographer. They include Cristèle Alves Meira, the Listen director who won gold two years ago in Venice; Luís Gaivão Teles, whose documentation of the 1974 Revolution is a precious historical artifact; and DP José Tiago whose filmography contains the Meryl Streep-led The House of the Spirits and our first-ever Oscar submission, Manhã Submersa. 

They have selected five features in hopes of breaking Portugal's unfortunate record, but it's now up to the Portuguese Academy membership to vote on the final choice. Will we stop being the country with the most submissions without a single nomination? Oh well, hope is everlasting. In any case, let's meet the finalists…

THE BURITI FLOWER, João Salaviza & Renée Nader Messora

Director João Salaviza started his career around the forgotten parts of Lisbon, perpetuating a social realist tradition in Portuguese cinema with films like Rafa, Arena, and Mountain. Such works won him the Short Film Palme d'Or and Berlin Bear. However, in recent years, his cinema has suffered a drastic transformation. Abandoning Portugal altogether, Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora have pointed their camera at Brazil's indigenous population, exploring their culture and ways of life in beautiful works that blur the line between documentary and fiction. The Buriti Flower follows the directing pair's The Dead and the Others, which also premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. There, the newest film won a Special Prize for its Ensemble.

THE FORTUNATE ONES, Jeanne Waltz 

Titled something closer to "The Wind Whistling in Cranes" in the original Portuguese, the film adapts a Lídia Jorge novel about a young woman in the late 90s whose life is divided between Portugal and the former colonial outpost in Cape Verde. It's a story of two worlds and the one who walks between them, weaving character drama within a consideration of the nation's recent history. Swiss director Jeanne Waltz sits behind the camera, while Rita Cabaço stands in front of it, delivering a performance that earned a Best Actress nomination at the Lusitanian version of the Golden Globes.

GRAND TOUR, Miguel Gomes 

When he won the Best Director award at this year's Cannes, Miguel Gomes made Portuguese film history. Here's hoping that Grand Tour can go all the way to the Oscars, though the picture's sheer wonder might be a factor against it for a more aesthetically conservative Academy. The whole thing is an audacious experiment, giving us two takes on the same travelogue that goes through an Asia of contemporary reality and studio-bound imagination. Within its swirl of invention, Grand Tour inspires the sort of euphoria that revives one's love for the medium of motion pictures. Hell, the cinematography by Gui Lang, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, and Rui Poças is enough to renew your love for life itself. In other words, Grand Tour is an outright masterpiece, and you can expect more effusive praise in my upcoming TIFF coverage.

MANGA D'TERRA, Basil da Cunha

In the past few years, Basil da Cunha has blossomed as a singular voice in Portuguese contemporary cinema. His films consider the predominantly Black communities living in some of Lisbon's most dilapidated neighborhoods, and often flirt with notions of social realism on the verge of neorealism. Manga d'Terra had its world premiere in competition at last year's Locarno, and came to Portuguese cinemas a few months ago, lighting up the screen with the star power of Eliana Rosa as a Cape Verdean immigrant seeking a better life for her children. She also sings in the film, co-authoring the Manga d'Terra soundtrack with Luis Firmino and Henrique Silva.

YOUR FACE WILL BE THE LAST, Luís Filipe Rocha 

Like The Fortunate Ones, this is a literary adaptation. Director Luís Filipe Rocha takes on João Ricardo Pedro's 2012 novel about a Portuguese family across the years, living in the shadow of fascist dictatorship and its overthrow, the colonial war and the post-colonial aftermath. And yet, it's also the tale of a piano prodigy who renounces his gift in an attempt to break a long-living, multi-generational line of trauma. The film's a prestigious affair, full of respected Portuguese actors like Adriano Luz and Teresa Madruga. Still, what most impresses me about the project is the presence of João Ribeiro as its cinematographer. My country's cinema is rich in master DPs who never get their due acclaim on an international level. With a filmography that includes many a João Botelho beauty, Sérgio Tréfaut creations, Letters from War, Scales, and Nome, he's one of our great national talents.

The Portuguese Academy will announce the official submission on September 11^th.