Portugal Film Week celebrates a decade of movies

The opening film is a documentary based on the book A Lisbon Guide – What The Tourist Should See, written by Fernando Pessoa in 1925.

By HANNAH BROWN
A view of Lisbon, Portugal (photo credit: PR)
A view of Lisbon, Portugal
(photo credit: PR)
The 10th annual Portugal Film Week opens today at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque with the screening of Mysteries of Lisbon or What The Tourist Should See (2009), by José Fonseca e Costa. The director will attend the festival to present the film. The festival will open in Jerusalem on September 8, Haifa on September 9, and at other cinematheques around the country during the month of September.
The opening film is a documentary based on the book A Lisbon Guide – What The Tourist Should See, written by Fernando Pessoa in 1925. The movie is a portrait of Lisbon, Pessoa’s home town, and the English version of the film is narrated by Peter Coyote.
Other films in the festival include Under My Skin (2011), a drama directed by director Vicente Alves do Ó, a film about a woman who has it all but sees her life change in a moment; Beauty and the Paparazzo (2010), by António-Pedro Vasconcelos, about a popular soap opera actress trying to evade a famous paparazzo in the streets of the Portuguese capital; The Mystery of the Sintra Road (2007), by Jorge Paixão da Costa, based on a novel written by two of the most important Portuguese writers, Eça de Queiroz and Ramalho Ortigão, a film set in 19th century Lisbon, about a diplomatic crisis that unfolds between Portugal and England; and Alice (2005), by director Marco Martins, the story of a father desperate to find his missing daughter in the streets of Lisbon.
The film Night Train to Lisbon (2013), by Bille August, is the only foreign film in the festival.
With its action set largely in the Portuguese capital and with many Portuguese actors, this film a must for any film festival centered on Lisbon.
Portugal Film Week is sponsored by Instituto Camões, the Portuguese Cultural Institute, and the Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, the Portuguese Film Institute. The event will also be sponsored by the Lisbon Tourism Board.