Section dedicated to independent cinema, national and international, whose films compete for one of three monetary prizes and a statuette conceptualized by visual artist Henrique Silva, co-founder of the Cerveira Biennial, and materialized by Marco Fidalgo.
One of the awards, the Audience Award, relies on the local public for its attribution through a points-based voting system in applicable sessions (short films): this award aims to empower the local public and democratize the awarding process, making the people of Cerveira choose their favorite film.
In competition are the following short films:
Atom & Void, de Gonçalo Almeida
Unsold Copies, de Stefan Koutzev
Quando M’Eu For Desta Terra, de Francisco Moura Relvas, Rita Senra
On Plains of Larger River & Woodlands, de Miguel de Jesus
Brute, de Valentina Knežević
Arguments in Favor of Love, de Gabriel Abrantes
154, de Andrea Sbarbaro e Riccardo Copreni
Business as Usual, de Pedro Vinícius
Bença, de Mano Cappu
La Cascada, de Pablo Delgado
Spider-Zan, de Maryam Khodabakhsh
+10k, de Gala Hernández López
And the following feature films:
Lesson Learned, de Bálint Szimler
The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder, de Inadelso Cossa
L’ Ancre, de Jen Debauche
KICKOFF, de Roser Corella e Stefano Obino
Banzo, de Margarida Cardoso
Souleymane’s Story, de Boris Lojkine
Manas, de Marianna Brennand Fortes
Inês Oliveira
Inês Oliveira (1976) lives and works in Lisbon. Since 2003, her main activity has been screenwriting and film directing: O NOME E O N.I.M. (short, 2003), COMER O CORAÇÃO (doc., 2005), CINERAMA (feature, 2009), BOBÔ (feature, 2013), VIRA CHUDNENKO (documentary, 2017), O SAPO E A RAPARIGA (short, 2019), A ESCUTA (doc., 2022).
Her films have been awarded and screened at dozens of international festivals such as TIFF Toronto, Nouveau Cinemas Nouveau Medias, Angers, Torino FF, Mostra de São Paulo, DocLisboa, Curtas de Vila do Conde, IndieLisboa. In 2022 she created the production company Filmes da Mãe.
She is the current President of the Assembly of the MUTIM organization, dedicated to the representation of women in national cinema.
Mário Macedo
Mário Macedo (1989) was born and raised in a small town in northern Portugal. He graduated in 2010 in Sound and Image from the Portuguese Catholic University of Porto. In 2011 he completed his film course at the European Film College in Denmark.
In 2023, he was selected for The Factory North of Portugal program, having co-directed the short film Maria which had its world premiere at the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2024, he premiered the short film Cul-de-sac at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival, co-directed with Vanja Vascarac.
His new film That’s How I Love You premiered in competition at the Curtas Vila do Conde Festival in 2024, where it won the Grand Prize of the International Competition and was nominated for the European Film Awards, counting to date more than thirty screenings at international festivals.
He also works as a photographer, launching his first photobook Running Away Into You, by Lebop (PT) and Loco Éditions (FR) in conjunction with Olhar de Ulisses, which premiered at the 2024 Rencontres d’Arles.
Takashi Sugimoto
Takashi Sugimoto (1975, Japan) has lived in the West for more than 30 years. He studied photography in Italy, at the Istituto Europeo di Design, in Turin, interned at the Magnum photo agency, in Paris, and has a postgraduate degree in dramaturgy and directing from the Higher School of Theatre and Cinema, in Lisbon.
He was selected for the “100 young Italian artists - FURLA per l’arte” in 2000. In 2016 he premiered the short film “Live Tropical Fish” at IndieLisboa. He is a member of the Portuguese Association of Directors and was part of the jury of the Revelation Prize section of DocLisboa 2021.
His first feature-length documentary, “Ouro Negro / Black Gold”, won the “Jury Special Prize” at POFF28 Documentary Competition, at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2024, in Estonia. It was selected for the official competition of the FGCSD Santo Domingo Global Film Festival, in the Dominican Republic, and the FICG Guadalajara International Film Festival, in Mexico. Soon, he will publish a photographic book titled “Spiritus”, which means “breath” in Latin.
Sandro Aguilar
Sandro Aguilar was born in 1974. He is a director, editor and producer.
In 1997, he completed his Cinema degree in Editing at the Higher School of Theatre and Cinema.
In 1998, he founded the production company O Som e a Fúria whose curriculum includes works by Manoel de Oliveira, Miguel Gomes, João Nicolau, Eugene Green, Salomé Lamas, among many others. His films have won awards at festivals such as La Biennale di Venezia, Locarno Film Festival, Gijón, Oberhausen, Curtas Vila do Conde, IndieLisboa, Montreal (among others) and have been shown at major film festivals worldwide. He was twice nominated for best short film at the European Film Awards.
He has been the subject of retrospectives at BAFICI, Rotterdam Film Festival, New York Film Festival (Views from the Avant-Garde), Arsenal-Berlin, ISFF Oberhausen and, recently, at Filmadrid. In 2013 he was invited to join the renowned DAAD – Artist in Residence program, Berlin (which has previously received filmmakers such as Béla Tarr, Jim Jarmusch, Otar Iosseliani, Chen Kaige).
Sérgio Tréfaut
Sérgio Tréfaut was born in Brazil in 1965.
He graduated in philosophy at the Sorbonne and began his professional life in Lisbon as a journalist and assistant director.
He established himself as a director and producer during the 1990s. During this period he also coordinated major international exhibitions and shortly afterwards was President of Apordoc – Portuguese Documentary Association and directed the Doclisboa festival from 2004 to 2010. His films have been shown in more than 50 countries, where they have received multiple awards.
Zadok Ben-David
Zadok Ben-David is an award-winning artist based in London and Portugal.
Recognized mainly for his sculptures, installations and public works, Ben-David explores themes related to human nature and evolution. His work is often described as poetic and magical, always oscillating between delicate miniature work and monumental installations. Metal has become Ben-David’s preferred language, contrasting with the subtle optical illusions he creates from a sometimes harsh medium.
Ben-David represented his country, Israel, at the Venice Biennale in 1988 and has participated in biennials around the world, including the XXII International Art Biennial of Cerveira, Portugal (2022), the Breda Photo Biennial, Netherlands (2020), the Krasnoyarsk Biennial, Russia (2019), the Busan Biennial, South Korea (2010); the Biennale Cuvee, Austria (2009); the “Wonder” Singapore Biennale, Singapore (2008) and the Sculptuur Biennale, Netherlands (2007).
Born in Bayhan, Yemen, in 1949, Ben-David emigrated to Israel in the same year and graduated in Advanced Sculpture at St. Martin’s School of Art, London, where he also taught from 1977 to 1982.
Schedule
Competitive Section: General Screening of Short Films in Competition