Top 10 Feature Documentaries at Doc Lisboa
The 18th edition of Doc Lisboa is unlike any other - instead of an eleven-day event, Festival Directors Joanna Sousa and Miguel Ribeiro have decided to take us on a six-month journey.
Kicking off last week to the World Premiere of "Nheengatu: The Language from the Amazon Forest" by José Barahona, the festival will occur during six separate moments: 22 Oct - 1st Nov ; 5th - 11th Nov ; 3rd to 9th Dec ; 14th-20th Jan ; 4th-10th Feb ; 4th to 10th March.
Two historical curated film programmes “Body of Work” and “Green Years” are available to watch online at Dafilms.com and 100% of the festival’s industry programme, “Nebulae”, is taking place online. This year’s guest nation is Georgia, with an extensive catalogue of the country’s greatest work being showcased in the programme “Permanent Travel - The Restless Cinema of Georgia”.
Here’s a quick explainer from Sousa and Ribeiro.
This year’s selection boasts an incredible 206 films, including 31 World Premieres, 30 International Premieres and 34 Portuguese Premieres.
Most of the selection is restricted to in-person screenings and therefore not available online to non-industry attendees. For everyone else in the industry, Doc Lisboa is a wonderful opportunity to discover new, amazing documentaries ahead of the curve.
We’ve spent the last week going through this incredibly diverse catalogue to bring you 10 worth keeping an eye on.
If you’re lucky enough to be in Lisbon, don’t miss these unique screening opportunities!
Nheengatu - The Language of the Amazon by José Barahona
World Premiere
A long, winding journey down the Rio Negro in the Amazon takes Portuguese director José Barahona on the search for a language that faces extinction. Nheengatu is a hybrid dialect born from the meeting of early Portuguese settlers and indigenous communities who were eventually forced to live by it.
Retracing the steps of his ancestors but sharing filming responsibilities with the local population, Barahona’s film becomes an organic blending of their cultures, epitomised by the language itself
“Nheengatu - The Language of the Amazon” opened the festival with its World Premiere on 22nd October - No further release information available.
The Kiosk by Alexandra Pianelli
Portuguese Premiere
When she is called upon to help out the family business, director Alexandra Pianelli decides to film a diary cum industry exposé from her mother’s kiosk in the wealthy16th arrondissement of Paris. For almost a century, generations of her family members have stood in the same two-by-one metre space, flogging newspapers, magazines and postcards to the daily humdrum of headlines, the clink of the cash register and the conversations of their punters.
However, she returns to the kiosk at a difficult time for the industry as strikes, the dominance of online news and greedy corporatism draw the family ever closer to the edge.
Teeming with charm, laden with funny moments but with an exceptional sensitivity to the little world around it, “The Kiosk” is an endearing and highly entertaining film that will surprise you with its depth of emotion.
“The Kiosk” was screened on the 25th October as part of the "Body of Work" strand.
“The Kiosk” will be screened a second time on the 31st October at The Cinema Sao Jorge - buy your tickets here.
Kubrick by Kubrick by Gregory Monro
Portuguese Premiere
Although not the first film about Kubrick, Gregory Monro’s documentary provides a unique perspective: Kubrick’s own. The notoriously reticent director gave a rare in-depth interview to a French journalist in the 1980s, upon which Monro bases his film.
We discover, film by film, Kubrick’s ambitions for each picture along with insights into his complex character and clips from colleagues bearing witness to his obsessive perfectionism on set.
Kubrick aficionados beware, the film doesn’t lift the lid on any startling new revelations but instead caters to a wider audience, providing a fascinating and comprehensive look at one of the greatest directors to have ever lived.
“Kubrick by Kubrick” was screened on the 25th October as part of the Signals strand - No further release information.
Underneath by Ugo Arsac
International Premiere
Ugo Arsac takes a bizarre dive into Paris’ litteral underworld with a mysterious unnamed young man as his guide. Squeezing headfirst through gaps in pitch black galleries, sewers and tunnels while muttering about the beauty of the place, “Underneath” is as much about its philosophical young explorer as it is about his realm. Precious little is revealed about him and you find yourself leaning on his every word, trying to decipher the motivations behind his strange behaviour.
At the same time, the dirty maze of Paris’ electricity, water and waste networks passes by in a blur of intrigue, alternatively opening up to a metro line, bridge over the seine and even an unknown building that the pair are quick to escape from and evade capture.
“Underneath” is a baffling, fascinating and absorbing exploration of a ghostly world right under our feet.
“Underneath” will be screened on the 4th December at Cinema Ideal as part of the “Spaces of Intimacy” strand - buy your tickets here.
Downstream to Kinshasa by Dieudo Hamadi
Portuguese Premiere
Director Dieudo Hamadi follows a group of hardened disabled survivors from the little-known six day war, a conflict fought between Rwanda and Uganda in the Congolese city of Kisangani in 2000 that killed and injured thousands of innocents in the process. Despite a multi-billion dollar international reparations agreement, with one billion due to the victims, not a penny has made its way to any of the victims in the two decades since the conflict. Their lives are arduous and their need for constant support from their families is a heavy burden on their personal relationships.
Their small but indivisible support group decides to take the arduous journey downriver to the nation’s parliament in Kinshasa in order to bring their suffering to an end.
Raw footage shot on the cuff is spliced with moving theatrical performances rendered by the organisation members, all to the sound of their stirring songs of mourning and protest. Hamadi signs a raw, completely authentic, sensitive and extremely moving film.
“Downstream to Kinshasa” will be screened on the 14th January 2021 at Cinema Ideal as part of the “So Many Stories Left Untold” strand - buy your tickets here.
Film About a Father Who by Lynne Sachs
Portuguese Premiere
Hot on the heels of its World Premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest, Lynne Sachs’ brilliant film takes a bow in Lisbon and it is without hesitation that we add it to this top 10.
Here’s an excerpt from our full review, available here.
“Film About A Father Who” is Sachs’ attempt to understand her wayward and seemingly unknowable father Ira and the complex web of family ties woven by decades of his promiscuity. Filmed over the course of 35 years in a variety of formats, the film charts Ira’s multiple wives, innumerable girlfriends and his ever-growing list of offspring.
The result is an experimental collage of home footage, idle conversations and the occasional tense confrontation that will be familiar to any member of a recomposed family. Although her offbeat style isn’t for everyone, Sachs successfully creates a reflective, surreal atmosphere without neglecting the story’s intrigue, which delivers a surprising amount of twists and turns and a late, quite shocking, discovery.”
“Film About a Father Who” will be screened on the 5th December at Cinema Ideal as part of the “Spaces of Intimacy” strand - buy your tickets here.
Radio Silence by Juliana Fanjul
Portuguese Premiere
A gripping, often hard to watch, tale of corruption and the traumatic fallout of being designated an enemy of the state. It is a known and disturbing fact that Mexican journalists are often threatened and murdered for reporting on political and civic matters in their own country - “Radio Silence” explores this tragedy with layered intrigue.
Director Juliana Fanjul follows journalist Carmen Aristegui in extremely intimate footage which highlights her mindset, humanity and above all her fearlessness as she seeks to expose corruption in the highest echelons of Mexican society. The potential repercussions are almost unfathomable.
Thoughtful and nail-bitingly tense, Fanjul brings out Aristegui's crusading spirit and brutally analyses the deep, complex and messy web of politics and business.
“Radio Silence” will be screened on the 20th January 2021 at Cinema Ideal as part of the “So Many Stories Left Untold” strand - buy your tickets here.
Native Rock by Macià Florit Campins
International Premiere
Macià Florit Campins embarks on a documentary expedition to better understand Menorca, his island home, and the divergent paths he and his brother have taken in their adult lives.
While Macià travels the world, his beloved younger brother has deepened his roots, farming the family estate, honouring the island’s traditions and picking up where his ancestors left off. As he films on short trips home, Macià is drawn to Menorca and his family’s history by a homesickness that was until now alien to him.
“Native Rock” is a beautifully filmed, meditative and surprisingly touching film that anyone who finds themselves far from their childhood home will strongly relate to.
“Native Rock” will be screened on the 30th March 2021 at Cinema Ideal as part of the “So Many Stories Left Untold” strand - buy your tickets here.
Automotive by Jonas Heldt
International Premiere
Across the Western world’s industrial landscape, change is afoot. Automated carts are replacing forklifts, robots are replacing people and even the omnipresent assembly line is being partitioned. In the exclusive, guarded world of Audi, things are no different.
Jonas Heldt charts these mammoth changes through the evolving careers of two very different employees - Seda, a twenty-something young lady fighting to keep her place on the factory floor, and Eva, a 30-something graduate settled in Amsterdam as a headhunter for the logistics team. Although at different ends of the scale, both are chasing money and, as we find out, their roles may soon be replaced by automation.
“Automotive” is a sharp, revelatory insight into the modern workforce that dares to look ahead into a dystopian future defined by our reliance on technology.
“Automotive” was screened on the 30th October as part of the "Body of Work" strand
“Automoticve” will be screened a second time on the 1st November at Cinema São Jorge - buy your tickets here.
On Your Marks! by Mária Pinčíková
International Premiere
Every six years, the Sokol movement—a social organisation founded 150 years ago—organises a mass gymnastic performance in a football stadium that people from all over the world travel to Prague to witness.
The film focusses on two characters as they prepare for the big event. Radek is an awkward young man whose family has been part of the Sokol movement for many generations. He is a gymnast who trains for the most difficult part of the performance. The second protagonist is the 75-year-old trainer Mirek. Sokol is his life and as the big day approaches, he desperately wants everything to go perfectly.
“On Your Marks!” will be screened on the 28th March 2021 at Cinema Ideal as part of the “So Many Stories Left Untold” strand - buy your tickets here.
Special Mentions
Selecting just 10 films from Doc Lisboa’s rich catalogue was an impossible task and there are many other films that we thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend seeing:
“Le Temps Perdu” by María Álvarez will be screened on the 8th March 2021 at Cinema Ideal as part of the “Spaces of Intimacy” strand - buy your tickets here.
“Amor Fati” by Cláudia Varejão will be screened on the 11th November at Cinema Ideal as part of the "Movements” strand - buy your tickets here.
“Rules of the Assembly Line, at High Speed” by Yulia Lokshina was screened on the 28th and 29th October as part of the "Body of Work" strand - No further release information available.
“Me and the Cult Leader” by Atsushi Sakahara (already featured in our Sheffield Doc/Fest Top 10) will be screened on the 7th March 2021 at Cinema Ideal as part of the "Where Do I Come From, Where Do I Go” strand - buy your tickets here.
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