The day begins with politics on the big screen. At 10 am, at Cinema Medeia Nimas, Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington opens Sunday’s programme in the (im)moralities cycle, offering a classic satire of democratic ideals and the mechanisms of power. At the same time, at Culturgest, the retrospective dedicated to Tiago Guedes continues with episodes 4 to 6 of Glória, a series set in Cold War Portugal. Later, at 15:30, the retrospective continues at Cinema São Jorge with Sadness and Joy in the Life of Giraffes.
The darker sides of the human condition take centre stage in the early afternoon. At 1 pm, David Fincher’s Se7en screens at Cinema Medeia Nimas, turning a criminal investigation into a reflection on the seven deadly sins, violence and moral corruption. At Culturgest, the programme offers two further paths: at 2 pm, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s The Samurai and the Prisoner, and Carl Theodor Dreyer’s timeless classic Day of Wrath, at 1 pm.
The afternoon brings two encounters with European cinema. At 3:30 pm, at Cinema Medeia Nimas, Fernando Trueba presents Bajañi in an Out of Competition screening, with the director in attendance. At 18:00, Ink, Danny Boyle’s new film, which was the opening film at the Venice Film Festival, will be screened at Cinema NOS Vasco da Gama. Later, contemporary French cinema takes centre stage. Christophe Honoré’s Orange Flavoured Wedding, part of the Official Competition, screens at 6:30 pm at Cinema Medeia Nimas. The director will be present for a post-screening conversation, offering an opportunity to explore the questions and formal choices that shape his cinema.
As evening falls, the programme invites audiences to slow down. At 7 pm, Cinema São Jorge screens All of a Sudden, by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, a film that gives its characters and the relationships they forge room to unfold. At 9:15 pm, at Culturgest, the tribute to Lars von Trier continues with Nymphomaniac – Director’s Cut, Vol. 1. Willem Dafoe, who stars in the second volume of the film, will be present for a conversation with the audience.
Kelly Reichardt brings the day to a close. At 9:30 pm, Cinema Medeia Nimas screens Wendy and Lucy as part of the retrospective dedicated to the American filmmaker, who will also be in attendance. In one of the most emblematic films of her career, Reichardt follows a woman living in precarious circumstances, turning loneliness, economic vulnerability and the small gestures of everyday life into the material of a cinema of extraordinary attentiveness.
At the same time, in Cinema São Jorge, Valentina Maurel’s frail and intimate portrait of family reconnection, Forever Your Maternal Animal, will make its dayview in the Discoveries section of our program. With the director in attendance, the audience will have the chance to hear her thoughts on her latest film.
The full programme for 8 November is available on the LEFFEST website.