This year, 22 films make up the Out of Competition section at LEFFEST, alongside more than a dozen guests who will take part in screenings of the films they helped create. The opening and closing films mark the return to feature-length storytelling for two renowned American independent filmmakers: Jim Jarmusch and Gus Van Sant. In between, there will be plenty of discussions with directors, actors, and screenwriters from several of the featured films.
The film inaugurating the Out of Competition section arrives in Portugal with a major accolade. Father Mother Sister Brother, by Jim Jarmusch, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and will be screened on 7 November at Cinema São Jorge. Starring Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling and Cate Blanchett, it is a feature-length film conceived as a triptych, divided into three chapters set in different locations: “Father” in the northeastern United States, “Mother” in Dublin, and “Sister Brother” in Paris. Closing the festival will be Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire, another work featuring a star-studded cast, which premiered in the Spotlight section at the Venice Film Festival. Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, Colman Domingo, Al Pacino, and Cary Elwes lead a story inspired by true events about a man who, in 1977, took the president of Meridian Mortgage Company hostage. The screening is scheduled for 15 November at Cinema São Jorge.
An invitation to join In
More than half of the Out of Competition films, three of them Portuguese, will feature guest appearances. One of the most anticipated moments is the visit to Lisbon by Kim Gordon, the acclaimed co-founder of Sonic Youth, also a visual artist and actress who appeared in films such as Last Days (2005) and I’m Not There (2007). More recently, she joined the cast of The Chronology of Water, by Kristen Stewart, which will have three screenings at LEFFEST. Kim Gordon will attend the session scheduled for 9 November at Culturgest. The film, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, is Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut and an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s bestselling memoir.
Another guest is the French filmmaker, screenwriter and film critic Olivier Assayas, who a few years ago premiered Wasp Network (2019) in Venice, a spy thriller co-starring Wagner Moura, one of this year’s LEFFEST honourees. Assayas will take part in a conversation on 9 November at Culturgest about his latest film, The Wizard of the Kremlin, centred on Vadim Baranov (played by Paul Dano), a former spin doctor for a rising KGB agent: Vladimir Putin (Jude Law).
One of the major highlights of the Out of Competition section is the screening of Dreams by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud, winner of the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival. Dreams is part of a trilogy released in the same year, alongside Love and Sex, all screening at LEFFEST with the director in attendance. Dreams will be shown at Cinema São Jorge on 10 November, while Sex and Love will screen at Cinema Nimas on 9 and 10 November.
On 10 November, Culturgest will host the screening of Two Pianos by Arnaud Desplechin, one of the most respected contemporary French filmmakers. Nominated for the Golden Shell at San Sebastián, the film follows a pianist returning to his hometown, where his childhood mentor convinces him to collaborate on a series of concerts, until he meets a boy who appears to be his double, rekindling an old passion. Desplechin will be a guest speaker at this session, alongside Kamen Velkovsky, his co-writer. Also at Culturgest, on 8 November, Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani will attend the screening of Calle Málaga, her latest film, which won the Spotlight Audience Award in Venice and stars Spanish actress Carmen Maura.
The following day, the same venue will host a very special session centred around the screening of The Souffleur, by Argentine director Gastón Solnicki, featuring Willem Dafoe as a hotel manager in Vienna trying to save the building from a property developer planning to demolish it. Guests joining the discussion include Portuguese cinematographer Rui Poças and actress Stéphanie Argerich, who is part of the cast. Argerich is also a filmmaker, and the screening of The Souffleur will be preceded by her short film The Night’s Music, accompanied on piano by Stephen Kovacevich in a performance of Béla Bartók’s “IV. Klänge der Nacht.”
In portuguese
Portuguese cinema will be represented Out of Competition with three national productions screened at Cinema São Jorge, each accompanied by guests. João Botelho and the cast will attend the screening of As Meninas Exemplares on 14 November— another literary adaptation by the Portuguese filmmaker, this time based on the work of the Countess of Ségur. The cast includes Rita Durão, Crista Alfaiate, Catarina Wallenstein, Margarida Marinho, Rita Blanco, Victoria Guerra, Leonor Silveira, João Pedro Vaz and Ana Bustorff.
On the same day, The Massacre of Gilles de Rais, the debut feature by Juan Branco, will be shown. The film follows a couple reflecting on the trial and execution of Gilles de Rais, an event five centuries old that inspired the legend of Bluebeard. The film arrives at LEFFEST after screenings at the Pingyao Film Festival and São Paulo International Film Festival, with the director attending the session. On 16 November, Cinema São Jorge will host another debut feature: Maria Vitória by Mário Patrocínio, who will attend the screening with cast and crew. The film, selected for the Official Competition at the Tokyo Film Festival, follows a young woman living in a remote village who plays on the local boys’ football team and prepares for the most important match of her life while dealing with family struggles.
These are just a few of the highlights from the films featured in the Out of Competition section. The complete programme can be found here.