LEFFEST19º
Lisboa Film Festival 07–16.11.2025

Sections

Official Selection – In Competition

One of the LEFFEST’s main focuses was always the discovery and unveiling of cinema’s great abundance, contemplating several different cinematographies in terms of geography and content.
More info

Official Selection – Discoveries

Views and journeys of filmmakers little known to the public.
More info

Official Selection – Out of Competition

The main purpose of the Official Selection - Out of Competition is to offer the audience, with a broad perspective on international film production, the chance to watch the national premieres of some of the most anticipated films of the following season, as well as displaying the latest works by internationally acknowledged directors.
More info

Great Masters

At LEFFEST there are absolute discoveries, but there is also new cinema from great masters: films that at their core contain the brilliance of recognised and recognisable veteran talent.
More info

Retrospective Hal Hartley

It was in the 1990s that moviegoers became enthralled by Hal Hartley, a filmmaker from the American independent scene who was then launching himself with a certain European verve and philosophical singularity, through films like" The Unbelievable Truth" and "Trust". It's time to revisit this body of work, in its first major retrospective in Europe, which includes a new film: "Where to Land".
More info

Tribute Arturo Ripstein

A major figure in Mexican cinema, director Arturo Ripstein is a descendant of classical cinema and a devotee of melodrama, a genre that imbues his work with visceral, raw, violent, and melancholic beauty, with an appeal of originality. Let's rediscover it in a program that includes "Deep Crimson" and a handful of films never before released commercially in Portugal.
More info

Tribute Isabel Ruth

Since the film that made her a symbol of Portuguese New Wave—"The Green Years" (1963) by Paulo Rocha—Isabel Ruth has been a prominent presence in Portuguese cinema, moving deftly between established directors and new generations. But her long oeuvre is also steeped in foreign charm. Here is the proposal of a journey through a film cycle curated with her.
More info

Tribute Wagner Moura

Wagner Moura is one of the most acclaimed Brazilian actors of today, a position reaffirmed in Cannes with the Best Actor Award for the film "The Secret Agent" (2025), directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho.
More info

Tribute Miranda Richardson

The British actress Miranda Richardson has built a solid and versatile career, moving across styles, genres, and mediums, with particular prominence in the 1990s, when she was nominated for two Oscars ("Damage" and "Tom & Viv").
More info

Tribute Simon McBurney

Actor, writer, and stage director, Simon McBurney is one of the most innovative, versatile, and influential theater creators working today.
More info

Exiles

The reflection on exile spreads across a program that ranges from cinema to performance, including music, conversations, and an exhibition that resists the exhibition space. “Cinema is my land of exile," critic Serge Daney said, and many of the films in this section help us reflect on, and above all, feel, the meaning of a word full of world stories.
More info

Revolutions

Cinema has always carried an impulse to represent revolution, ever since it was itself an invention destined to revolutionize the way people see themselves and the world around them.
More info

Cinema of Central Asia

West and East, modernity and antiquity intersect in a kaleidoscopic look at the—still largely unknown—cinema of Central Asia. This is the invitation of a film cycle featuring more than a dozen films from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, bringing audiences closer to narratives as distant as they are culturally fascinating.
More info

A New Élan in Spanish Cinema

The vitality of contemporary Spanish cinema has become evident, beginning with its recognition at major international festivals. But do we truly understand the scale of this phenomenon? By bringing together a representative sample of important recent Spanish films, this film cycle seeks to observe a kind of intergenerational dialogue within the fabric of these fictions.
More info

Memory of Cinema – Restored Films

LEFFEST is screening classic works of cinema that have just undergone exemplary restoration projects.
More info

In Memoriam Marisa Paredes

Marisa Paredes was the woman who “dignified everything,” as Pedro Almodóvar so aptly said. We remember her as the woman of integrity, loyalty, and strength that she was, muse of Spanish cinema, through some films in which she participated, counting, for this occasion, with the presence of those closest to her.
More info

Tribute Arvo Pärt on his 90th birthday

Arvo Pärt's 90th birthday is the ideal occasion to celebrate the role of the music of one of the most influential contemporary classical composers, whose sonic minimalism so well serves cinema. But before, we pay tribute to the Estonian legend with a concert by the GGG Trio, followed by a brief journey on the big screen, which, in part, reveals his creative process.
More info

Special Screenings

LEFFEST presents several special screenings in dialogue with the rest of the programme.
More info

International Film School Meetings

The International Film Schools Meeting brings together students from three film schools, one Portuguese and two international: Universidade Lusófona (Film and Media Arts) + FDA Belgrade + ESCAC Barcelona. Featuring a competition of short films produced within the academic setting, and free-entry masterclasses that will serve as a space for sharing experiences on what it means to “learn cinema today.”
More info