João Trabulo

Lisbon, Sad and Happy City

In the 1950s, Victor Palla and Manuel Costa, two architect friends, portrayed the city of Lisbon in more than 6,000 photographs. These were published in an eponymous book circulated in fascicles during the fascist regime, but forgotten for the next half-century. After their deaths, it became the photo book with the greatest international projection of all time and this film is a tribute to the work of these two figures, which is now 100 years old.

Lusitanian Illusion

Images and sounds expose the duality of Portugal during the days of WW2: a peaceful, god-loving, rural country, providing an escape route for over one hundred thousand European refugees to the Americas; and a political and cultural elite that disguised their Nazi inclinations just enough to play its neutral role in international politics.

Crime Abyss Blue Physical Remorse

Crime Blue Abyss Physical Remorse is inspired by the life and works of Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso. This controversial 20th century painter defied the world avant-garde of his time: “I don’t follow schools. I am an impressionist, cubist, futurist, abstractionist. A melting pot. The real tradition is not to try and relive the past – which is impossible to achieve – but rather something that sets up a follow-through, as happens with parents and children. A child and his father are never alike.” The film follows Amadeo’s motto. It crosses pictorial fiction – suggested by the emblematic picture “The Procession”, painted in Paris in 1913 – with Portuguese contemporary reality.