Lisbon, Dec. 30, 2025 (Lusa) - Around a dozen Portuguese films will hit cinemas in the first few months of 2026, including "Terra Vil" by Luís Campos and "Vitória" by Mário Patrocínio, two feature film debuts.
On Thursday, 1 January, the film "Os enforcados" (The Hanged Men) by Brazilian director Fernando Coimbra, co-produced by Portugal's Fado Filmes, will premiere.
"Os enforcados" is a thriller about a couple - Regina and Valério - facing a dilemma after the death of his father, the biggest crime boss in Rio de Janeiro: they do not want to be dragged into the world of crime by taking over their father's business, but they have debts and expenses they cannot pay.
The film, which premiered in 2024 at the Toronto Film Festival, stars Leandra Leal and Irandhir Santos, joined by Portuguese actor Pêpê Rapazote.
According to information provided by producers and distributors, 12 February will see the premiere of the documentary "La vie de Maria Manuela", directed by João Marques, which chronicles four years in the life of a young woman who became famous on social media and on a reality show on Portuguese television, and who is "in the process of personal and creative affirmation".
The film also offers a reflection on Generation Z, "deeply shaped by the presence of social media and the new ways of life, identity and exposure that emerge from this context", according to the synopsis.
Also in February, on the 19th, Sandro Aguilar's "Primeira Pessoa do Plural" (First Person Plural), which has already made the international festival circuit, will hit cinemas.
The film stars Albano Jerónimo and Isabel Abreu in the roles of a couple on the verge of celebrating 20 years of marriage, and Eduardo Aguilar, who plays their teenage son.
It is a family unit in pain and imbalance that tries not to be swallowed up by the loss of a daughter, "the vortex of a storm," as Sandro Aguilar told Lusa last January when the film was at the Rotterdam Film Festival.
In November, Albano Jerónimo and director of photography Rui Xavier were honoured at the Valencia Mediterranean Film Festival in Spain for this film.
A double premiere is scheduled for 26 February: the fiction film "Terra Vil" by Luís Campos and the documentary "Balane 3" by Ico Costa.
"Terra Vil" is Luís Campos' first feature film, starring Lúcia Moniz and Rúben Gomes, telling a story about rural life, underdevelopment, patriarchal figures and domestic violence.
The film also addresses the Entre-os-Rios accident, which occurred in 2001, when the bridge connecting this town to Castelo de Paiva collapsed into the Douro River, causing 59 deaths.
"Balane 3" talks about the lives of the inhabitants of a neighbourhood in Inhambane, in southern Mozambique, where Ico Costa has been filming regularly.
According to the synopsis, "the characters in this film work as fishermen, butchers or car washers, go to school, hospitals, hairdressers and markets, drink and dance at night, talk about politics, illness, friendships, love and sex. They talk very much about sex."
This film was scheduled to be screened at the IndieLisboa festival, but was removed from the programme after allegations of domestic violence against Ico Costa, which the filmmaker has always denied.
On 5 March, Mário Patrocínio's "Maria Vitória" will premiere, a title that refers to a young woman who is determined to become a professional footballer in a remote village in Portugal.
Mário Patrocínio's first feature film, "Maria Vitória" stars Mariana Cardoso, Miguel Borges and Miguel Nunes and has already been in competition at the Tokyo Film Festival.
"C'est pas la vie en rose" is the title of Leonor Bettencourt Loureiro's film, scheduled to premiere on 12 March, which, somewhere between satirical fiction and documentary, talks about gentrified Lisbon, taken over by tourism and property speculation.
Leonor Noivo's documentary "Bulakna", which focuses on the migration of Filipino women to work as domestic workers in the West, premieres on March 19.
This production portrays two Filipino women, one younger who wants to leave the country to work as a domestic worker, despite the reluctance of colleagues and friends, and another, older, who left her job at the radio station in her native country to take up this occupation in the home of a wealthy family in Lisbon.
April will see the premieres of at least two films: "O Barqueiro" by Simão Cayatte (on 9 April) and "Projeto Global" by Ivo M. Ferreira.
Other nationally produced films are scheduled to premiere in 2026, although no dates have been announced yet, namely "Pai Nosso - Os últimos dias de Salazar" (Our Father - The Last Days of Salazar) by José Filipe Costa, "18 buracos para o paraíso" (18 Holes to Paradise) by João Nuno Pinto, and "Playback" by Sérgio Graciano.
This year, more than 50 Portuguese films or Portuguese co-productions premiered in cinemas, of which "O pátio da saudade" by Leonel Vieira was the most watched with 69,562 viewers, according to data from the Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual (ICA).
Although provisional, the data indicates that the second most watched Portuguese film was "Lavagante" by Mário Barroso, with 21,619 tickets sold, and the third was "O lugar dos sonhos" by Diogo Morgado, with 17,931 tickets sold.
With ICA data recorded up to November, Portuguese cinema attracted 218,572 viewers this year, representing a share of only 2.3% of total cinema ticket sales in 2025.
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