The revolution seen by the people on the 25th of April at the Cinemateca | Portuguese Cinematheque

Around a dozen new films shot by amateur filmmakers on April 25, 1974, will be shown at the Cinemateca Portuguesa, in Lisbon, on the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution. The historic date, which has been celebrated by the institution since the beginning of 2024 with a series of thematic cycles, will be marked by two free entry sessions, on the 25th and 26th. Freedom for “carolas”, film students, amateur filmmakers (some members of the Independent Filmmakers Group) and even some professionals.

The material to be shown has different origins: the Cinemateca Portuguesa’s own collection; a collection campaign launched in partnership with the 50th Anniversary 25th of April Commemorative Commission; and also personal files deposited over recent years in the National Archive of Moving Images (ANIM).

In November, when the campaign was launched, the then director of the Cinemateca, José Manuel Costa — who has since left office, having been temporarily replaced by sub-director Rui Machado until the appointment of new management — recalled that “amateur films were not subject to censorship by the Estado Novo or to any limitations or previous formatting, which makes them an invaluable source for understanding the Portuguese 20th century.”

Thus, on the 25th, at 6:30 pm, a program of unreleased amateur films will be shown, shot mainly in super-8 and 8mm, directed by Nuno Monteiro Pereira, Vítor Silva, Marcelino Abreu Costa, the Brazilian Cláudio Kahns or the director Fernando Lopes.

The session, still being finalized, should not exceed an hour and a half in length, according to Joana Ascensão, from the Cinemateca’s programming department, who is currently finalizing the choice; and will include between 10 and 15 films, with durations ranging from two to 20 minutes. Many of the films have no sound, and will be projected in digital copy taken from the original super-8 and 8mm media. The collection campaign launched by the Cinemateca remains active in the meantime, and Joana Ascensão points out the institution’s intention to hold more sessions throughout the year to display the material already received and yet to be received.

The following day, the 26th, also at 6:30 pm, around two hours of unpublished “raw” footage will be shown — that is, images without editing or post-production, never seen before — from two different sources. Images from the Cinema Conservatory will show material filmed by young filmmakers from the first class of what would become the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema (ESTC). These are materials identified and digitized by Cinemateca among the deposit of files that ESTC made at ANIM. “On the morning of April 25 [de 1974]several of them enter the Cinema School premises, grab the 16 mm cameras and the film that was there, and take to the streets”, explains the Cinemateca.

Ricardo Vieira Lisboa, the programmer who is coordinating this session, explains that it is difficult to know the true “kinship” of the images since they are not attributed individually, but it has already been possible to identify that the director Monique Rutler and the makeup artist Paola Porru are authors. part of the material to be displayed.

In the same session, the unpublished “raw” footage of one of the most famous documentaries-records of the 25th of April period will be shown, Weapons and the Peopleshot between April 25 and May 1, 1974 by a group of directors that included the Portuguese Luís Galvão Teles, José Fonseca e Costa, Fernando Lopes, Fernando Matos Silva, António-Pedro Vasconcelos or Alberto Seixas Santos and the Brazilian Glauber Rocha .

All the material that will be displayed was left out of the final assembly of Weapons and the People, and will, like the rest of the material, be presented without sound or organization of any kind. But, unlike digital copies of the remaining material, these raw material will be shown on 35mm film, less fragile than super-8, 8 and 16mm materials, to preserve the “strength” of the original period color.

Both sessions, as well as several other sessions of the special program commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, will have free entry upon collection at the box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start. The complete calendar can be consulted on the official website of Cinemateca Portuguesa.