Cleia Almeida

THE LOVEBIRDS intertwines six stories about love, friendship and survival. The film stars an international cast of American and Portuguese actors who create a colorful mix of off-beat characters that lead us through a complex labyrinth of emotions. Set in the old Romanesque city of Lisbon during the course of one night where love is the art of survival. Written by Anonymous

In a family-run hotel near the northern coast of Portugal, several women from the same family, spanning different generations, live together. Their relationship, poisoned by bitterness, struggles to survive in the decaying hotel. The unexpected arrival of a granddaughter in this claustrophobic space provokes turmoil and rekindles latent hatreds and accumulated resentments.

A philosophy-obsessed serial rapist stalks a university campus in broad daylight.

A film about General Humberto Delgado's brutal assassination by the Portuguese fascist police in 1965.

A regular family living in the outskirts of Lisbon sees the serenity of their lives shaken beyond any remedy within a week.

A disturbing film about the Portuguese underworld of prostitution.

Vera, a single mother with two small children, is forced to have two jobs to survive after her children's father has disappeared. She works as a cashier at a supermarket by day and at night works in a strip club, trying not only to raise her children but also to pay off the debts that her ex-partner left her. Harassed in both jobs, one day she reacts violently when a nightclub client is more daring, being sentenced in court to perform community service in a nursing home, where her irreverence and youth will clash with the authoritarianism and inhumanity of the director. For the elderly who live in the nursing home, Vera is a breath of fresh air that little by little will change their lives, becoming the true home fairy…

This really happened, or so it is said. In 1840, a few years after the Portuguese Civil War, a young man arrived at a village by the Douro, carrying a book full of stories. Following the teachings of that book, the villagers of Granja do Tedo founded a social and religious movement that would last seven years, led by the healer Maria das Neves, self-styled “Third Eve, by Jesus Crowned”. The promotion of women’s role in society, the divulgation of naturism, solidarity with the poor and the expansion of free education were some of the movement’s demands. Maria Coroada, Crowned Maria, tells us of the ability to converse with the gods that live inside of us, of the courageous search for voices that transcend us. It also tells us of a book’s power to transform a whole community. And of the beauty of that transformation.

What stops two people from being together? A third one. What stops one person from fighting for another? Nothing. Pedro lives in the suburbs, where he works with his father in a garage. Everyday he takes the bus downtown where he goes to school and meets his friends. It's summertime and they all go down to the river where they spend their free time or even their school time. Among joints, motorbike riding and swimming, everything seems to go well with this group of friends, until the moment when Pedro and his best friend find out that both of them like the same girl. Pedro finds himself inside a downward spiral, where everything around him seems to fall apart. Like a magnet attracts the iron, Pedro seems to attract problems, from the school until his relationship with his parents. This is the story of Pedro, who by having his head being pushed down so much learned how to breathe under water.

Felizbela loves her husband with obsessive intensity, surrounding him with an explosive mix of passion and jealousy that will inevitably turn into hatred. To keep his attention, she stops at nothing, enduring suffering and humiliation in an attempt to win back his love. But Messias can barely conceal his growing disillusionment with life and his unspoken contempt for his wife. One day, Bárbara — Felizbela’s fragile and rebellious niece — bursts into their lives and upsets the balance: her cousin, her aunt, and above all Messias, who finally allows himself to be carried away by his emotions. Felizbela, however, refuses to give in — and will do whatever it takes to save her family.

A hotel by the northern shore of Portugal welcomes its guests over the weekend. A man is torn between being present for his wife and the space that his mother takes up between the two of them. A mother encourages her daughter’s marriage to enable her own love affair with her son-in-law. Another mother lives through her daughter, preventing her from making her own decisions. Three families at the end of their cycles of acceptance.

At the age of 71, a highly regarded writer, José Cardoso Pires, suffers a major stroke and loses his memory and the ability to relate to the rest of the world. Everybody seems to defy the famous author to write another novel that recounts this adventure telling his "last story", the most conclusive of his career, the one of his accidental journey to the clear shadows territory.

Posfácio works at the factory of Madam Cannon and dates her daughter Claudete. Everything would be going great for Posfácio, if it wasn't for terrorist plans from his work buddies Marques and Mendes.

Throughout a year's work, a group of ten actors and a film director will work together on the creation of the characters and on the structure of the plot of a new film to come. Long sessions of discussion, rehearsals and endless repetitions serve to develop the most important scenes of that plot until it takes its ultimate form, in the film which results from this work.

Portugal, 1968. Salazar, the fascist dictator who reigned the longest time in the world, falls from a chair and suffers a stroke. When he returns to the São Bento mansion to convalesce, he is no longer President of the Council. But no one tells him the truth: not his faithful housekeeper Maria de Jesus, nor his maids Aparecida, Socorro, and Teresinha, nor his personal doctor. For two years he lives under a meticulously constructed illusion, believing he is still President, until his death in 1970.

With the pandemic, Marta discovers that the partner she idealized is, after all, violent. Trapped in the apartment with her abuser, she must choose between her safety and that of her son and the end of a seemingly perfect life.

Five characters intersect at a sidewalk beginning a journey through their lives.

Pê, a man with terminal cancer, wanders through his city, Lisbon. Throughout the day, he is confronted with a reality unaware of his suffering while he prepares his imminent death by writing a farewell letter to his daughter. When emptying her father’s house, the daughter discovers the letter. It is the beginning of a new encounter.

The journey of 11 women while they go on a pilgrimage from Bragança to Fatima.

Sílvia rents a house for the weekend in the south of Portugal with the intention of meeting her secret lover, Clara. Between tanning sessions and swims in the pool, this perfect couples weekend begins to take a turn due to a mysterious evil. Strange events that occur in the house will change their relationship and personal lives forever.

At the center of this story is Aurora Guerra, a popular actress who became a star in the teen series "The Chosen Ones" at an early age. Irene and Julio, Aurora's parents, signed her up for a casting several years ago and the matriarch, realizing that the decision was between her and another girl, managed to play the casting director in Aurora's favor. Lúcia has the same dream: to be a successful actress and decides to apply for the casting as well, but she soon realizes Irene's scheme and decides to confront her. After a violent argument between the two, Lúcia ends up having an accident that almost took her life and killed her chance of becoming an actress, due to the physical disabilities she was left with. Twenty years later, Lucia is determined to take revenge. The young woman wants to get back what she believes Aurora has taken from her, far from imagining that she is just a victim of Irene's evil deeds.

Mar Salgado is a story of a woman who had 2 twins and thought they died after the were born, but it couldn't be more far from truth, and now 16 years later she'll try to find them.

Leonor and Pedro, are young, in love and from different social classes. She is the daughter of a wealthy man. He is from a modest working class family. They experience an intense but dramatically short love affair. When Pedro discovers Leonor’s father’s secret – that he sexually abused a maid – he is the victim of a hit and run accident, leaving him in a deep coma for 5 years. He later awakens to find out that his girlfriend, who was told he had died in the accident, moved on with her life and married someone else, after several years of grieving.

An unlikely love with a happy ending... At age 40, Miguel is at the top of his career as a plastic surgeon, having reached the fame and fortune he worked so hard for. He’s a hopeless bachelor, never committing to any real relationship. This is not just by choice, his situation is a result of never having met his parents and being raised in a children’s home. But, overnight, a simple phone call will change his life entirely, making him recall a point in his life that he’d rather forget. His best friend from the institution was just killed in a car crash along with his wife, but left written instructions behind stating that, if something should happen to him, Miguel should be given custody of his three children, 12-year-old Simão, 8-year-old Jaime and 6-year-old Beatriz. Initially, Miguel will try to dismiss himself from any responsibility but, after meeting the kids, he realizes that he has no choice but to bring them home.

A family by force... Paulo and Susana have been together for a few years now and decide to take the next step in their relationship by moving in together. But, as they're signing the deed to the house, her father, who was supposed to bring the check, ends up delivering the bad news that there is no money for the house, thus ending this young couple’s dream. However, Artur doesn’t want to come off as a bad parent, so he offers his attic to them so that they can start their life together. So, Paulo’s dream turns into an absolute nightmare, as their life as a couple is, in fact, shared with seven other people who are all very different from them and will start controlling their every move in a permanently tense environment. The Mata family, as it turns out, is all insane, the only exception being Susana. And even her will have a hard time convincing the rest of the family to accept and welcome their new member.

The daily life of the residents of the "Terraços do Glamour" condominium, on the outskirts of Lisbon, highlights their problems with defective apartments and spoiled facilities due to the developer's false promises.

Maria is a Portuguese woman who emigrates to Vestmannaeyjar, a small and remote island in Iceland, in search of a better life for herself and her teenage daughter, Bela. Away from a past marked by domestic violence and deep secrets, she looks for freedom and a place to be herself. Six months after her arrival, Maria is found lifeless. Her violent death shocks the isolated community and exposes the secrets everyone is keeping. The investigation is placed in the hands of Soffía an Icelandic detective who, as she immerses in the investigation, faces her own crossroads, trying to balance professional duty and the ghosts of her past.

Sara is a portuguese actress who only works in film and is known for her ability to cry on cue. But one day her eyes dry up just like her interest in cinema. The solution? Soap operas.

"Tony" traces the Portuguese artist's journey from childhood, where he dealt with hunger and poverty, to his years of immigration, the beginning of his career, and his struggle for success, until he was acclaimed as one of the greatest Portuguese romantic singers. A story of overcoming adversity, hard work, and love... The man who reinvented himself to achieve what he most desired throughout his life: a family legacy.

The pilgramage of 11 women in 9 days and 400km to Fátima.