The French Cinematheque has just announced that it will pay tribute to producer Paulo Branco from February 10th through 21st, 2021 with his presence and the screening of a selection of about 30 films produced by Paulo Branco himself.

This is the second time that the French Cinematheque honors the Portuguese producer, after dedicating to him the tribute entitled “Bravo Branco”, in 1992. Paulo Branco thus becomes the first independent producer to be honored twice by what is one of the most important and prestigious cinematheques in the world. 

We can read in the press release of the presentation of the 2020-21 season, which took place today: 

“We owe to this inspired and audacious producer, who started his activity in cinema in Paris, as a programmer and exhibitor, the emergence of a large portion of cinematographic modernity in Europe following the end of the 1970s. In fact, Paulo Branco allowed the breaking out of most of the most essential filmmakers in this period, from Portuguese directors like Manoel de Oliveira, Pedro Costa, or João César Monteiro, to the Chilean Raúl Ruiz or the Lithuanian Sharunas Bartas. He also produced some of the most important films by Chantal Akerman and Werner Schroeter. Many prominent directors, representing an entire generation of French filmmakers, owe him the start of their careers: Olivier Assayas, Christophe Honoré, Laurence Ferreira Barbosa, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Mathieu Amalric, among others. Paulo Branco or the production of films as an adventure and as art.  

(see the presentation of the French Cinematheque’s new season)

Among the Portuguese directors, besides those named in the French Cinematheque’s announcement – Manoel de Oliveira, João César Monteiro and Pedro Costa –, Paulo Branco produced films by over 4 dozen directors, many of whom began their careers with him: António Ferreira, António Pinhão Botelho, António-Pedro Vasconcelos, Bruno de Almeida, Carlos Saboga, Catarina Ruivo, Cláudia Tomaz, Edgar Pêra, Fernando Lopes, Frederico Serra, Hugo Vieira da Silva, Inês Oliveira, Ivo Ferreira, Jaime Silva, João Botelho, João Canijo, João Guerra, João Mário Grilo, João Nuno Pinto, Joaquim Pinto, Jorge Cramez, Jorge Silva Melo,  José Álvaro Morais, José Fonseca e Costa, José Nascimento, Luís Filipe Rocha, Marco Martins, Margarida Gil, Mário Barroso, Raquel Freire, Rita Azevedo Gomes, Rita Nunes,  Rosa Coutinho Cabral, Ruy Duarte de Carvalho, Teresa Villaverde, Tiago Guedes, Vicente Jorge Silva.