RTP broadcasts on May 31st - a Sunday, the day before the 130th anniversary of the death of Camilo Castelo Branco - the film MYSTERIES OF LISBON, by Raúl Ruiz. The greatest worldwide success of Portuguese cinema is shown in prime time, at 3 pm.

Mysteries of Lisbon plunges us into a veritable whirlwind of adventures and escapades, coincidences and revelations, sentiments and violent passions, vengeance, love affairs, all wrapped in a rhapsodic voyage that takes us from Portugal to France, Italy, and as far as Brazil. In this Lisbon of intrigue and hidden identities, we encounter a series of characters all somewhat linked to the destiny of Pedro da Silva, orphan in a boarding school. Father Dinis, a descendent of the aristocratic libertines, later becomes a hero who defends justice, a countess maddened by her jealousy and set on her vengeance, a prosperous businessman who had mysteriously made his fortune as a bloodthirsty pirate; these and many more all cross in a story set in the 19th century and all searching for the true identity of our main character.

Scripted by Carlos Saboga, based on the work of the same name by Camilo Castelo Branco, MYSTERIES OF LISBON has a range of prestigious actors, and with outstanding international interpretations: Adriano Luz, Maria João Bastos, Afonso Pimentel, Ricardo Pereira, Clotilde Hesme, João Arrais, Albano Jerónimo, Rui Morrison, Joana de Verona, Carloto Cotta, Maria João Pinho, among other talents, with special appearances by Léa Seydoux, Melvil Poupaud and Malik Zidi.

It premiered in more than 20 countries, both in theathers and on television, and was a success, both within the critic and the public, in an unprecedented achievement. Several French publications, including the newspaper Le Monde and Les Inrockuptibles voted the film as the best film of 2011.

J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Prize for Literature, remembers the film as «Extraordinary. A masterpiece.», And producer, actor and director John Malkovich considers MYSTERIES OF LISBON «One of the most extraordinary works of cinema». This worldwide success, signed by Raúl Ruiz and produced by Paulo Branco, was considered by Cahiers du Cinéma «Fundamental to understand the cinema of our century.»

MYSTERIES OF LISBON traveled to several festivals all over the world, including the San Sebastian Film Festival - from which it won the Silver Shell for Best Director -, the New York Film Festival, the TIFF - Toronto International Film Festival, and the IFFR - International Film Festival Rotterdam. It also won the Louis Delluc Award for Best French Film, the Satellite Award for Best Foreign Film, and the Critics Award at the São Paulo INT’L Film Festival. In Portugal, it won three awards in the cinema category at the Golden Globes (Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress).

«(...) "Mysteries of Lisbon" aspires to an epic dimension that goes through the inclusion of the historical novel in the "unchallenged" structure of abandoned children, mysterious Brazilians, dark loves, duels, dances, summary executions reminiscent of Goya's paintings, with a ghostly illumination of dreamlike contours (fabulous contribution from the Brazilian living in Portugal André Szankowsky), and an obsessive soundtrack by Jorge Arriagada, making the sequential plan his brand image (...)» Mário Jorge Torres, Ípsilon ★★★★★

«Very remarkable adaptation of Camilo Castelo Branco by Chilean Raúl Ruiz (...) Supported by a subtle work of script by Carlos Saboga, and also knowing how to value a magnificent set of Portuguese actors (...)» João Lopes, Diário de Notícias ★★★★★

«Framed by the classic foundling’s tale of Pedro, a poor orphan growing up in a boarding school, under the benevolent eye of a priest named Father Dinis, the film unfolds through a series of embedded plots and interlocking, rhyming episodes, linked by the fluid identities and complex fates of the characters and by themes of honor, kinship and desire.» A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Le Monde ★★★★★
Le Figaroscope ★★★★★
Le Parisian ★★★★★
Les Inrockuptibles ★★★★★
Positif ★★★★★
Télérama ★★★★★
Cahiers du Cinéma ★★★★
Libération ★★★★