Today begins the 15th edition of LEFFEST!

Our great celebration of cinema will light up the night in Lisbon, with the opening ceremony taking place at Teatro Tivoli BBVA, 9 p.m. We’ve got a full house for the premiere of Wes Anderson’s new film, The French Dispatch.

In an edition in which we will show more than 100 films, among which there are national premieres, restored classics, and retrospectives of the greatest authors of contemporary cinema, there are surprises beyond the silver screen. We will also host debates dedicated to the history and present challenges that the Roma people face, a series of concerts that bring us the distinctive rhythms and harmonies of their culture, a special programme dedicated to one of the eminent figures of avant-garde theater, Romeo Castellucci, and an exhibition of major works by Roma-Austrian artist Ceija Stojka.

Highlights of our programming – November 11 – 14

This week, there is the exclusive opportunity to see a screening of The Power of the Dog, a subversive western for which Jane Campion received the Silver Lion for Best Directing at Venice Film Festival. More good news: those who missed the premiere of The French Dispatch can still attend the second session on November 12, 9h30 p.m., at Centro Cultural Olga Cadaval.

In Competition, there are multiple promising new films: Emmanuel Carrère’s Ouistreham, starring Juliette Binoche; Jonas Carpignano’s A Chiara, in a session where the actresses Swamy Rotolo and Antonina Fumo will be present; Leave No Traces, directed by Jan P. Matuszyński, an account of police brutality; Arthur Harari’s war epic Onoda, 10,000 Nights in the Jungle, presented by Harari and producer Nicolas Anthomé; and A Night of Knowing Nothing, Payal Kapadia’s intimate epistolary narrative.

Out of Competition, audiences will enjoy screenings enriched by the presence of filmmakers: the melancholic Compartment Nº 6, directed by Juho Kuosmanen, Ildikó Enyedi’s historical drama The Story of My Wife, and Memory Box, by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige – Hadjithomas and actress Manal Issa will attend the session. Another relevant guest is Japanese author Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, who will participate via livestream on the screening of one of his latest films Drive My Car, which received universal acclaim at this year’s Cannes Festival.

Also noteworthy is the opening of one of the thematic programmes of the festival, The Death of God, with two intriguing propositions: Caroline Deruas’s The Immortals, and the unforgettable 1971 film, In the Name of the Father, directed by Marco Bellocchio. And speaking of classic works, we will show 4K restorations of Georges Franju’s Blood of the Beasts, Jean Renoir’s The Rule of the Game and F for Fake, one of Orson Welles’ greatest cinematic accomplishments – all chosen by Frédéric Bonnaud, director of the French Cinematheque, who will present the films.

The programme of LEFFEST ’21 includes a section that focuses on Portuguese authors: specifically, on the multidisciplinary works of Henrique Pina and Rodrigo Areias, both present at the festival.

This year’s festival celebrates Roma culture, and in the next days there will be screenings of films which are indispensable to deepen our understanding of this people and their history. Among them, we can find Tony Gatlif’s The Crazy Stranger, Aleksandar Petrovic’s I Even Met Happy Gypsies, Francisco Rovira Beleta’s Los Tarantos and Peter Nestler’s Being Gipsy. The first debates on the situation and heritage of Roma people will be centered on the topics “The Roma Genocide During the Second World War” and “Flamenco: Heritage and Persecution” – to discuss them, we invited artists, academics and members of the community.

The 100th anniversary of The Kid, Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece, to be shown in 4K at LEFFEST, is the ideal occasion for a radical reimagining of this legendary author, now taking into account the significance of his Romani roots. For that purposed, we are honoured to receive at the festival his son Michael, and his granddaughters Carmen and Dolores Chaplin, who will show us a teaser of the documentary they are producing on this precise subject matter, Charlie Chaplin, A Man of the World.

The opening of the exhibition of Ceija Stojka’s works, on November 14, completes this series of events dedicated to Roma art and culture.

Three live shows are set to happen this week: Josemi Carmona Trio with guest artist Pepe Habichuela and “Farruquito” (double concert); Taraf de Caliu; Ricardo Ribeiro and Mónika Lakatos (double concert).

From the 10th to the 21st of November, there are more than enough reasons to celebrate the 15 years of the festival. And this year, as part of a partnership between LEFFEST and Cinemas NOS, the festival will have an extension at Norteshopping, Oporto, until the 24th of November.

Subscribe or newsletter and follow us on social media to stay updated with the newest information on LEFFEST ’21.

See you soon!

Tickets for all activities are on sale at Ticketline (Teatro Tivoli BBVA e Centro Cultural Olga Cadaval), ActiveTicket (Cinema Medeia Nimas) and BOL (Teatro Nacional D. Maria II).

The schedule and locations of all events can be found on our Programme.