A Poorly Told Story (2025)

Cockles and Muscles

Crustacés et coquillages is a fresh French comedy film with numerous surprise turnarounds and about the tolerance of a family of four. The family spend an idealistic summer vacation together where each of the family members gets involved in a new or old relationship.

Lisbon Story

Wim Wenders' homage to Lisbon and films. A sound engineer obtains a mysterious postcard from a friend who at the moment is filming a film in Lisbon. He sets out across Europe to find him and help him.

The State I Am In

Clara and Hans are left-wing terrorists who have been sought by police for almost fifteen years. Their increasingly rebellious daughter Jeanne begins to pose a threat to their security when she falls in love with a boy she meets on the beach.

After Everything

Besieged by writer’s block and the crushing breakup with Tessa, Hardin travels to Portugal in search of a woman he wronged in the past – and to find himself. Hoping to win back Tessa, he realizes he needs to change his ways before he can make the ultimate commitment.

The Soft Skin

Pierre Lachenay is a well-known publisher and lecturer, married to Franca and father of Sabine. He starts a love affair with air hostess Nicole, which Pierre is hiding, but he cannot stay away from her.

The Ninth Gate

A rare book dealer finds himself at the heart of a string of paranormal events when he is hired to find the last two copies of a text, The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, capable of summoning the Devil.

Os Três da Vida Airada

A typesetter is an amateur stage director, and his niece and an employee are stage actors. When they have an opportunity to go professional, differences arise between the two men. Things get worse when the employee starts seeing the girl even when there is no need for rehearsals - and the uncle opposes their relationship.

Lisbon

For Capt. Robert John Evans, smuggling black-market goods is nothing out of the ordinary. But one day he's hired by Aristides Mavros for a more involved assignment -- sneaking an imprisoned American out of communist-controlled territory. The job seems challenging enough, but when he meets the prisoner's sultry wife, Sylvia, he realizes his mission comes with a startling catch: Not only must he rescue this man, he must bring him back from the dead.

My Friend from Faro

Eternal daydreamer Mel can't wait to quit her sucky catering job and fly to her dream destination: Portugal. Things change when the beautiful Jenny literally crashes into her life when Mel nearly runs her over in her classic BMW. It is love at first sight, however there is just one problem: Jenny mistakenly assumes Mel to be a boy. Despite this, the pair become boyfriend and girlfriend. With Mel attempting to disguise her true gender at every turn, her journey from tomboy to out lesbian is fraught with life-defining dilemmas and sweet surprises.

Futuro Beach

Donato fails in his attempt to save a drowning man, and meets one of the man's friends. He decides to start his life over, but pieces of his past keep coming after him.

The Conspirators

A guerilla leader falls in love with a mysterious woman in World War II Lisbon.

In the White City

Fed up with the sea, Paul, a Swiss mechanic working in the noisy bowels of a merchant ship, lands in Lisbon.

Adventures of Don Juan

Spanish Lothario Don Juan, the legendary lover and adventurer returns to Spain following a scandal and comes to the aid of his queen, who is under threat from sinister forces.

Zus & Zo

In this Oscar-nominated comedy, three wacky sisters try to save their inheritance from their supposedly gay brother, who suddenly appears with a fiancé in tow. If he gets married, their father's will stipulates that he gets the family hotel in Portugal. So the sisters put aside their personal differences and set out to stop the wedding at all costs.

A Shot in the Dark

A baby is kidnapped in a Brazilian airport. Years later, the mother lives in Lisbon and works in a strip-tease bar so she can survive. When she is fired, she joins a gang of bank robbers...

Blood Curse

An urban family inherits an old country house located in a small village. Upon their arrival they try to adapt to the new lifestyle, but they soon learn that the village is overshadowed by superstition and mysterious folklore. As they are plagued by strange events, they learn more about the history of their family, and slowly begin to believe by inheriting the house, they also inherited a curse.

The Russia House

Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.

War

Khalid, entrusted with the task of eliminating former soldier turned rogue Kabir, engages in an epic battle with his mentor who taught him everything.

April Captains

Story of the 1974 coup that overthrew the right-wing Portuguese dictatorship--which continued the fascist policies of long-time dictator Antonio Salazar--and of two young army captains who were involved in it.

Our Beloved Month of August

In the heart of Portugal, amid the mountains, the month of August is abuzz with people and activity...

The Courtyard of the Ballads

A portrait of the relations between neighbours in a Lisbon courtyard. A story made of small episodes of humour, friendship, rivalry, love.

O Costa d'África

Costa is travelling from Africa to London, and wishes very much to his nephew Amadeu, and see by himself how well he has been invested large sums of money he is been sending him. Amadeu 'borrows' for 24 hours a wife, a villa, a car, and a servant - for he has been lies to his uncle all the time. All goes well. But, Costa decides to prolong his stay for two weeks...

Recollections of the Yellow House

Lisbon, 1989. A middle-aged poor man, tormented by an illness, lives in a cheap room in a family boarding house, in the old section of the city's waterfront.

The Last Run

A former mob getaway driver from Chicago has retired to a peaceful life in a Portuguese fishing village. He is asked to pull off one last job - to drive a dangerous crook and his girlfriend to France.

A Song of Lisbon

Vasco is a medical student in Lisbon, supported by his rich aunts, whom he had falsely told he had already graduated. In fact, he devotes himself to a bohemian life, preferring the popular fairs and pretty women, especially Alice, a seamstress from the Castelinhos quarter, which rather upsets her ambitious father, tailor Caetano, who is familiar with Vasco's debts. After failing yet another final exam, he is surprised by his aunts' announcement that they will visit him in Lisbon to see his practice.

The Lion from Estrela

Anastácio lives in Lisbon and is fanatic for Sporting CP, one of the city's football teams. When the team travels to face Porto, he follows it with the family, staying in house of his friend, Mr. Barata, pretending to be rich.

Timeless

Uncertain whether his bus will arrive, a hesitant and anxious young man begins to question the point of waiting. As he stands at the bus stop, his interactions with those who arrive lead him to reflect on the passing of time and how he should face it.

Pereira Declares

Lisbon, 1938. Mr. Pereira is the editor of the culture section of an evening paper. Although fascism is on the rise in Europe, like in nearby civil war Spain or even inside Portugal itself in the form of Salazar's regime, Pereira only concerns himself with writing bios and translating French novels. Things change after he hires a young writer as his assistant, getting to know also his girlfriend – both opponents to the regime – and reluctantly helps them when they begin to get in trouble for subversive activities. Eventually, he's forced to take a stand...

Tabu

Lisbon, Portugal, 2010. Pilar, a pious woman devoted to social causes, maintains a peculiar relationship with her neighbor Aurora, a temperamental old woman obsessed with gambling who lives tormented by a mysterious past.

IT´S CHICO TIME!

In 1974, Chico, a beloved host of a children’s TV show at the service of a repressive authoritarian regime, is forced to make the hardest decision of his life: murder a colleague live on air, or lose the approval of his powerful father. As the cameras roll, the program unravels into a surreal theatre of obedience, repression, and madness.

Storm Over Lisbon

A nightclub star helps trap an enemy agent on the trail of an American newsman.

Lovers' Net

Daniel Gelin plays a soldier who is acquitted after committing a crime of passion. Relocating to Lisbon, and still feeling remorse over his impulsive killing of his faithless wife, Gelin manages to find love in the form of gorgeous widow Francoise Arnoul. Alas, it turns out that Arnoul has a sordid past of her own, leaving our hero sadder but wiser.

A Pinch of Portugal

When a celebrity chef walks off his show, prep cook Anna must step into the spotlight and make the show her own, with the help of her Aussie cameraman and Portuguese location scout.

The Girl Next Door

The story of how the conflicting relationship of Eduardo and vaudeville actress Isabel is affected by the passion he feels for their neighbor, Mariana, a young overprotected, and the unexpected visit of his uncle Plácido, a moral teacher.

Until Tomorrow, Comrades

Portugal, 1944. In a country oppressed by a brutal dictatorship, there are those who resist and mobilize the people to fight for bread and freedom, even if it cost them prison, torture or their lives.

Fado, a Singer's Story

Ana Maria loves a modest guitar player, Júlio; when she herself in a 'retiro' (typical fado tavern), public and critics rend major applause. Fame brings about new friends, namely bohemian young who play and sing the fado with her, and not so young men but who rich and powerful enough to patronize her, promote her, and wish to become intimate with her. Júlio the guitarist feel betrayed, and he sets his mind to depart to the African colonies, to leave her forever. Knowing that he's going to embark, Ana Maria's heart between her first love, and the appeal of the rich and famous.

A Menina da Rádio

Geninha and Fortunato are couple who loves music. He's a good songwriter, she sings well. Despite this, their parents hate each other and do not seem willing to allow their marriage, nor the creation of a local radio for them.

Aldeia da Roupa Branca

Gracinda, a young laundry washer, lives with her godfather, "Uncle" Jacinto, and together they run a family business, doing the laundry for residents of Lisbon in their small village in the outskirts of that city (Canecas). Unfortunately, the business is not going very well, but that changes when Gracinda decides to go to the city to try to convince Chico, "Uncle" Jacinto's son, with whom she is in love, to return to the village and give new life to the business. The village is preparing for the annual festivities and a dispute erupts between "Uncle" Jacinto and his business rival , the widow Quiteria, when each of them invites different bands to play at the same time during the party and dances

The Tyrannical Father

While rehearsing the annual play, a clerk tries to regain the attention of his beloved, in a comedy of equivoques.

No, or the Vain Glory of Command

Episodes from throughout the entire military history of Portugal are told through flashbacks as a conscripted student of history recounts them to his fellow soldiers while they march through an African colony in revolt during 1973.

A Son Named Erasmus

Four friends in their 40s find out a deceased old flame of theirs had a child, conceived with one of them during an Erasmus (EU student exchange program) in Portugal 20 years earlier. They embark on a journey in search of the offspring, while waiting for the DNA results to find out which one is the father.

Die Screaming Marianne

After their parents divorce, one daughter lives with her mother in England while the other lives with her father in Portugal. After the untimely death of her mother, the one daughter stands to inherit a large sum of money and also a number of documents containing information that will incriminate her father, who was a crooked judge. While her father wants the documents, her sister wants the money and they will each stop at nothing, even murder, to get what they want.

Life Is Beautiful

Antonio is a retired aviator in an unnamed country ruled by a military junta which violently suppresses any free thought. He falls in love with a member of the resistance against the dictatorship. He is arrested but escapes with his love. The code word among the resisters is: ‘Life is Beautiful’.

Ramiro

Ramiro is a bookstore owner in Lisbon and a poet in perpetual creative block. He lives, somewhat frustrated, somewhat conformed, between his shop and the tavern, accompanied by his dog, his faithful drinking companions and his neighbors: a pregnant teenager and her grandmother recovering from a stroke. He would gladly continue living this quiet and somewhat anachronistic routine if events worthy of a soap opera did not invade his bubble.