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© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 32 movies from Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
It's September in Lisbon… Elsa’s young daughter leaves with her father, and Teresa, a friend’s friend, comes to stay in her room. One night the two women go out and meet Raul, a vagrant lover of Elsa. A triangle takes form. They finish the night on a boat by the name of Pandora, but in the morning Raul sails away, alone. Elsa and Teresa will start a new life...
Feb 1996
A group of boys shatters the matriarchal memory of an old bedroom. In the face of impending danger, the older boys vie for leadership. As the evening progresses, they turn to violence. Chico, the young misfit, finds a tragic portent of desire.
May 2024
A man exiled in Paris makes various trips to Portugal after the Carnation Revolution. Each trip is represented by a woman.
May 1981
A man goes on a journey for a slice of apple pie.
Apr 2018
How to reinvent democracy by the eyes of two Portuguese activists.
Dec 2014
No matter how calm the surface of the ocean appears to be, each time we cross the line that divides land and water we enter an unknown and unexpected world. Does our world remain the same when we come back on shore?
Feb 2007
A November day in Porto, in a square where skaters jump up a flight of stairs. Three characters share a moment, which is divided into three subjective shots and which, without dialogue, are intended to characterize them emotionally. The idea of shared love is called into question.
Have you ever had a crush on the man frisking you at the airport? What would you do to get strip searched in that back room without being sent to jail? Frequent Traveler brilliantly and silently explores the answer to this question.
Jul 2008
A story about doomed love between two people from different worlds and the impact in their lives.
Nov 1979
Maduro, D. Lourenço manages to take away Joao Bolandas, to be with the woman, Florinda, his old love, that returns that feeling to him. Simão discovers the mother's connection with D. Lourenço and, from then on, only one desire guides him: to kill Florinda's lover.
Jul 1984
A story of obsessive love and surreal entropy between two people who surrender to absolute desire.
May 2025
Laura Rossellini, a widow from Rome, vacations on the Algarve coast one hot summer. One day while sunbathing, she finds a wounded man named Robert drifting in the surf on a rubber raft. She takes him home, and, after he is revived, learns his story. As they talk, their mutual attraction grows, until a group of armed men suddenly arrive looking for Robert.
Feb 1993
In a remote rural area, a woman on the run has a supernatural encounter surrounded by enigmatic sounds. As she immerses herself in that reality, she is confronted with unexpected phenomena that her rational mind cannot understand.
Jul 2024
Documentary made as part of the exhibition “Materiais de Construção” (FCG, 1998). The exhibition's curator, Jorge Molder, and the participating artists, Markus Raetz and Pieter Laurens Mol, are interviewed. Topics such as the artists' biography and the works presented are covered. Includes images from the exhibition (CAM Gallery and Hall).
Jan 2000
A picture of daily life punctuated by silence. In a village in the north, the daily routine of three families. Glimpses of Isabel, her eyes turned towards the future; for the others, living is the only meaning of life. The camera freezes moments of life through the movement of things in time, values and silence.
Nov 1985
Oct 2013
A woman translates the front page of H.P. Lovecraft's book “The Silver Key”. Her husband, a journalist, listens. The book describes the conflicts between the real and the imaginary, and tells how Randolph Carter, the film's character, leaves everyday life in search of his childhood dreams.
Sep 1978
The gallery attendant in an art gallery or museum is a fundamental piece in its mise-en-scéne, his main role is to see and be seen. Seems So Long Ago, Nancy implies the spectator in an infinite gesture of circular observation — to observe the observers. A passive lens that fluctuates between the subjects and the neo-classical and post-modern architectural spaces they occupy, in a balance between silence, introspection, noise, repetition, intervals and waiting — small gestures of a fragmented post-modern flaneur.
Jan 2012
A documentary that aims at highlighting the daily lives of death people and what a "deaf identity" entails.
Sep 2015
Documentary about the artistic creation in Cape Verde, with the director following, during the preparation of one of the editions of the Mindelact festival, the rehearsals and backstage of the artists. It focuses on the birth and discussion of ideas in groups, looking for ways to express a new identity. The strength of Orlando Pantera stands out, whose premature death at the age of 33 took out of Cape Verde one of the most promising creators of recent times.
Jan 2001