The film “Glória” (1999), the first and only feature film by Portuguese director Manuela Viegas, was restored by the Portuguese Cinematheque and will return to theaters on the 30th, in Sardoal, in Santarém, the region where it was filmed.
According to Cinemateca Portuguesa, the film will be screened in a restored copy at the Gil Vicente Cultural Center, in Sardoal, with the director present, and should reach other exhibition spaces in 2025.
“Glória” is written by Manuela Viegas and director Joaquim Sapinho and is presented as “one of the most significant portraits in Portuguese cinema of the nebulous transition from childhood to adulthood.”
The film was first screened at the Berlin Film Festival in 1999.being the first selection of a Portuguese work in the official competition of the Berlinale.
The Sardoal region, with landscapes of forests and rivers, was the setting chosen for this film, with Raquel Marques and Francisco Relvas playing the roles of Glória and Iván, two children who play together among ruins, in a town in the interior of the country.
“Far away from everyone is the secret refuge, the only safe place on the planet. “Ivan is happy to share the secret of Glória, a small paradise hidden in the river, under the water that separates the worlds,” the synopsis says.
Jean-Christophe Bouvet, Ricardo Aibéo and Isabel de Castro join the cast of the film, co-produced by Portugal, France and Spain.
“Glória” is the only film by Manuela Viegas, born in Porto in 1951 and who worked, above all, as an editor in Portuguese cinema, alongside names such as Teresa Villaverde, Pedro Costa, João César Monteiro, António-Pedro Vasconcelos and João Botelho.
She is also co-author of a film script, “Corte de Cabelo” (1995), by Joaquim Sapinho.
Before becoming an editor, Manuela Viegas was also a Mathematics teacher at Trás-os-Montes, a film commentator and graduated in Film and Economics.
“Glória” was the subject of digitization within the framework of an expanded plan of the Portuguese Cinematheque, for the digital renewal of more than a thousand films of Portuguese cinemaand is part of a catalog of works that this institution intends to distribute in cinemas.
The screening of “Glória” in Sardoal is also part of the “Classic Film Season” project, coordinated by the Association of European Cinematheques, and is also associated with the celebrations of World Audiovisual Heritage Day, which is celebrated on October 27.
Source: Observadora
