After last year Porto/Post/Doc presented the cine-concert of Maria do Mar (with live music by the Lisbon Sinfonietta Orchestra), in the scope of the FILMar project, this year the partnership comes alive again. João Mendes and Leitão de Barros were two of the most prolific filmmakers of the Salazar regime, the former having signed dozens of institutional short films. With the sponsorship of the Executive Committee of the 5th Centenary of the Death of Infante D. Henrique, the ‘Estado Novo’ financed various cultural activities that aimed to promote a mythological image of the Portuguese navigator, including these two titles. Filmed in a format that was rare in the panorama of cinema made in Portugal (scope) and in exuberant colours, these films sought to promote an epic image of a nationality, and its history, landscape and people.

The screening of these two short films will be followed by a debate with historian Vítor Barros, who will promote a critical revision of the fascist cinema of this time and its maritime ideology in order to combat its contemporary echoes.

The films will be presented in new digital copies produced by Cinemateca Portuguesa - Museu do Cinema, as part of the project FILMar - Digitization of Cinematographic Heritage. This screening takes place within the FILMar project, operated by Cinemateca Portuguesa - Museu do Cinema, with the support of the European Funding Mechanism EEAGrants 2020-2024.