The 5th Lisbon International Documentary Film Festival finished yesterday with the screening of “Brando”, by Leslie Greif e Mimi Freedman, at 10.45 p.m., at Cinema São Jorge, ending Docmarathon and, simultaneously, doclisboa 2007.
There was eleven days where the best documental cinema passed through six cinema rooms in Lisbon, catching 32 601 spectators, more 10 100 than in last edition.

A hundred and fifty documentaries, from four continents, passed through Lisbon this days.
Let´s make a flashback. 18 October. Culturgest opens, once more, it´s doors to doclisboa, with the film “Taxi to the Dark Side”, from Alex Gibney, the filmmaker wich film ended last edition of doclisboa (“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”). Gibney was in Lisbon to present his film.
The day after arrived Nicholas Philibert, were he presented his most recent movie “Retour en Normandie” e Paul Otchakovsky-Laurens, that presented “Sablé-sur-Sarthe, Sarthe” 2007, a film that was included on the section Filmed Diaries and Portraits.

22 October. Sandrine Bonnaire, the french actress and now filmmaker too, arrived at the festival. She came to present her first incursion in the world of filmmaking: “Elle s´appelle Sabine”, a portrait of her sister, that is autistic. At the same day arrived Lech Kowalski, the filmmaker to whom doclisboa dedicated a retrospective this year. The polish filmmaker, that is a USA citizenship, is one of the most important underground american filmmakers. He came to present his seven films screened at the festival, and he gave a masterclass on the 24 October. And in this day arrived in Lisbon Andrei Nekrasov, filmmaker of one of the most disturbing films of this festival. He presented his film, first to the press on the 26 October, and then to the public of the festival on the 27th . On the presentation to the press there was a press conference, with him and Marina Litvinenko, that pointed out the fact that, since the death of her husband poisoned with polonio 210 in 2006, never have been geographically so nearby Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, that was in Lisbon between the 25 and 27 October. Mathias Muller and Mira Perlov arrived two days later, the 26 October, to present some films of a strong section of this edition: Filmed Diaries and Portraits.

On the 27th happened the official ending ceremony of the festival, with the announcement of the prize winners. After that was screened “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts”, by Spike Lee.

Yesterday it was the time of the Docmarathon, with twelve sessions, between 11.00 a.m and 02.00 p.m., at São Jorge Cinema. And, this way, finished another edition of the only documentary film festival exclusively dedicated to documentary cinema in Portugal. Now the festival follows outside Lisbon with it´s the habitual extensions. Untill the moment, are confirmed the following cities: Alcobaça, Aveiro, Faro, Malaposta, Paris and Vila Nova Famalicão.

Next year there will be more documentaries, China will be the invited country.
From 16th to 26th October 2008, the entire world will, once again, fit into Lisbon.

Prize winners here.

18 to 28 October
Doclisboa 2007: Highlights of the programme

The 5th Lisbon International Documentary Film Festival will return to Lisbon from 18 till 28 October. In this year edition, doclisboa - wich is the only film festival in Portugal that is exclusively dedicated to documentary films - will have more screening rooms, and new sections and activities.

Doclisboa 2007 will, once again, bring the best national and international documentary films to Lisbon: eleven days of intensive screenings, with more films, sections and complementary activities than ever before.

Beside the competitive sections, in it´s 5th edition the festival will pay tribute to Lech Kowalski, with a restrospective of his work. Lech Kowalski is a larger figure of the American underground cinema. His films are, since the beginning, an observation of the edges, a meeting with outsiders. He filmed the backstages of the pornographic cinema and was witness of the culmination and fall of punk. He registered the 70’s in New York as few, and his works focus on the rebels. The author of Hitler's Highway will present a selection of his work. As well as his most recent film, Winners and Losers, that was screened at the Festival of Locarno this year. Lech Kowalski will also give a Masterclass.

Pay also special attention to the section Nordic Wind: A Special Programme on Nordic Documentaries that will screen some of the best contemporary nordic documentaries. The documentary has a privileged status in the countries of the Northern Europe (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland), where the production is generously financed by the State and the works count on the affection of the public. Acclaimed in international festivals, the Nordic films surprise both for their formal quality, and for their unusual sense of humour.

Filmed Diaries and Portraits is another new section that is comissioned by Augusto M. Seabra. The private life, at times intimate, of the directors is tied to the cinema since its first days: my life as a film. This retrospective is a unique chance to review classics and rarities, from the independent cinema to the great monuments of the documentary. A rare opportunity to see films from Peter Kubelka (Unser Afrikareise), Jonas Mekas (Lost, lost, lost), Alain Berliner (Intimate Stranger and Nobody's business), Derek Jarman (Glitterburg), Marie Menken (Notebook), Jean-Luc Godard (JLG par JLG, autoportrait de décembre), Jerome Hill (Film Portrait), among many others.

Reformulating the section Fictions of the Real - Number Zero that was created in 2006, and was comissioned by Pedro Costa, this year, a new non competitive section was born. This section will debate the form and the writing of films, in particular risky works that inhabit the line between documentary and fiction, a dialogue as old as the history of cinema.

doclisboa 2007 will also have new paralell activities. For the first time, doclisboa will organize professional meetings between portuguese producers/directors and some representatives from the international market: large distributors of the documentary; television channels interested in the portuguese production; cinema distributors. These professional encounters - will take place over breakfast, within the space “Forum Debates”.

And, as usual, during the festival will happen another edition of the forum LISBON DOCS (23 to 27 October). It is a co-financing forum for documentaries, organized by Apordoc, in partnership with EDN – European Documentary Network. This is the most important event for the professionals of documentary in Portugal and will occur on the last weekend of the festival. Lisbon Docs is a privileged meeting point for the representatives of European televisions and a set of ten foreign producers who participate in a public session of pitching. Here fifteen projects of documentary films, both Portuguese and foreign, are presented to the televisions, with proposals of co-production or sale.

There will also be Masterclasses, a Video Library, School Sessions, Galleries and, of course, parties. One of doclisboa’s attractions has been the several meetings held in the city after the projections. Moments of privileged conviviality for the national and international guests at the festival. A thematic programming After Docs, in partnership with the Cabaret Maxime will mark the nights of the festival.

In October doclisboa will be, once again, the meeting point between the public, the producers and the national and international professionals.
In October the world fits into Lisbon.