Raul de Caldevilla had a modern dream: to create a business that would be an advertising agency, a film production company and a high-end printing shop all at the same time — and, for a short time, he achieved it. He produced the fiction films Os Faroleiros (1922) and As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor (1924), by Maurice Mariaud, and several advertising and propaganda films, such as the famous Escalada à Torre dos Clérigos (1917).

This series of screenings aims to demonstrate the evolution of advertising in Portugal from its early beginnings through to Cinema Novo, which took the genre out of short advertising documentaries and brought its language up to date — as can be seen in the films of Fernando Lopes, José Fonseca e Costa and António de Macedo — even leading to the insertion of advertising in fiction films, such as in O Cerco (1970), by António da Cunha Telles. We also show examples of advertisement spots, which, through the medium of television, would become the hegemonic genre for audiovisual publicity.

Curated by Eduardo Cintra Torres, Hugo Barreira and Pedro Leitão.

Programme developed with the support of Cinemateca Portuguesa.