With the aim of exploring, appreciating and promoting Portuguese film heritage, Batalha commissions an annual programme entirely dedicated to Portugal’s cinema and its history. This broad programme organised thematically, is composed of foundational works that help us to revisit and recontextualise the fabric of our cinema. This new programme, put together by a panel of guest curators, proposes a selection of films that zoom in on the diverse territories and transgressions of Portuguese cinema at different times.

Cause of Death: Love, the second chapter, explores, in four films, love beyond separation, social conditioning, power and death. In a tangent to the frustrated loves of Oliveira's cinema, this chapter traces a path that goes from the idyllic escape of young lovers (Fragile as the World) to violent and fatal passion (O Rio do Ouro). Along the way, it reveals loves marked by tradition, oppressive marriages and the rigidity of a ‘masculinised’ mentality (Where the Sun Beats and Solo de Violino), taking a look at the limits and possibilities of desire in Portuguese cinema.

Curated by Carlos Natálio (professor and film critic), Joana Gusmão (producer and organizer) and Luísa Sequeira (film maker and organizer)

Programme developed with the support of the Cinemateca Portuguesa — Museu do Cinema