Screening of the documentary METAMORPHOSIS by António Luís Moreira 02/09/2025
On September 2, the Cinemateca Portuguesa will screen the documentary METAMORPHOSIS (2024, Portugal), directed by António Luís Moreira. The film is accompanied by a photography book by Carmen Serejo, which is a reflection on existence, uncertainty, and resilience. The book presentation will take place at 6:00 p.m. at Livraria Linha de Sombra, with the participation of António Faria, Manuel Heitor, Rute Reimão and Teresa Borges. The screening of the film takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the Luís Pina Room.
António Luís Moreira filmed METAMORPHOSIS in the Schist Villages of the Municipality of Góis, in the Serra da Lousã mountain range, following the path of ordinary people who populated certain places, where they built stories that have been lost in time. The documentary promotes a reflection on Social Metamorphosis, associated with the "detraditionalization of forms of life", a process of liberation from past social forms that paves the way for the formation of new identities and social practices. But it is also an objection to the growing dissatisfaction with the present, to the view that the past is a utopia and the future a very uncertain destiny, which ignores the fact that aging is a natural, dynamic, progressive and irreversible process that has been with us since birth, until death. Committed to the reality of the past, the film shows how social mutations arise from the great contemporary forces created by man himself and the need to adapt to their achievements. But it also shows how the search for forms of life that value memory, without being tied to history, without fearing contradictions or the unknown, allows us to overcome the discourses of fatality that sentence the future.
METAMORPHOSIS has participated in a few national and international competitions, having won the Luleå International Film Festival – Sweden 2024 (Best Feature Documentary Film and Best Debut Documentary Film), the Filmzen International Competition of Chicago – USA 2024-2025 (Best Documentary Film and Best First Time Filmmaker), the virtual Best Hollywood Day Short Film Festival 2025 (Best Documentary Film), and the Portugal Indie Film Festival in Cascais 2025 (Best Documentary). The film was also nominated for the Barcelona Indie Awards – Spain 2025, was a semi-finalist at the 12th ARFF Barcelona International Film Festival – Spain 2025, and was a finalist at the Dallas Independent Film Festival – USA.
The film is in Portuguese, with English subtitles and the running time is 79 minutes. Watch the trailer here.
