Apordoc – Associação Para o Documentário and Doclisboa have teamed up with Legal Partners to create the Legal Partners Portugal Rights and Freedoms Award for the best film on the theme of Human Rights. The new award will be given for the first time during the 21st edition of Doclisboa, which will take place from 19 to 29 October.
There are 11 films running for the award in this first edition (see list below). These works disseminate different perspectives and latitudes that have in common the defence and active promotion of Human Rights. The jury is composed by fAlice Neto de Sousa, poet and poetry writer; Daniel Oliveira, journalist and commentator; and Graça Castanheira, film director and founding partner of Apordoc. The winner of the Legal Partners Portugal Rights and Freedoms Award will be revealed on 28 October at the Doclisboa’23 Awards Ceremony, which will take place at Casa Independente, starting at 8.30pm.
Legal Partners believes that it is important to look at Human Rights in a different, global and interdependent way. “As lawyers, we have a special responsibility towards society. That’s why, together with the organisations and citizens we support legally, we make the most of their rights and, at the same time, call for their responsible exercise from an intra-planetary and intergenerational perspective,” says António Martins Rodrigues, one of the founding partners of Legal Partners. “More than ever, we need to remember the importance of respecting the Rights of Humanity, which is why, together with Doclisboa, we created this award, honouring all those who, day after day, never cease to raise their voices in defence of Humanity.”
Doclisboa’s director, Miguel Ribeiro, notes that “by bringing together films that debate their time, the festival annually brings to the centre of the debate various issues that should mobilise us as a society”. “To be able, together with Legal Partners Portugal, to highlight one of these films, which courageously constructs images to bring about transformative ideas and movements, makes perfect sense and fills us with joy.”
Doclisboa’23 is taking place this year at the usual venues: Culturgest, Cinema São Jorge, Cinemateca Portuguesa and Cinema Ideal, and will screen 250 films from 42 countries, including 35 world premieres and 39 Portuguese films, which reveal the pulse of the world and those who inhabit it.
In October, the whole world will fit into Lisbon.
List of films in the competition:
An Owl, A Garden and the Writer
Jury
Alice Neto de Sousa
Poet and poetry teller who was born in Portugal (1993) and has Angolan roots. Wrote the poem Março, which was chosen to open the official celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution. Seeks to “sharpen her tongue” on stage concerning up-and-coming social matters. Her poem Poeta conquered the social media in 2022 and has been flying around the world. Is a regular guest in RTP África’s programme Bem-Vindos.
Daniel Oliveira
Was a journalist at the newspapers O Século, Diário Lisboa and Diário Económico, and the magazines Já and Vida Mundial, and also editor and author of television programmes at RTP. Won the Gazeta New Talent Award from the Journalist Club in 1998 with a feature on the Prague Spring. Columnist at Expresso since 2005, commentator at Eixo do Mal and Sem Moderação (SIC Notícias), and author of the political interviews podcast Perguntar Não Ofende.
Graça Castanheira
Has a degree in film directing from the Lisbon Theatre and Film School (where she teaches), and attended the doctorate in performative arts and moving image arts at the University of Lisbon and the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon. Created the production and post-production company Pop Filmes in 2008. Co-founder of Apordoc and a board member from 2007 to 2010. Film and TV director since 1989, having received several awards.
