*Portugal*

Crista, Carloto and João are building an airy greenhouse for butterflies in their garden. They share household routines, day after day and are not the only ones. To surrender oneself, fully, to the flow of time; to surrender oneself with delight to the majestic power of the river Chronos – such is the incomparable, unparalleled [...]

“Widening the lens to take in the ills of an entire economic system, Pedro Pinho’s The Nothing Factory is the latest cinematic response to Portugal’s financial crisis. Less flamboyant than Miguel Gomes’s Arabian Nights but filled with rewarding eccentricities of its own, the film revolves around the crew of an elevator plant. Roused into action [...]

“In which Scheherazade tells of the restlessness that befell the country: `It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that in a sad country where people dream of mermaids and whales, unemployment spreads. Forests burn into the night despite the falling rain: men and women long to set out to sea in the middle of Winter. [...]

“In which Scheherazade tells of how desolation invaded men : `It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that a Judge will cry instead of giving out her sentence. A runaway murderer will wander through the land for over forty days and will teletransport himself to escape the Guard while dreaming of prostitutes and partridges. A [...]

“In which Scheherazade doubts that she will still be able to tell stories to please the King, given that what she has to tell weighs three thousand tonnes. She therefore escapes from the palace and travels the Kingdom in search of pleasure and enchantment. Her father, the Grand-Vizier, arranges to meet her at the Ferris [...]