The 13th edition of the Lisbon & Sintra Film Festival (Leffest) will take place from November 15 to 24, with the participation of filmmaker Wim Wenders, writer Orhan Pamuk and singer Patti Smith, according to a proposal approved today by the Sintra autarchy.
[dropcap type=”background”]A[/dropcap]ccording to the project of Leffest’19, the jury of the official competition should be presided by the German director Wim Wenders (‘The Wings of Desire’), also integrating the Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires and American actress Chloë Sevigny.
Alongside the out-of-competition previews, the program will include a number of retrospectives and honours in this edition, directed by directors Alfonso Cuarón (‘Roma’, ‘Gravity’), Paul Thomas Anderson (‘Phantom Line’, ‘Magnolia’), Christian Petzold ‘In Transit’, ‘Phoenix’) and Rita Azevedo Gomes (‘A Portuguesa’, ‘Revenge of a Woman’).
In the parallel programming to the cinematographic exhibition, a concert of the director Jim Jarmusch (‘Ghost Dog-The Method of the Samurai’) is planned, with its band SQÜRL, on silent films of Man Ray, and the photographic exhibition ‘Instantes. Polaroids’ by artist and singer Patti Smith.
The American writer, in addition to the presentation of a short film she has done, will also participate in reading sessions, such as Nobel Prize for Literature Orhan Pamuk and Italian actor and director Roberto Benigni.
‘Europe: An Impossible Dream?’ will be the theme of the international symposium of Leffest’19, in the usual space for reflection open to national and international personalities, while the debate ‘Sintra: From the Romantic Myth of Lord Byron to Our Days’ aims to seek answers to the challenges facing the village of the outskirts of Lisbon, classified as World Heritage by UNESCO.
The Lisbon & Sintra Film Festival will take place in the two municipalities, namely Espaço Nimas, Monumental Cinema, Lisbon Forum, Maria Matos Theater or Teatro do Bairro in the capital, as well as the Olga Cadaval Cultural Center, Queluz National Palace and Quinta Mont Fleuri. Sintra.
In the draft of the protocol between the municipality of Sintra and the organizer of the festival, Leopardo Filmes, by producer Paulo Branco, approved today, financial support of 250 thousand euros is expected for the 13th edition of Leffest.
The support of the municipality of Sintra – similar to what will also be assumed by the municipality of Lisbon – provides for the payment of 175 thousand euros within one month after signing the protocol, sharing the remaining amount in three instalments payable between August and December.
In the proposal signed by the mayor of the municipality, Basílio Horta (PS), it should be noted that, in the two previous editions, there were 90 cinema sessions, including specific programming for schools and seniors, and that, with concerts and recitals, a total of 15,588 viewers, “a number expected to grow through the continuity of the festival” in the county.
After ten editions held in Estoril and Lisbon, Leffest, launched in 2007 and directed by producer Paulo Branco, is held for the third consecutive year in Sintra, after the local authority decided to replace the Cascais Chamber.
