Uma Pedra: Last News

Leonor Teles questions the stability of both. “Baan” (Thai for home) reimagines the world of a lovelorn person coming to terms with her own loneliness through a quasi-magical shift between Bangkok and Lisbon. Part of Locarno’s main competition, “Baan” follows a young woman named L.

Martin Dale Contributor “Légua” by Filipa Reis and João Miller Guerra has its world premiere in Directors Fortnight. Reis and Miller Guerra previously co-helmed the Cape Verde-set debut feature, “Djon Africa” (2018), and several documentaries. “Légua” is produced by the company, Uma Pedra no Sapato, which Reis founded in 2008 and ranks as one of Portugal’s leading independent production companies. The pic is set in the rural village of Légua in the North of Portugal, between Amarante and Marco de Canaveses. One of the main characters is an old country house that has been deserted by its heirs and is looked after by the ailing elderly housekeeper, Emilia, assisted by Ana (played by Carla Maciel (“Diamantino”), whose husband emigrates to work in France, leaving her to look after Emilia and her own restless teenage daughter, Mónica.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Danish international sales and aggregation outfit LevelK has boarded the thought-provoking drama “Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures” by award-winning Portuguese director Marco Martins, which world premieres in main competition at next month’s San Sebastian Film Festival.  Hailed by Variety as “a powerful study of intense grief,” Martin’s debut feature, “Alice,” won the Prix Regards Jeune at Cannes in 2005. The story unravels three months before Brexit, as hundreds of migrants descend on the UK village of Great Yarmouth seeking work in the region’s turkey processing plants. Once there, Tânia greets them with matronly authority, taking charge as innkeeper, accountant, and fixer. As she’s forced to deceive them, her conscience grows heavy and she dreams of a brighter, seemingly unattainable, future transforming derelict hotels into modern retreats for elderly tourists.