PROGRAM
The second edition of the Maia International Film Festival, set to take place in April 2025, promises an even richer program featuring films from both emerging and established talents in global cinema. With a carefully curated selection of feature films and esteemed guests such as Margarida Cardoso (PT) and Algimantas Puipa (LT), the festival continues its commitment to diversity and cinematic creativity. For several days, the city of Maia will host inspiring encounters between filmmakers and audiences, creating unforgettable moments of dialogue and artistic exchange.
The Night Screening (LT)
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Watchmaker stumbles into a mysterious cinema and is enraptured by the sight of movie star Lisa sleeping on the screen. His life changes. A girl he meets in the cinema begins leading him through the strange world of cinematic dreams.
Wednesday April 30th
Ceremonial Port Wine Reception | 21h00
Opening Ceremony | 21h30
Screening* | 22:00
Director | Algimantas Puipa
Duration | 1h50
*Admittance by invitation
Guitar Barrel Project (PT)
The unexpected discovery by a luthier of wooden staves from old wine barrels—believed to have belonged to the Marquis of Pombal—sparks the challenge of transforming them into musical instruments and artistic objects by six world-renowned luthiers. At the same time, one of the enormous barrels (holding over 5,000 liters) will be restored at one of the most prestigious cooperages.
Rabia (DE/FR)
NATIONAL PREMIERE
Driven by the promise of a new life, Jessica, a 19-year-old Frenchwoman, leaves for Syria to join Daech. Arriving in Raqqa, she joins a home for the future wives of combatants, and soon finds herself the prisoner of Madame, the charismatic director who runs the place with an iron fist. Inspired by true events.
Robot T-0 (FR)
NATIONAL PREMIERE
In the near future, robots are in every household, at the service of humans, replacing them in their daily chores. 40 years old Max, unemployed, and her daughter Paula struggle to earn their living. When a desperate mom and her daughter encounter an outdated robot, T-0, their reluctant alliance becomes their only hope in a world dominated by household robots.
Moon (AT)
NATIONAL PREMIERE
Sarah, a former mixed martial artist from Vienna, takes up the offer to work as a personal trainer for the three daughters of a wealthy family in the Middle East. In a palace surrounded by walls, with no internet access and constant surveillance on the sisters, Sara finds that they are not really interested in boxing training. The question is, why was Sara brought here?
A Woman and Her Four Men (LT)
NATIONAL PREMIERE
Story set in a Baltic fishermen’s settlement at the turn of the 20th century. The film’s heroine keeps losing one husband after another, but there’s always someone from the family to come and take care of her children and her house.
Screening | Thursday May 1st | 21:30
Masterclass with Algimantas Puipa
Free Entrance
Schedule | Thursday May 1st | After “A Woman and Her Four Men” screening
Rhythm of Dammam (IN)
NATIONAL PREMIERE
His late grandfather’s spirit haunts Twelve-year-old Jayaram Siddi. He loses touch with reality. His family embraces tribal rituals and Dammam music to restore his balance and address inter-generational trauma.
Kino (DE)
WORLD PREMIERE
An observation of daily life from the perspective of a cinema employee together with the imagination and power of cinema.
The Hyperboreans (CL)
NATIONAL PREMIERE
A woman’s storytelling and illusions bring to life the controversial figure of Miguel Serrano, a Chilean writer who propagated esoteric Neo-Nazi philosophies, prompting contemplation about his place in history.
Costa dos Murmúrios (PT)
During the war of independency Evita moves from Lisbon to Mozambique to marry Luís. She slowly discovers how different and disturbing life is in a country of war and when her husband is send on a military mission she starts to fight loneliness. Over time she finds out more about her husband and Mozambique than she would have imagined in her peaceful European home. Racism, violence, injustice and fatalism make life unbearable.
Delirio (CR)
NATIONAL PREMIERE
Masha (11) and her mother Elisa move to her grandmother’s house, to take care of her.
Everybody acts as if Masha’s father is dead, something she denies. Elisa feels the presence of a threatening person around the house. To protect Masha she cuts her off from the outside world.
Mary and the Witch's Flower (JP)
*Free Admission
Dragon Dilatation (FR)
NATIONAL PREMIERE
The combination of two film essays, Petrouchka and La Déviante Comédie. The first part is a rereading of Stravinsky’s ballet, while the second consists of traces of an unpublished performance.
MA - Cry of Silence (MM)
NATIONAL PREMIERE
Mi-Thet, a young Burmese woman who works in a garment factory, faces an urgent strike organized by her colleagues, which reminds her of her deep trauma. By learning about the recent history of her country, she decides to act.
Masterclass and Movie Talks
Masterclass with director Margarida Cardoso and Movie Talks with Miguel Nunes, Beatriz Godinho, António Durães, Pedro Hossi and Oceana Basílio.
Entrada Livre
Banzo (PT)
1907. Afonso starts a new life on an African tropical island as a plantation doctor, tasked with treating a group of servants “infected” by Banzo—the deep nostalgia of enslaved people. They die by the dozens, either from starvation or suicide. Fearing contagion, the group is sent to a rainy hill surrounded by dense forest. There, Afonso struggles to heal them, but his inability to understand the depths of their suffering proves stronger than any remedy.
Screening* | Saturday May 3rd | 21:30
*Admittance by invitation
Maia International Film Festival © Copyright 2025
Crafted by Dotgraf