BIOGRAF - International Film and Moving Arts Festival, from 21 to 29 August, in Vila Nova de Cerveira

agenda

DATE

20 Aug 2026

AUTHOR

Umbigo

BIOGRAF - International Film and Moving Arts Festival, from 21 to 29 August, in Vila Nova de Cerveira

AUTHOR

Umbigo

BIOGRAF — International Film & Moving Arts Festival returns to Vila Nova de Cerveira from 21 to 29 August 2026, with an edition dedicated to the theme Building Bridges, Shaping Ideas. In its second year, the festival will screen 75 films from 40 countries and forge links between cinema, architecture, the visual arts and community-based projects.

The programme comprises the official selection for the competitive section, as well as some special programmes developed in collaboration with festivals, film schools and other cultural institutions. The Official Selection brings together works by filmmakers from various regions in the categories of Feature Films, Short Films and New Narratives, the latter dedicated to experimental cinema. Among the names featured in the competition are David Bim, Jürgen Ellinghaus, Alina Gorlova, Morad Mostafa, Leonor Noivo, Hlynur Pálmason, Jessica Sarah Rinland, Anna-Marija Adomaitytė, Gregor Božič, Sara Fontoura, Randa Maroufi, Inês Nunes, Georges Sifianos, Amir Zargara, Miguel Abad Manning, Canivete, Katharina Pichler, Sergio Ruiz Velasco de Alba and Zhenyu Zhou, amongst others. The filmmakers are competing for prizes and a statuette designed by Henrique Silva, co-founder of the Fundação Bienal de Arte de Cerveira, which symbolises the festival’s identity.

The Special Programme, which is divided into the sections Architectures, Mutants, First Biographies, Spain — curated by Play-Doc – Tui International Film Festival — and Anima — curated by Laura Conde —, presents works from different eras and styles, bringing together names such as Jacques Tati, Yorgos Lanthimos, Lars von Trier, Juraj Herz, Giuseppe Tornatore, Denis Villeneuve, Oliver Laxe and David Cronenberg, amongst others. The programme also places particular emphasis on the directors Stanley Kubrick and Pedro Costa.

Of particular note is the Architectures section, which presents a programme centred on the construction of space, the technical formalism of filmmaking, and the way in which architecture influences the narrative and the characters’ relationship with the environment they inhabit. The Mutants section, dedicated to transgressive cinema, offers late-night screenings featuring films characterised by dark atmospheres and extreme approaches, exploring themes such as non-places, obsessions, carnal pleasures and violence. Meanwhile, the First Biographies section showcases work by students and young filmmakers, featuring academic projects from various European and international film schools.

Alongside the cinema programme, the festival also features a community installation initiative, Casa Comum, supported by local artists. Throughout the festival, Casa Comum will bring together works created by the local community over the course of the year and invite locals and visitors to contribute to a display of prints, paintings and writings. The initiative aims to foster a sense of community, transforming a disused space in the town into a centre that embodies this year’s central theme and places the public in the artist’s shoes.

The festival season began between 7 and 9 August with the screening of the film programme Territórios Sem Fronteira at the 24th Cerveira International Art Biennial. The curators brought cinema closer to contemporary artistic practices and presented works by various filmmakers and artists, including Silvestre Pestana, Mauro Cerqueira, André Sousa, Luciana Fina, Tânia Dinis, Ana Pérez-Quiroga, Vincent Arthur Goudreau, Javier Arturo Martinez, Filipa César and Edileuza Penha de Souza.

BIOGRAF is an initiative co-organised by the Municipality of Vila Nova de Cerveira, the Fundação Bienal de Arte de Cerveira and Palco das Artes, with the support of national and international partners. Further information is available at biograffestival.com.