XIV Lusophone film festival being held in Goa, Maharashtra and Hyderabad from February 6 to 15

PANAJI: The Consulate General of Portugal in Goa and Institute Camões Panaji is holding the XIV Lusophone Film Festival from February 6 to 15 in three states, Goa, Maharashtra, and Hyderabad.

This year's event includes 20 feature and short films of various genres, such as comedies, dramas, documentaries, and animated films, that portray some of the most striking cultural and civilisational aspects of the countries of the Portuguese-speaking domain.The inaugural ceremony will take place on February 6, at 6 pm, in Auditorium I of the Maquinez Palace, of the Entertainment Society of Goa, Panaji, followed by the screening of the film The Memory of the Smell of Things by António Ferreira.

In a Luso-Brazilian co-production, it constitutes an intimate portrait that explores the vulnerability of the body, the weight of memory, and the strength of empathy. The main character is Arménio, an octogenarian ex-combatant of the Portuguese colonial war, interned in a nursing home. In this new world of routines, fragilities, and silences, he meets Hermínia, an African nurse who starts to take care of him. The unlikely friendship that ensues forces him to confront the ghosts of his past and seek redemption.

The film was nominated at the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival, where José Martins, the actor who plays the Arménio character, won the Best Actor Award. It was also nominated at the 14th Tangier Film Festival, where it received an Honourable Mention for Best Screenplay, and it featured in other film festivals.The other films lined up are Banzo, a Portuguese, French, and Dutch co-production directed by Margarida Cardoso.

The film is centred on the desperate attempt of Afonso (Carloto Cotta) to restart life on a tropical African island in 1907 as a plantation doctor, where he has to cure a group of servants "infected" by Banzo, the nostalgia of the enslaved. This film was officially nominated by Portugal for the Oscar award in the category of Best Foreign Film.A Wolf Among the Swans, one of the best Brazilian films premiered in 2025, will be screened as the closing of the XIV Lusophone Film Festival at Maquinez Palace.

Directed by Marcos Schechtman and Helena Varvaki, the film tells the story of Thiago Soares, a boy from the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro who leaves hip hop behind and embarks on the world of classical ballet. This feature film was part of the pre-list of Brazilian films that were candidates for this year's Oscars.On Saturday, the first 2 sessions, from 2 pm to 6 pm, will be dedicated to the youth, with the animated films Fita Cor-de-Rosa (2022), a short film by Cape Verdean Mon de Anjo, and the fascinating documentary Lindo (2023) by Margarida Gramaxo.

It recounts the radical change of Lindo, a sea turtle hunter on Príncipe Island, who, after an encounter with an unexpectedly docile turtle, decides to change his life to start protecting the animal against other predators. A Bola (2025) by Brazilian director Filipe Rafaeli, and the Brazilian comedy Pacarrete (2020), directed by Allan Deberton, are centred on a dancer who lives in the interior of Ceará and who tries to present a ballet show in the city to prove that there is no age to make her dream come true.All films are in Portuguese and have English subtitles.