The films "Quintal no Bairro" and "Passado, Presente e Futuro", made by the population of the S. Gens neighborhood in Custóias, Matosinhos, are part of the official selection of the XII Encuentro Hispanoamericano De Cine Documental: Contra El Silencio Todas Las Voces, which will take place between November 4th and 12th in Mexico City, Mexico
"Backyard in the Neighborhood" is selected for the Environment category and "Past, Present and Future" selected for the Everyday Life and Social Transformation category.
These films were produced as part of the project "(Com) Vida S. Gens - Histórias do meu Bairro" (With Life S. Gens - Stories from my Neighborhood) of the Government's Healthy Neighborhoods program and financed by European funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). This project ran until June 2022 and the population of the S. Gens neighborhood made "A Mulher dos 3 M", "Baile", "Passado, Presente e Futuro", "Quintal no Bairro" and "Renato", 5 micro mobile documentaries (recorded with smartphones), under the guidance of André Almeida Rodrigues, an internationally awarded filmmaker from Matosinhos.
Besides the selections in Contra El Silencio Todas Las Voces, there are also Honorable Mentions for "Quintal no Bairro" and "Passado, Presente e Futuro" in JEFF - Jinju English Film Festival (South Korea) and the selections of "Quintal no Bairro" in Silence, ça touille - Movie and Food Festival (France), "Baile" at the JEFF - Jinju English Film Festival (South Korea) and "The Woman of the 3 M's", and "Baile" at the Cinemaking International Film Festival (Bangladesh).
"(Com) Vida S. Gens - Histórias do meu Bairro" aimed to portray the sharing of memories, testimonies about life in the S. Gens Housing Estate in addition to establishing relationships between residents of S. Gens, giving voice to local residents about the positive experiences in their Housing Estate and breaking prejudices and stigmatization about experiences and representations of social actors who live in territories classified as excluded territories.
The promoter of "(Com) Vida S. Gens - Histórias do meu Bairro" is the Grupo Desportivo Recreativo e Cultural Alto de Avilhó. The project's partner entities are the Parish Union of Custóias, Leça do Balio and Guifões, MatosinhosHabit and the Sports Group Amigos da Pesca.
The Healthy Neighborhoods Program is a national program, of participatory nature, to improve the conditions of health, well-being and quality of life in vulnerable territories. Health is not only the antonym of disease. This program aims above all to give some power, in the sense of "can do", to resident communities and people or organizations with intervention in vulnerable territories. The Program was created by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers 52-A/2020, of July 1st.
Custóias, September 18, 2022
Alto de Avilhó Recreational and Cultural Sports Group
Links to the movies:
- “Quintal no Bairro”: https://youtu.be/jtz387D5I6I
- “Passado, Presente e Futuro”: https://youtu.be/7yeZxCZwrCM
- “Baile”: https://youtu.be/Lm0m-3VSZUc
- “A Mulher dos 3 M”: https://youtu.be/pFA-mmI0iEw
- “Renato”: https://youtu.be/WmjVffgxd7I