There's a healthy naiveté in believing that an international film festival can be built from a small village. At BIOGRAF, this willingness is revealed in the gestures that sustain the festival: attention to the guests, care for the audience, and the constant presence of the programmers. This desire to make things happen raises the question of how to transform personal investment into a lasting institution.
The second edition took place between August 21st and 29th at the Palco das Artes in Vila Nova de Cerveira. Featuring films from 40 countries, the theme "Building bridges, constructing ideas" found in architecture a way to think about the spaces we inhabit and the relationships that constitute them. The circulation of works by emerging authors, particularly short films, gave substance to this international openness.
This approach extends the work of António Bernardes de Sá and Tiago Bastos Nunes, who run Adversa Studio and direct the festival with Magna Araújo Amorim. The studio combines audiovisual creation, digital arts, and other disciplines. BIOGRAF seems to carry this curiosity of its creators into its curatorial approach.
Cerveira offers a unique context for this encounter. The Biennial, created in 1978, has made contemporary art part of the town's identity and external projection. In 2026, the connection with the XXIV edition included a film and performance exhibition integrated into the BIOGRAF program, extending an openness to artistic experimentation that also finds expression in the festival's programming.
The New Narratives and First Biographies sections revealed some of the most promising signs of this openness, through the space given to new languages and authors at the beginning of their careers. Notable films include * Feitos de Betão * (Made of Concrete), by Canivete, which blends documentary and fiction in a portrait of Algueirão-Mem Martins, and * Night of Passage *, by Reza Rasouli, about three friends from Tehran waiting to continue a clandestine crossing near the Austrian border. These two films allow us to think about the territory through the lives that seek a place within it.
The First Biographies series brought together international schools from the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo and the University of Beira Interior. The conversation with Carlos Lobo and Luís Martinho Urbano, both filmmakers and professors, added a dimension of reflection to the encounter with the films. This connection between creation, teaching, and debate helps define the cultural value of the festival.
The Minho region has an uneven cinematic landscape. Braga and Guimarães maintain commercial offerings; Viana saw the closure of the Cineplace cinemas in January, but retains the AO NORTE screenings at Cinema Verde Viana. The ENCONTROS festival in Viana and the Close-Up festival in Famalicão demonstrate the vitality of the programming. However, the interruption of the MDOC festival in Melgaço, following the withdrawal of municipal support for 2026, exposes the fragility of its continuity. BIOGRAF is part of this complex web of initiatives and vulnerabilities.
According to the organization, the Biennial exhibition and the nine main days totaled 1.338 occupied seats. Including the annual activities and the Educational Program, there were 2.007 participants. These are presences, not distinct individuals, but they point to a relationship that transcends the event itself. The budget was around €34: €21 from the Municipality and €13 from the Biennial Foundation, within the framework of the XXIV BIAC. This support makes possible an offering whose importance extends beyond ticket sales.
For 2027, the organization is considering September, seeking greater proximity to the university calendar and a position before established autumn festivals. This possibility remains under discussion. More crucial will be ensuring working conditions, educational continuity, and time to build audiences. The care that characterizes BIOGRAF allows us to believe in its future. It is up to the institutions to help ensure the continuity of this ambition.
Photo credits: Guilherme Pacheco and Patrick Esteves
O Gerador He traveled at the invitation of Biograf.
