Director João Botelho and producer Alexandre Oliveira want to meet Portuguese cinema spectators with the film “As Meninas Exemplares”, on a tour of all district capitals and outside the commercial circuit.
To Lusa, the film’s producer, Alexandre Oliveira, explained that the The objective is to replicate what he and João Botelho did fifteen years ago with “O Filme do Desassossego”presented in cinema theaters and municipal auditoriums and which “went very well”.
“At the time, the number of viewers of Portuguese cinema was already low. Today, as incredible as it may seem, it is even worse”, and he considers that the scenario of cinema screening in theaters “is funneled” towards a more commercial type of cinema.
According to the most recent data from the Cinema and Audiovisual Institute (ICA), in 2025, until September, commercial cinema exhibition totaled almost 8.4 million spectatorsof which only 2.1% (172,771 spectators) saw Portuguese cinema.
“The older audience that saw other cinema was completely disconnected from the commercial circuit. During the pandemic this was intensified with the ‘boom’ in ‘streaming’, where people started watching cinema at home. A person today tries to go to the cinema and there are four or five spectators, it is a bleak panorama, they prefer to watch cinema at home“, he lamented.
When asked about the whereabouts of Portuguese cinema spectators, Alexandre Oliveira says he is “absolutely convinced that the public has not lost interest; it has lost interest in going to shopping centers”.
“We see that we are recognized in international cinemas, it is easy for films to obtain co-productions, I don’t believe it is a problem with our content in relation to the public”, he defended.
Alexandre Oliveira also urged cinema theaters to have a cinema exhibition circuit, with Portuguese films supported by the ICA, as is already the case with theater plays financially supported by the Directorate-General for the Arts.
“If there is a State policy with juries that select those films [através do ICA]then it has to be completed that the films are seen. We feel that the market is completely adverse to us. We have to find cultural policies that ensure that, if films are supported, they are seen”, he exclaimed.
Regarding “As Meninas Exemplares”, the producer of Ar de Filmes designed a tour around the country in sessions in movie theaters and almost always accompanied by an exhibition of engravings by Paula Rego, to whom the film pays tribute.
“The Exemplary Girls”, with actresses Rita Durão, Victoria Guerra, Rita Blanco, Crista Alfaiate and Margarida Marinho, is inspired by the books of Russian writer Sophia Rostopchine, known as Countess of Ségur, but also by the work of Paula Rego.
“When a person gets older, they go back to childhood,” João Botelho told Lusa last June, to explain why he decided to make a film based on that book he read as a child, influenced by his sisters.
“The idea is to be fun and a tribute to Paula Rego, a great painter. And it’s a tribute to the cinema that I like,” he said.
Alexandre Oliveira remembers that this film is an old project by João Botelho, which Paula Rego learned about during a meeting between the two at the Venice film festival.
“She loved the idea. She offered to develop the sets and costumes. At the time, João had no support and it didn’t happen and he only got it now and Paula Rego is no longer with us”, summarized the producer.
On the tour around the country, “As Meninas Exemplares” will already be shown this week, on Friday and Saturday, at the Municipal Theater of Bragançaa district capital with virtually no cinema offerings.
In Lisbon, the film plays within the scope of the Lisboa Film Festival – Leffest, with a session on the 14th, at the São Jorge cinema.
According to Alexandre Oliveira, screenings are also guaranteed in Leiria, Coimbra, Vila Real and Porto, where the film and the exhibition will remain for a season at Batalha – Centro de Cinema, between December 4th and January 18th.
The exhibition will last until 2026 and “the objective of this is to cover the national territory and guarantee at least the district capitals”, said the producer.