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  1. Dartmouth Libraries
  2. Research Guides
  3. Dartmouth Libraries Guides
  4. Film Studies: National Cinemas
  5. Portugal

Film Studies: National Cinemas

This guide highlights selected resources for various national cinemas.
  • Introduction
  • Streaming services
  • Afghanistan
  • Africa (General)
    • Africa, Northern
    • Africa, French speaking
    • Africa, Sub-Saharan
  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Benelux
  • Brazil
  • Cambodia
  • Canada
    • Quebec
  • Caribbean area
  • Chile
  • Chinese cinema
  • Colombia
  • Cuba
  • Czechia (Czech Republic)
  • France
  • Germany
  • Great Britain
    • Northern Ireland
    • Scotland
    • Wales
  • Greece
  • Hong Kong cinema
  • Hungary
  • India
  • Indigenous films
  • Irish cinema
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Latin America
  • Mexico
  • Middle East
    • Egypt
    • Iran
    • Israel
    • Turkey
  • New Zealand
  • Nigeria
  • Nordic cinema
    • Denmark
    • Finland
    • Iceland
    • Norway
    • Sweden
  • Pakistan
  • Palestine
    • Films by Director
    • Documentaries
    • Films by Title
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Russia & the Soviet Union
  • Slovakia
  • South Africa
  • South America
  • Spain
  • Switzerland
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • United States
    • Puerto Rico
  • Vietnam
  • Yugoslavia & Former Yugoslav Republics
  • Transnational & diasporic cinema
  • Journals & magazines about film

Portuguese language film resource at Dartmouth

  • Portuguese language films @ Dartmouth
    Portuguese-language films at Dartmouth is a website to consult and contribute reviews, ratings, and detailed information about films currently held by the Dartmouth College Library. It serves as both a gateway to the library's collection of Portuguese language film, and as a resource for students, faculty, staff, and film aficionados worldwide to exchange information and opinion about these films.

Other library resource(s)

  • Resource logoManoel de Oliveira from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Randal Johnson
    • On Campus or VPN
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    ISBN: 9780199791286
    Manoel de Oliveira (b. 1908, Porto–d. 2015, Porto) was Portugal’s most important film director. His career spanned eight decades from his first film, the silent “Douro, Faina Fluvial” (1931), to his last, “O Velho do Restelo” (2014).

Internet resource(s)

  • Cinema Portugues
    • Link
  • Lusophone Studies (Portuguese): Cinema
    Jill Baron, the Romance Languages librarian, has put together resources under the Lusophone Studies LibGuide.

Keeping up with the journal literature

Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for a national or regional cinema? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's you can download and read the articles you want.

You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's now available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.

Introduction to Portuguese cinema

Aspectos da praia de Cascais/Views of the Cascais beach (Manuel Maria da Costa Veiga, 1899) is usually credited as the first Portuguese film, and Veiga made films of a number of royal occasions at the turn of the 20th century. Os crimes de Diogo Alves/The crimes of Diogo Alves (Joao Tavares, 1911), produced by the La Portugalia film company in 1911, is considered the country’s first feature film. During the 1910s and 1920s imports from France and Spain were dominant, though a small number of Portuguese literary and stageplay adaptations, such as Os lobos/The Wolves (Rino Lupo, 1923), were successful. In the early years of the New State (1933–74) the Salazar regime created the Secretariat of National Propaganda (later renamed National Secretariat of Information, Popular Culture, and Tourism), and there was an expectation that films would complement propagandist and nation-building activities. Accordingly, the most popular genre at this time was the ‘Lisbon comedy’, a gentle comedy of manners that offered audiences visions of an orderly, respectful society. José Cotinelli Tomos’s Canção de Lisboa/Song of Lisbon (1933) is a celebrated example of the genre, and is also Portugal’s first synchronized sound feature. Lisbon comedies played well in Brazil, a key export market for Portuguese films. Many early ‘talkies’ were also vehicles for the fado, a popular local musical form, and song-and-dance sequences feature heavily in many films of the period. A number of documentaries were also produced in the 1930s, including António Lopes Ribeiro’s A revoluçao de Maio/A Revolution in May (1937), which one critic describes as a film of ‘nationalist exaltation’ (see compilation film). Nationalist sentiment continued to be consolidated in the 1940s, with a cycle of history films, including Camões (Leitão de Barros, 1946) and Rainha Santa (Rafael Gil and Anibal Contreiras, 1947).  ...

Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Portugal, film in. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 27 May. 2021

Searching the online catalog

This is a guide for the cinema of Portugal. You can use the subject headings below to find resources in the online catalog. The call number ranges are also included. Please note: these are not the only call numbers, but they have the majority of items. These searches will also lead you to movie titles.

  • motion pictures portugal
    Call number ranges PN 1993.5 .P5.
  • motion picture producers and directors portugal
  • motion pictures, portuguese
  • motion pictures africa, portuguese speaking
  • motion pictures ... [insert country name]
    You can insert the name of a country which uses Portuguese as a language to see what we may have.

Introductory reading(s)

  • Cine iberoamericano: los desafíos del nuevo siglo by Octavio Getino
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .L3 G458 2007
    ISBN: 9789879355411
  • Cover artThe cinema of Spain and Portugal by Alberto Mira
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .S7 C545 2005
    ISBN: 9781904764458
    An overview of Spanish and Portuguese cinema, this volume contains 24 essays, each on a separate seminal film from the region. Films from the early era of cinema up to the present day are featured, from directors such as Florián Rey, Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis Bunuel, Víctor Erice, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, Pedro Almodóvar and João Cesar Monteiro. As well as discussions of genre and influences, The Cinema of Spain & Portugal includes in depth studies of films such as La Aldita Maldita (1930, 1947), Death of a Cyclist (1955), Viridiana (1961), Spirit of the Beehive (1973), Abraham's Valley (1993), Tierra (1995), All About My Mother (1999), and Torrente (1998).
  • Cover artPortugal's global cinema: industry, history and culture by Mariana Liz, ed.
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9781784531980
    Portuguese cinema has become increasingly prominent on the international film festival circuit, proving the country's size belies its cultural impact. From the prestige of directors Manoel de Oliveira, Pedro Costa and Miguel Gomes, to box-office hit La Cage Doree, aspects of Portuguese national cinema are widely visible although the output is comparatively small compared to European players like the UK, Germany and France. ...
  • Cover artPortuguese film, 1930-1960: the staging of the new state regime by Patricia Vieira ; translated by Ashley Caja
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .P6 V55 2013
    ISBN: 9781623568634
    Portuguese Film, 1930-1960: The Staging of the New State Regime provides groundbreaking analysis of Portuguese feature films produced in the first three decades of the New State (Estado Novo), a right-wing totalitarian regime that lasted between 1933 and 1974.

Selected book title(s)

  • Azuis ultramarinos: propaganda colonial e censura no cinema do Estado Novo by Maria do Carmo Piçarra
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .P6 P48 2015
    ISBN: 9789724418599
  • Cover artIdentity and difference: postcoloniality and transnationality in Lusophone films by Carolin Overhoff Ferreira
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .P6 F474 2012
    ISBN: 9783643902177
    In 1974, the Carnation Revolution ended Portugal's dictatorship and empire and thus opened up a new chapter in the country's film history. Besides national productions, transnational films that result from agreements with the ex-colonies - Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, and Mozambique - now engage with the legacy of Portugal's colonial history and its powerful myths of cultural unity, such as lusophony and lusotropicalism.
  • Cover artJugar con la memoria: el cine portugués en el siglo XXI by Horacio Muñoz Fernández, Iván Villarmea Álvarez, eds
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .P8 J943 2014
    ISBN: 8494175343
  • Cover artMigration in Lusophone cinema by Cacilda Rêgo and Marcus Brasileiro, eds.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .E44 M55 2014
    ISBN: 9781137408914
    With more than 250 million speakers globally, the Lusophone world has a rich history of filmmaking. This edited volume explores the representation of the migratory experience in contemporary cinema from Portuguese-speaking countries, exploring how Lusophone films, filmmakers, producers, studios, and governments relay narratives of migration.
  • Cover artScreening songs in Hispanic and Lusophone cinema by Lisa Shaw and Rob Stone, eds.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry ML 2075 .S3 2012
    ISBN: 9780719083808
    In this volume, eighteen experts from a variety of academic backgrounds explore the use of songs in films from the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds. This volume illustrates how - rather than simply helping to tell the story of - songs in Hispanic and Lusophone cinema commonly upset the hierarchy of the visual over the aural, thereby rendering their hearing a complex and rich subject for analysis.

Finding scholarly articles and journal title(s)

Articles and other writings about Portuguese language films can be found in many publications. Our collection includes several journals which look exclusively at Portuguese language films. You can use Film & Television Literature Index to find articles or use the search box at the top of the page.

  • Estudos de cinema by Sociedado Brasiliera de Estudos de Cinema (SOCINE)
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993 .E684 [scattered]
  • Cinema universitario
    • Open Access Icon
    Call Number: Electronic journal
  • Cinema: journal of philosophy and the moving image by New University of Lisbon
    • Open Access Icon
    Call Number: Electronic journal
    This journal publishes original works in the field of philosophical inquiry into cinema.
  • Resource logoFilm & television literature index by EBSCO Publishing
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    Use this index to find articles about this national cinema.
  • Resource logoScreen studies collection by ProQuest
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    A comprehensive survey of current publications related to film scholarship alongside detailed filmographies. This collection includes the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database and the detailed and complementary filmographies created by the American Film Institute (AFI) and the British Film Institute.
  • Resource logoThe web of science citation databases by ISI (Institute for Scientific Information)
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    The online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.

Selected movie titles

Find more Portuguese film titles in the library's online catalog.

  • Movie poster artNight train to Lisbon by Bille August
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #16768
    Latin teacher Raimund Gregorius finds a book by Portuguese poet and doctor Amadeu de Prado and his life is irrevocably changed. Determined to learn more about the author, Gregorius boards the night train to Lisbon and begins to piece together an epic story of oppression and revolution, loyalty and betrayal, love and jealousy, played out against the backdrop of a brutal fascist dictatorship. In his exploration of Amadeu de Prado's life, Gregorius finds that life can change in an instant.
  • Movie poster artCapitães de abril = April captains
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #3339
    In Portugal on April 24, 1974 the words of poet Jose Alfonso in the banned song "Grandola" sparked a revolution when the song was broadcast over the radio over and over again as a signal for a military coup against the oldest dictatorship in Europe.
  • Movie poster artAmália by Carlos Coelho da Silva
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #18163
    Biopic film loosely based on the life and career of the Portuguese singer Amália Rodrigues.
  • Cover artO convento = The convent
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media Video tape #3940
    ISBN: 9781572520561
    An American professor travels with his beautiful wife Hélène to a Portuguese monastery to prove his theory that Shakespeare was actually of Spanish Jewish origin. The host at the convent is the sinister Baltar, who becomes infatuated with Hélène. A classic battle of good versus evil ensues as the flirtation between the two develops leaving the viewer wondering which one of these characters is the Devil himself.
  • Cover artLetters from Fontainhas: three films by Pedo Costa by Pedro Costa
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #9851
    ISBN: 9781604652369
    Portuguese director Pedro Costa has been steadily building an impressive body of work since the late eighties, and these are the three films that put him on the map: spare, painterly portraits of battered, largely immigrant lives in the slums of Fontainhas, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Lisbon.
  • Movie poster artUm filme falado = A talking picture
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #3625
    Eight-year-old Maria and her history professor mother embark on an ocean cruise from Portugal to Bombay, India. As three mysterious and glamorous women board the ship, their picturesque journey begins to grow in tension and complexity.
  • Movie poster artVale Abraão = Val Abraham
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #2457
    Story of Ema, a very attractive young girl with enormous power over men. She marries Dr. Carlo Paiva, who she is not attracted to, but is her father's friend and they move to the Valley of Abraham. With time she begins to feel unhappy about her marriage, so, with all the freedom she has, and the lonliness that freedom creates, she takes a lover.
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  • Last Updated: May 15, 2025 12:12 PM
  • URL: https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/nationalcinemas
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Subjects: Film and Media Studies
Tags: afghanistan, africa, Arts, Australia, Austria, Benelux, Cambodia, Canada, Caribbean, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Czechia, Denmark, Egypt, film_studies, Finland, France, Francophone Africa, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indigenous films, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Nordic cinema, North Africa, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Vietnam, world_cinema, Yugoslavia

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