Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema will take part in the 2025 edition of the Marché International du Film Classique (MIFC), held in Lyon from October 14 to 17 as part of the Lumière Festival. The restoration project of ALA-ARRIBA! (1942), directed by José Leitão de Barros, will be presented within the Re>Birth program, dedicated to promoting digitally restored films or those currently undergoing restoration.
José Leitão de Barros (1896–1967) began his career as a filmmaker in 1918 and left a profound mark on Portuguese cinema. He directed works such as A SEVERA (1931), the first Portuguese sound film, LISBOA, CRÓNICA ANEDÓTICA (1930), and CAMÕES (1946). ALA-ARRIBA! is generally regarded as the conclusion of his “Sea Trilogy,” following two earlier films on the same theme from the late silent period: NAZARÉ, PRAIA DE PESCADORES (1929) and MARIA DO MAR (1930).
The title ALA-ARRIBA! comes from a traditional expression from the coastal town of Póvoa de Varzim, used as a collective cry by fishermen when pulling their boats ashore together. Blending fiction and ethnography, the film portrays the life of the local fishing community, bringing together professional actors and local inhabitants in a story of forbidden love between a sardine fisherman and a young woman from a higher social class. Marked by the community’s social divisions and moral and religious codes, ALA-ARRIBA! stands as a landmark of Portuguese cinema, notable for its formal daring and its early fusion of documentary and social fiction. The new version of the film was digitized and restored by Cinemateca Portuguesa as part of the FILMar project, funded through the EEA Grants 2020–2024 mechanism.
As part of the Re>Birth program, Cinemateca will present the film’s digitization project, sharing details of the technical restoration process and situating the work within its historical and artistic context. The event also provides an opportunity to promote the film to potential partners for international circulation, including distributors, exhibitors, platforms, and other film archives.
The restoration of ALA-ARRIBA! is part of Cinemateca Portuguesa’s ongoing commitment to the preservation, digitization, and dissemination of Portugal’s film heritage. Participation in the Marché International du Film Classique reaffirms Cinemateca’s dedication to enhancing the visibility of Portuguese cinema within the international circuit of restored classics, fostering a continuous dialogue between the history and the present of moving images.