On October 10, the city of Seia will host the 30th edition of CineEco, one of the oldest environmental film festivals in the world and the only one in Portugal. For nine days, the Serra da Estrela mountain range, in the heart of Portugal, will be the setting for an intense immersion in global environmental issues, with special emphasis on climate change, the consequences of which shape and influence the future of our planet.
The festival kicks off on the evening of October 10 with the CINECONCERT A Pedra Sonha Dar Flor, a film directed by Rodrigo Areias, accompanied by a live music performance by Dada Garbeck. Over the following days, more than 60 cinematographic works from 27 countries will be screened, complemented by activities dedicated to environmental awareness, including workshops, networking sessions, debates with filmmakers and various artistic events.
With each edition, CineEco strengthens its role as a promoter of diverse, high-quality cultural programming, while at the same time fostering environmental education and contributing to the development of a deeper ecological awareness, both among residents and among visitors and festival participants. The active participation of filmmakers is crucial to achieving these goals.
This year, more than 16 directors and other people connected to the films on show will be present in Seia during the week of the Festival. They include: Petr Lom, director of I Am the River and The River is Me, and Nemanja Voljinovic of Bottlemen in the International Feature Film Competition; Rita Nunes and Miguel Nunes, director and actor of O Melhor dos Mundos, Margarida Gramaxo, director of Lindo, and Carlos Martínez-Peñalver of À Procura da Estrela, films included in the Portuguese Language Feature Film Competition; and Marina Garcia Andreu, director of Lobos and The Soul of Jasmine, both in the International Short and Medium Length Film Competition.
Among the guests is Luís Filipe Rocha, one of the leading names in Portuguese Cinema Novo and author of Cerromaior, which will be screened this year as part of the Classics Session ‘Echoes of the Mountains and Plains’. Also as part of this session, Sérgio Dias Branco, Associate Professor of Film Studies at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Coimbra, will be present at the Festival for a debate after the screening of the classic Trás-os-Montes, by António Reis and Margarida Martins Cordeiro.
The film Silvestres by Carolina Castro Almeida and Miguel Cortes Costa, an out-of-competition screening, will be shown on October 14 at 2:30 p.m. and will serve as a motto for a conversation with the directors about the importance of urban biodiversity. Silvestres takes us on a journey through the creation of a wildflower meadow in the heart of Oeiras, with the aim of combating the decline of pollinators. The film also portrays other fascinating efforts, such as the capture of a barn owl that inhabits the historic structures of Quinta do Marquês, symbolizing the resilience of wildlife in urban environments. Silvestres offers a vibrant portrait of a city shaped by the agricultural legacy of the Marquis of Pombal and the power of collective action, inviting audiences to reflect on the harmonization between urban development and the natural world in their own communities.
The Jury Panel includes a number of people with a connection to cinema and/or the environment.
The jury for the International Feature Film Competition is made up of: Ágata de Pinho, actress, writer, director and protagonist of films; André Guiomar, founding partner of the film production company Olhar de Ulisses, director and producer of documentary films; and Filipa Rosário, specialist in Portuguese cinema, assistant researcher at the Center for Comparative Studies at the University of Lisbon and coordinator of the Landscape and Cinema WG of AIM – Association of Moving Image Researchers.
The jury for the International Short and Medium-Length Film and Regional Panorama competitions is made up of: Carolina Castro Almeida, illustrator, motion designer, animator and audiovisual producer, as well as co-founder of Lengalenga Filmes; Carlos Teófilo, retired teacher, lawyer and a face of Seia who has always been linked to CineEco; and Nuno Barros, biologist and representative of LIPOR, CineEco’s main sponsor.
The jury for the Feature Films in Portuguese Language and Short and Medium Length Films in Portuguese Language competitions has: Bárbara Bergamaschi Novaes, Italian-Brazilian professor, director and researcher, as well as film critic, member of ABRACCINE, and science communication manager at ICNOVA -FCSH-NOVA in Lisbon; Cátia Biscaiaaward-winning photographer, university professor, director of Leiria Film Fest – International Short Film Festival, producer, screenwriter, image assistant and director; and Miguel Cortes CostaA biologist by training, he is a cameraman, co-director of the film Malcata: Conto de uma Serra Solitária (2020), which won the Youth Television Award at CineEco, and of Silvestres (2024), being shown at this edition of the festival, and founder of Lengalenga Filmes, together with Carolina Castro Almeida.
This year’s 30th edition will also see the first “Encontros no Mercado” (Encounters in the Market), a film market that serves as a networking space for audiovisual university students and producers or agents from the Portuguese film market.
The 1st Encontros no Mercado will be attended by students from the University of Beira Interior (UBI), the School of Arts – Catholic University of Porto (UCP) and the School of Theater and Cinema (ESTC). The students will be presenting new projects (features, shorts, series, etc.) or completed short films, all related to environmental issues, and will have the opportunity to hear the opinions of experienced professionals in the field. Among the production companies present are: Terratreme, an independent film production company, known for its auteur films that tackle social and political issues, such as A Fábrica de Nada; Bando à Parte, an auteur film production company that supports new Portuguese talent, focusing on works with a strong artistic identity; Maria & Mayer, a production company dedicated to independent and experimental cinema, with an innovative approach and alternative narratives; Olhar de Ulisses, a production and distribution company focused on auteur cinema, with an emphasis on films of cultural and heritage relevance; and Primeira Idade, a production company that invests in new talents and experimental projects, combining cinema and the visual arts.
With a primarily pedagogical and formative stance, the idea of these Market Meetings is to provide these students with professional experiences that will prepare them for the future world of work. The players are invited to give advice to the students with the aim of creating job opportunities and/or funding for their projects and, at the same time, they are given the opportunity to look at the work of emerging creative figures.
Among the parallel activities, two books will be presented. On October 15, at 5pm, at the Seia Municipal Library, Filipa Rosário and José Duarte will present the book A PORTUGUESE LOOK: Cinema and Nature in the 21st Century on the relationship between cinema and nature. On October 17, at 3pm, at the same venue, the book Memories, by Amândio Silvawhose strong connection to Seia and CineEco has always been marked by his regular presence at the Festival over the years.
In turn, and because this is a year of paying tribute to the people of the territory where this pioneering event was born, the 30th edition of CineEco represents this unique relationship between the people of Seia and their connection with nature in the festival’s communication, extended to the installation “30 editions. 30 faces”, which will be on the town square during the festival.
CineEco – Serra da Estrela International Environmental Film Festival is the only film festival in Portugal dedicated to environmental issues in their broadest sense. It has been held in Seia every year in October, uninterruptedly, since 1995, on the initiative of the Municipality of Seia. CineEco offers the general public quality cinema and little-known and alternative cinematographies in relation to the traditional market.
The festival is organized by the Municipality of Seia and has the High Patronage of the President of the Republic and the United Nations Department of the Environment. It also has Lipor as the main sponsor and with financial support from DGArtes. CineEco is curated by Cláudia Marques Santos, Daniel Oliveira and Tiago Fernandes Alves.
