15th Edition | Family Film Project

Family Film Project   15

Archive, Memory, Etnography

International Film FestivalThe Family Film Project returns to Porto to celebrate its 15th edition, from October 12 to 17, 2026, reaffirming its commitment to intimate spaces where life merges with its own lived record. Staying true to its core territories — archive, memory, and ethnography —, the festival continues to explore marginal forms of filmmaking situated at the boundary between the public and the private, the global and the local, and the documentary and the performative, transcending the archaeology of images to confront the critical tensions of contemporaneity.

The main highlight of the 2026 program is the spotlight on American filmmaker Alan Berliner, a major figure in contemporary documentary and a master of constructing autobiographical narratives through meticulous editing of archival materials and home movies. Across seven film sessions, the festival surveys his extensive, award-winning body of work, from seminal titles such as The Family Album (1986), Intimate Stranger (1991), and Nobody's Business (1996), to his most recent production, BENITA (2025). Berliner’s presence in Porto will also feature a masterclass by the director, a conversation led by researcher Efrén Cuevas, and the opening of a video installation at Rampa.

The 15th edition also features other internationally renowned guests. Portuguese director Susana de Sousa Dias presents the film Fordlandia Malaise and a masterclass titled "At the Limits of the Visible and the Audible," reflecting on questioning archives of power. Researcher and filmmaker Alisa Lebow brings the film Treyf (1998) and a masterclass focused on the "archive effect" in first-person cinema. Meanwhile, Efrén Cuevas offers a theoretical reflection on contemporary practices of home movie appropriation.

The competitive section screenings maintain their usual structure, organized around key thematic zones: Lives and Places (focusing on habitats and biographies), Memory and Archive (dedicated to the poetic appropriation of testimonies), and Connections (centered on interpersonal dynamics). Also included in the competitive section is a session dedicated to Fiction & Animation, and a new section titled Moving Photography.

At the intersection of cinema and other arts, the performative series Private Collection returns to Casa Comum with proposals by Tânia Dinis (Antes do Fogo / Before the Fire), the Polish duo Duetas Kisanaj (Shadow Control), and Rossana Mendes Fonseca & Diogo Alves Pinto (Dusty Blues, Flashes of White). The exhibition strand of the festival expands with Peter Freund's installation C[ode, which reconceptualizes the archival image in light of digital materiality, as well as an exhibition by Clara Cápua.

Also committed to engaging younger audiences, the festival presents the children's workshop "Imperfect Projections" (Projeções Imperfeitas), led by Tânia Dinis, where children explore analog cinema and film stock manipulation. The program is rounded off by the launch of a new book edited by Filipe Martins and the traditional social gatherings at the Meeting Points and the After-Hours party at Passos Manuel.

The Family Film Project gratefully acknowledges the essential support of its regular partners: Porto City Hall, the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Porto, the School of Media Arts and Design of the Technical University of Porto, Balleteatro, and Batalha Centro de Cinema for hosting the event.

Have a great Family Film Project 2026!