Fantasmas do Império(2020)

Fantasmas do Império is a documentary that traces Portuguese cinema's reckoning with its colonial legacy. Guided by São Toméan actor Angelo Torres, the film examines works by directors including Fernando Matos Silva, João Botelho, and Margarida Cardoso—filmmakers who confronted imperialism, colonialism, and state propaganda through their art. Rather than presenting a linear history, the film treats Portuguese cinema as a collective family album, revealing how the nation's cinematic imagination has grappled with its imperial past. Ariel de Bigault's work connects these films across the Lusophone world, showing how cinema became a space where Portugal's complicated relationship with colonialism could be explored, questioned, and understood.