The American model of the family defined in one of the final chapters of the monumental “History of Private Life”, published in France in the 1980s under the direction of Georges Duby and Philippe Ariès, now seems outdated. The author of the chapter contrasted the European model, based essentially on the study of the French case, heir to the traditional extended family, to the American model, where he saw a significant mutation in the direction of the prevalence of the nuclear family. Not only that, at the time, the study already devalued or even ignored some of the communities that made up the Melting Pot In the meantime, the demographic changes that have undergone and the prominence acquired by these communities, the most recent migratory flows, as well as the socio-cultural transformations of recent years, have profoundly changed society and, of course, its family model.

If you like, this year’s Outsiders program seeks to answer the question “what is the American family today?”

It is, therefore, a set of films that attempts to sketch the portrait of contemporary America, its fascination and its contradictions, through a look at the family in its multiple declensions: present family and absent family, functional family and dysfunctional family, classic family or some of the modern variations on the model, such as the family same-sex or the surrogate family.

The existence of a common thread does not, however, prevent a range of very different films.

The 12 films that make up the program of this third edition cover very diverse genres (from comedy to melodrama, through horror and road movie); include fiction and documentaries; they have authors of varied geographical and ethnic origins (a significant number of black and Asian directors, including our guest, Patrick Wang, who will be the subject of a mini-focus, with the screening of two of his films), as well as a greater representation of women directors; have been awarded or presented at prestigious festivals (a Grand Prix at Sundance 2023 — A Thousand and One —, official selections in South By Southwest, Locarno or Berlin); have the presence of well-known names (Lily Gladstone — nominated for an Oscar this year —, Brian Dennehy, Hong Chao, Marin Ireland, Teyana Taylor), and are, once again, all unprecedented in Portugal. In short, they remain faithful to the spirit that we have sought to imprint on our Outsiders since the beginning: diversity, representativeness and a playful dimension.

Carlos Nogueira, Programmer