The program for this 5th edition of Outsiders maintains some of the characteristics that by now the audience recognizes as part of our cinema cycle’s DNA (twelve relatively recent films, independent productions, and previously unseen in Portugal), but it also introduces some slight modifications, which seemed like important pluses to us.

For the first time, not counting the inaugural edition in which we sought to present an eclectic selection of the most recent generation of independent filmmakers, Outsiders does not have an actual theme. In past editions, the family or the “other” represented the common links which functioned as identifying codes. From the point of view of the program, maintaining this unifying link became difficult, and risked jeopardizing the quality of the selection.

Having shed that particular skin, we then nonetheless had to find a homogenous group of films from among a thematic and stylistic diversity. And if we look closely at the program we are proposing, what stands out is — many will say “once again”, and they wouldn´t be wrong — a contemporary scan of a country. A country filled with contradictions, a society with known social, economic and cultural fractures, which is going through a moment of profound existential crisis, but which, taking everything into account, continues to fascinate us.

Once again, the films have spoken to us of alterity — Keep Quiet; Twinless, and the family, obviously, which continues to play a fundamental role — Love After Love; Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point; Fantasy Life, but other topics now take center stage, such as the potentially disastrous consequences of the American gun ownership cult — Our Hero, Balthazar, the human cost of natural disasters — Rebuilding, the social importance of sports — Eephus; The Featherweight, the tension between the rural and urban worlds, even when taking on a romantic perspective — Peak Season, the various ways of coming of age, whether through rituals or humor — Ham On Rye, and the revealing of scars that are more or less hidden — Good One.

Another new feature of this cycle is the focus on Omnes Films, a production collective built by young filmmakers such as Tyler Taormina, Carson Lund, Jonathan Davies and Alexandra Simpson. They introduce themselves as a group of friends who aspire to fill a gap in modern cinema, and whose films prioritize atmosphere as opposed to plot, simultaneously exploring several forms of cultural decline in the 21st century.

The three Omnes films we will present (Ham On Rye, Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point and Eephus), give us three of the most surprising moments, in a program that we believe has all the ingredients to make Outsiders 2026 a success.

Carlos Nogueira, Curator