Every family has its secrets, the family of Portuguese filmmaker Mourão included. As the granddaughter of the well-known writer Tomaz de Figueiredo, she picks apart several of them in an intimate yet universally meaningful way. As such, her film also becomes a portrait of dictatorship and resistance and of the urge to create art.

The Wolf's Lair

1979. Flicking through pictures from a Soviet magazine, 15-year-old Martim dreams of building a new society. His radical communist parents send him to study at Astrakan for one year. In her new film, Catarina Mourão captures with tremendous precision the moment a middle-aged man passes his story on to his son, thus shedding the taboo of his ineffable experience.

Astrakan 79

“The whistle man” was a typical character of the portuguese sea-side during the Fascist Portugal. His story has so many versions that he has become a myth: A poor crazy man who lost his baby girl, a professional homeless who lived from the charity of rich families, a pedofile or a summer father Christmas. His whistle announced his arrival and attracted boys and girls or made them run away. Last year I found 30 seconds of footage of this man which until then was just a memory. Is he more real now?