Florida Premiere / Portugal / 2025 / Portuguese w/English subtitles / 70 min / Bio, trans, LGBTQ /
Director, Writer: Paula Tomás Marques; Script: June João; Cinematography: Fresco Mafalda; Sound: Marcelo Tavares; Editing: Jorge Jácome; Music: Maria João Petrucci, Rodrigo Vaiapraia; Art Direction and Costumes: Eloísa d’Ascensão; Production: Cristiana Cruz Forte, Paula Tomás Marques;
Key Cast: June João, André Tecedeiro, Jenny Larrue, Alice Azevedo, Caio Amado, Eloísa d’Ascensão, Tiago Aires Lêdo.
Contact: pf@portugalfilm.org
João, an actress from Lisbon, stars in a biopic about Liberada, a gender-nonconforming figure persecuted by the Portuguese Inquisition in the 18th century. The film’s production becomes a battleground as João clashes with the director over how Liberada’s legacy should be portrayed. These tensions deepen as João’s dreams are increasingly haunted by Liberada’s ghost, blurring the lines between past and present. When the director succumbs to a mysterious paralysis, leaving the film unfinished, João is left to navigate the unfolding chaos. She faces unanswerable questions, not only about the film’s future but also about her own connection to Liberada’s spirit and story.
Director Biography – Paula Tomás Marques
Paula Tomás Marques (she/they, b.1994) is a Portuguese filmmaker and teacher living between Porto and Lisbon. Having completed a postgraduate degree in Filmmaking at Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (San Sebastián), she previously did a postgraduate degree in Sociology at ISCTE (Lisbon), and was originally trained in Directing and Cinematography at The Lisbon Theatre and Film School. Paula Marques directed the films IN CASE OF FIRE
(2019), BLINDMAN’S BUFF (2021) and DILDOTECTONICS (2023), exploring themes of gender, sexuality and historiography. These themes are informed by her lived experience and by historical and sociological research, which is part of her practice.
Her work has been shown in several festivals and screenings, including Ann Arbor, Anthology Film Archives and New York Film Festival (USA), BFI Flare (UK), Curtas Vila do Conde and Indie Lisboa (Portugal), Go Short (Netherlands), Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg (Germany), Curta Cinema e Olhar de Cinema (Brazil), San Sebastián International Film Festival (Spain), Viennale (Austria), Visions du Réel (Switzerland), among many others, earning several awards. Her first feature film, TWO TIMES JOÃO LIBERADA has its premiere at the Perspectives section of the Berlinale 2025. Paula Marques has also worked as a cinematographer, editor and script supervisor.