Porto da Minha Infância (2001)

The director reconstructs the Porto he knew in his youth through scenes with actors, as well as with companions from his life, such as the writer Agustina Bessa-Luís, who was connected to Oliveira by friendship and family ties; Oliveira’s wife, Maria Isabel de Oliveira, who sings a song offscreen here; and his two actor grandsons, Ricardo and Jorge Trêpa, who play him as a boy and as an adult. João Bénard da Costa, then head of the Cinemateca Portuguesa, appears in a supporting role, and the German conductor Peter Rundel leads the orchestra in the scene at the Teatro Nacional São João. As narrator, Oliveira recounts passages from his personal memories, portraying everyday life, social relations and the cultural life of Porto in a bygone era. The portrait is created through archival footage and reenacted scenes drawn from his memories, both of his personal life and of episodes from the city during the first decades of the 20th century.