Belarmino (1964) is a gripping portrait of a former boxing champion whose glory has faded into a life of struggle. Blending documentary and fiction, Fernando Lopes captures the athlete's twilight career while painting a vivid picture of the man - and of 1960s Lisbon, which emerges as a central character in its own right.
A landmark of the Portuguese Novo Cinema movement, this film explores the psychological and social tensions of a man caught between memory and reality. Belarmino trades tales of glory to lost admirers, echoing Portugal’s fascist regime, which fuelled imperial nostalgia about the country’s past to an increasingly isolated and impoverished population.
Belarmino broke with conventional narrative forms, using cinéma vérité techniques and sharp, black-and-white cinematography to challenge dominant representations of heroism and masculinity. More than a biographical account, Belarmino is a poetic and critical reflection on urban life, memory, and the working-class condition.
The new restored print sheds new light on the film's visual and aural textures, inviting new audiences to discover a timeless and deeply human story. Manuel Jorge Veloso's unexpected jazz score and Augusto Cabrita's luminous cinematography add new layers to what is now rightly restored as a masterpiece of Portuguese cinema.
4K digital restoration by Cinemateca Portuguesa; courtesy Cinemateca Portuguesa. With thanks to Midas Filmes.
The original 35mm camera negative and a distribution print, both held at the Cinemateca Portuguesa, were scanned in 4K. The sound was scanned and restored from the optical soundtrack of a print made in 2014. Digital grading and image restoration were done by Cineric Portugal using a distribution print as reference.
Presented by co-curators Bruno Castro and Carlota Matos as part of Other Ways of Seeing, with support from BFI Awarding Funds from National Lottery.
With an introduction by co-curators Bruno Castro and Carlota Matos.
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