“Peça a peça”: from theory to practise in a short film

Each year, Porto is the location of several films produced by audiovisual and film students from the city’s universities. For many, it is their first opportunity to move from theory to practice and explore the various stages of film production.

A recent example is “Peça a peça” (Piece by Piece), a short film by a group of 2nd year students of the Audiovisual and Multimedia Communication Course of the Universidade Lusófona. The project began in the first half of 2022, in February, and is currently being filmed. As in previous years, the challenge started in the Scriptwriting course. Each student wrote a script that was submitted to a jury for evaluation. “Peça a peça” was one of two projects selected to move from paper to action.

The film tells the story of Isaak, a lonely, frustrated writer, who works in a laundry to make a living. After an item of clothing is left in the laundry, he begins to develop an obsessive relationship with Mia, an ideal woman born from his imagination. The narrative was inspired by a laundry near the university, which caught the students’ attention. It will be one of the filming locations, together with the Praça da Batalha, Teatro Nacional São João and Porto’s Foz district.

“Peça a peça” is the first short film by the 13 students of the film’s team, which includes Catarina Noberto (Director), Francisco Caetano (Director of Photography), Gabriel Bertuco (Sound Director) and Filipa Vieira (Production Manager). Each student assumes a specific role in the project – from writing, through editing, to promotion and dissemination. It offers an opportunity to experience the inherent tasks and challenges of filmmaking in a real-world context.

The teaser will be presented in June at the Teatro Municipal Rivoli as part of Multiplex, an initiative of the Universidade Lusófona do Porto organised by the finalists of the bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Communication. The film will subsequently be submitted to international film festivals.