Inaugural program in Porto

With its opening night taking place on December 9, Batalha arrives as a new cultural centre for Porto. The Centro de Cinema has the mission of promoting cultural knowledge and engagement through film and the moving image. Its programmes include themed series, retrospectives and focus on contemporary practices, as well as debates and performances related to film.

Politics of Sci-Fi, curated by Batalha’s artistic director Guilherme Blanc and curator Ana David, opens the centre’s programme with the classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), by Robert Wise, and The New Sun (2017), by Polish artist Agnieszka Polska, to whom Batalha will dedicate a programme two weeks later. This opening themed series explores how the genre of science fiction has absorbed political and cultural debates from the 20th century up to the present. Organised by sub-themes—relating to subalternities, control, diaspora, ecology and nuclear anxieties—entangles a range of film practices and human concerns through works that emerge as political commentary, instruments of resistance and gestures that affirm “preferred futures.”  Running until January 20, Politics of Sci-Fi presents films such as The Great Silence (2014), by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Flores (2017), by Jorge Jácome, Party On The CAPS (2018), by Meriem Bennani, and The Last Angel Of History (1995), by John Akomfrah.

In dialogue with the Politics of Sci-Fi, the installation Premium Connect by Tabita Rezaire will be presented in the space Sala-Filme until January 22. An artist, yogi, doula and farming apprentice, Tabita Rezaire uses moving image to draw a path towards the decolonisation of bodies and minds, looking closely at the parallel connections we establish with the natural and digital worlds.

The programme also includes talks with guest artists such as Jorge Jácome, Lizzie Borden and Fradique, a lecture by T.J. Demos—author of Radical Futurisms—on December 17, and a workshop devised by the artists Odete and Diana Policarpo.

Throughout its opening season, Batalha will present cycles dedicated to the complete or essential body of work of filmmakers and artists from Portugal and abroad. The first retrospective is dedicated to French filmmaker Claire Denis. With a filmography that spans more than five decades, Denis is one of the most influential, stimulating and eclectic names in contemporary cinema. The retrospective—which comprises 17 films, including the national premiere of Both Sides Of The Blade (2022) and Stars At Noon (2022)—will be the most comprehensive programme ever dedicated to the filmmaker in Portugal.

Batalha’s programme for December and January, as well as a preview of the rest of the centre’s inaugural season, is available at batalhacentrodecinema.pt.