Terceira Island once again hosts a series of films and debates on queer themes, in what is the 2nd edition of Queer Terceira, organised by Queer Lisboa – International Queer Film Festival. With its activities centred in Angra do Heroísmo, at Recreio dos Artistas, Lar Doce Livro bookshop and Casa do Sal, this year’s programme could not fail to reflect the current political, social and cultural landscape, which has witnessed a setback on queer rights, offering a selection of films and debates that address many of these issues. Here, cinema is a tool for resistance, assertion, condemnation and historical redress, but also a space that compels us to look at past and present, and encourages us to envision a fairer and more supportive future.

 

From 10 to 13 June, we will have the opportunity to engage in discussions on topics such as ageing within the LGBTQIA+ community, mental health and access to healthcare; stigma and marginalisation resulting from non-conforming sexualities and identities; religion and family; and HIV/AIDS, thereby seeking to reflect on the vulnerabilities of LGBTQIA+ communities in the face of phenomena such as LGBTQIA+phobia. Through queer cinema, we aim, with this programme, to highlight the importance of building a sense of community that cuts across all expressions of queer identity and all ages; and how essential it is, today, to establish care networks and bonds of belonging.

 

This program is funded by CIG – Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, as part of ‘Portugal Mais Igual’ – National Strategy for Equality and Non-Discrimination 2018–2030, in a programme organised in partnership with the Azores Pride celebrations, in collaboration with APF Açores – Association for Family Planning and Sexual and Reproductive Health, (A)MAR – Azores for Diversity, Oficina d’Angra Cultural Association / Casa do Sal, StopIdadismo Association, Lar Doce Livro and the Terceira Island Film Club / Recreio dos Artistas. All film screenings and debates are free of charge. Conceived and co-produced by João Pedro Costa,  communication designer and cultural agent from Terceira, Queer Terceira draws from a decentralisation project that Lisbon Queer has been developing since 2021, seeking to bring some of the most recent and relevant titles in queer cinema to parts of the country where access to such films in theatres is still very limited, thereby promoting film experience and a spirit of community through this sharing.  

 

Having had its world premiere at the 2025 Berlinale, in the Perspectives section, and with its national theatrical release scheduled for 18 June, Queer Terceira opens with Paula Tomás Marques’ Two Times João Liberada, screening on 10 June at 9 pm at Recreio dos Artistas. A film within a film, the story follows João, a Lisbon-based actress, who stars in a historical biopic about Liberada, a young gender dissident persecuted by the Inquisition. In this that is her first feature film, Paula Tomás Marques revisits her premise of rewriting history through a queer lens and doing justice to its subjects, looking back to times past, specifically by reinterpreting and reappropriating gender-nonconforming figures persecuted or tried by the Inquisition, as she had previously done in her short films When We Dead Awaken (2022) and Dildotectónica (2023). Made with almost no funding, this is also a film imbued with a strong sense of community, bringing together a group of trans artists and performers, such as June João (also co-screenwriter), André Tecedeiro, Jenny Larrue, Alice Azevedo, Caio Amado, Eloísa d'Ascensão and Tiago Aires Lêdo, who lend a powerful dimension of identity and autofiction to a work that is already a landmark in Portuguese cinema.

 

The closing session features Plainclothes, the promising debut feature film by American filmmaker Carmen Emmi, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival; the screening is scheduled for 13 June at 9 pm, also at Recreio dos Artistas. The film is set in the 1990s, in the quiet town of Syracuse in upstate New York. Lucas (played by Tom Blyth) is a young police officer whose daily duties involve setting up ambushes for gay men in the restrooms of a shopping mall, where he meets Andrew (Russell Tovey), with whom he falls in love. Plainclothes is an elegantly written narrative, a love story with a strong social undercurrent, set in a decade shaken by HIV/AIDS. To this empathetic story, Emmi adds an aesthetic depth, evoking the era of camcorders and VHS, which intensify the presence of Blyth and Tovey – masterful in their roles – whilst also referencing those now-historic images from the 1950s of the Mansfield, Ohio, ambushes (recovered by filmmaker William E. Jones), resulting in a film steeped in nostalgia and possessing a rare cohesion, which nevertheless does not shy away from daring experimentation.

 

Both winners of the Audience Award at the past edition of Queer Lisboa, in the Best Documentary and Best Feature Film categories respectively, Maarten de Schutter’s My Sweet Child and Sara Fantova’s Jone, Sometimes are the films scheduled for Friday, 12 June. In My Sweet Child, a Dutch production, filmmaker Maarten de Schutter seeks to reconstruct his lost memories of his mother, HIV/AIDS activist and feminist anthropologist Martine de Schutter. Ten years after her death, he explores her life and their relationship, in order to strengthen his ties with what remains. The film is an unravelling of memory, motherhood and loss, guided by the infinite love between mother and son. A Spanish production set in the Basque Country, the family theme is also at the core of Jone, Sometimes. Jone, aged 20, lives with her father and younger sister, Marta. Jone’s father had to give up his job because of Parkinson’s disease. Meanwhile, the festivities of Bilbao’s Semana Grande begin, setting the stage for Jone’s first romantic experience.

 

Although ageing is one of the most striking characteristics of contemporary European societies, as a topic it has not received the attention it deserves in our society. And as far as queer people are concerned, ageing is still viewed as exceptional and reflects various dimensions of struggle: against pathologisation, religious and state repression, invisibility and loneliness. Outlasting – Living Archives of Older Queers, co-directed by Ana Cristina Santos and Nuno Barbosa, stems from the TRACE research project – Tracing Queer Citizenship over Time, dedicated to analysing LGBTQIA+ ageing, ageism and age-related policies in Southern Europe. The documentary thus follows a group of citizens from Central and Southern Europe: their individual resilience, the legal and cultural achievements of the societies in which they live, and the future they desire. The film, which had its world premiere at the past edition of Queer Porto, is now being screened in Angra do Heroísmo on Saturday 13 June at 6 pm at Recreio dos Artistas.

 

And to highlight the urgency of this issue, the screening of the documentary will be followed by a debate entitled “Queer activism, care and belonging across generations”, featuring the documentary’s co-director, Ana Cristina Santos (lecturer and researcher, CES – University of Coimbra), Alexandra Menezes (activist with the StopIdadismo association) and Isabel Cogumbreiro (LGBTQIA+ activist with APF-Açores/(A)MAR), moderated by João Ferreira, artistic director of Queer Lisboa. The discussion will begin by focusing on the specific issues associated with ageing among LGBTQIA+ people, addressing ageism-related discrimination, access to physical and mental healthcare, and loneliness; highlighting the importance of care networks and the building of bonds of belonging within these most vulnerable populations. The discussion will then reflect on the importance of activism and the building of intergenerational community networks, as well as history and memory as tools for thinking about the present and future of queer communities.  

 

An author from Terceira with a strong relation to the island, Álamo Oliveira navigated narrative fiction, autobiography, essay, poetry, playwriting and the performing arts, establishing himself as a leading figure in Portuguese literature. As we approach the first anniversary of his passing in July 2025, Queer Terceira organizes the debate “Álamo Oliveira and Portuguese Queer Literature”, which will seek to reflect on these multiple dimensions of the author’s work and the humanist ethos that runs through it, to understand his cultural legacy on Terceira Island and his experience in the diaspora; as well as contextualising his work within the landscape of Portuguese queer literature, particularly through his (alternative) perspective on the Colonial War, alongside the work of authors such as Guilherme de Melo and Eduardo Pitta, before offering a broader overview of queer literature in Portugal over recent decades. Taking place on Thursday, 11 June, at 6.15 pm, at Lar Doce Livro, the debate will host Paulo Brás, co-owner, alongside Ricardo Braun, of the livraria aberta in Porto dedicated to queer literature, and Sara Leal, filmmaker and author of the documentary “Álamo Oliveira – Com Perfume e com Veneno”, moderated by João Ferreira.

 

And to mark the second edition of Queer Terceira, Casa do Sal is hosting a party to celebrate Terceira’s queer community and bring together audience and guests from the film cycle. Amidst drinks, conversations and sharing, the dance floor will be brought to life by Simon R and Luís Bravo, with video mapping by VJ LJ MAD. The Queer Terceira Party takes place on Friday 12 June, from 10.00 pm to 2.00 am, with general admission costing €3 and €1.50 for members of Oficina d’Angra.

 

Queer Terceira programme of screenings and activities:

 

Wednesday, 10 June:

 

9.00 pm - RECREIO DOS ARTISTAS

“Duas Vezes João Liberada” by Paula Tomás Marques (Fiction, Portugal, 2025, 70’, original Portuguese version, English subtitles)

 

Thursday, 11 June:

 

6.15 pm – LAR DOCE LIVRO

Debate: “Álamo Oliveira and Portuguese Queer Literature”

With Paulo Brás (livraria aberta, Porto) and Sara Leal (filmmaker), moderated by João Ferreira

 

Friday, 12 June:

 

6.00 pm - RECREIO DOS ARTISTAS

“My Sweet Child”, by Maarten de Schutter (Documentary, Netherlands, 2025, 58’, original Dutch version, English subtitles)

 

9.00 pm - RECREIO DOS ARTISTAS

“Jone, a Veces”, by Sara Fantova (Fiction, Spain, 2025, 80’, original Spanish and Basque version, English subtitles)

 

10.00 pm to 2.00 am – CASA DO SAL

Queer Terceira Party

 

Saturday, 13 June:

 

6.00 pm - RECREIO DOS ARTISTAS

“Outlasting - Living Archives of Older Queers”, by Ana Cristina Santos and Nuno Barbosa (Documentary, Portugal, 2025, 56’, original English, Portuguese, Italian, Greek and Slovenian version, Portuguese subtitles)

 

7.00 pm - RECREIO DOS ARTISTAS

Debate “Queer activism, care and belonging across generations”, with Ana Cristina Santos (lecturer and researcher, CES - University of Coimbra), Alexandra Menezes (activist with the StopIdadismo association) and Isabel Cogumbreiro (LGBTQIA+ activist with APF-Açores/(A)MAR), moderated by João Ferreira

 

9.00 pm - RECREIO DOS ARTISTAS

“Plainclothes”, by Carmen Emmi (Fiction, USA, 2025, 95’, original English version, Portuguese subtitles)