cinematography
Cláudia Varejão
editing
Cláudia Varejão
music
Joana Gama
sound
Adriana Bolito

with
Inna Klochko
Lana Alkouse
Margarita Sharapova
Norina Sohail
Zohra Ghadr Alzaman

producers
João Matos
Leonor Noivo
Luisa Homem
Susana Nobre
Pedro Pinho
Tiago Hespanha
production
Terratreme Filmes

international press office
Gloria Zerbinati
gloria.zerbinati@gmail.com

Kora outlines the stories of refugee women living in Portugal. They all carry their past with them, in their body and words, as well as in pictures of their loved ones. From these memories, we access the intimate and political gaze of those who reconstruct (their) present.

2024 Kora (short)
2022 Lobo e cão
2020 O ofício da ilusão (short)
2020 Amor fati (doc)
2016 Ama-San (doc)
2016 No escuro do cinema descalço os sapatos (doc)
2012 Luz da manhã (short)
2010 Um dia frio (short)
2007 Fim-de-Semana (short)

“Every day, people are thrown out of their homes and their countries by oppression, armed conflict and human rights violations. Many of them lose parents, children, every relational or emotional reference. They are deprived of their everyday lives, of their education, of their jobs and even their native tongues. From one moment to the next, everything changes: behind them, all that’s left is destruction, while ahead lies only uncertainty. […] We are living through an unprecedented human tragedy. We have failed as a species and as a society. As a human being, as a citizen, and even as a director, I feel responsible. Kora gradually arose from this feeling of being too small, and, at the same time, from the frustration of being part of something that doesn’t represent me. This film is my gaze, both political and emotional, on the historic moment that I’m living in.” (Cláudia Varejão)

Cláudia Varejão studied at the Creativity and Artistic Creation Program created by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in partnership with the German Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin and the São Paulo International Film Academy. She also studied Photography at AR.CO in Lisbon. She wrote and directed the short film trilogy Weekend (2007), A Cold Day (2010) and Morning Light (2012). In 2016, she made her feature debut with Ama-san, which received dozens of awards around the world. Next, she directed In The Darkness of the Theater I Take Off My Shoes (2016), the short O ofício da ilusão (2020), and Amor Fati (2020). In 2022, her film Wolf and Dog won the Best Film Award at Giornate Degli Autori (GdA Director’s Award). Alongside her work as a filmmaker, she pursues a career as a photographer and has been invited to give classes and workshops at various film and art schools.