Alis Ubbo
We were there so didn’t have to be! is what the creators of Alis Ubbo could exclaim. But is it really about Lisbon, that sweet Mecca glorified in Lisbon Story by Wim Wenders, which everyone dreams of seeing to be enthralled and complete their days, just as one used to surrender and end in Naples? This poignant pamphlet about the tourist boom in Lisbon is a delight to watch. Its protagonist, a Lisbon tuk-tuk driver, takes the viewers on a journey that must result in a shock. However, Paulo Abreu soothes it with laughter, and he does it gracefully because, in his lens, even a catastrophe must be beautiful. I have nothing against tourism, declared the director, locked in his apartment in Príncipe Real during the lockdown, I am opposed to mass tourism and gentrification. I made Alis Ubbo because I couldn't bear to see my beloved Lisbon transformed into Disneyland. I hope that when the pandemic ends, tourism will return, but in a different form. That did not happen.
awards
- CinEuphoria Awards 2021 - Top Ten of the Year (National Competition), Best Documentary (National Competition)
- Festival de Cinema Luso-Brasileiro de Santa Maria da Feira 2019 - Audience Award, Special Jury Award
Paulo Abreu
Born in Lisbon in 1964. He completed the course of Video at IADE in 1987 and began to work as a freelancer in 1988, making videos for dance, drama and music shows. He was a scholarship student from Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian/FLAD in Film/Vídeo Arts, New York in 1991. In 1992 he represented Portugal in the area of video on Bienal de Jovens Criadores do Mediterrâneo in Valencia. He was a cameraman on “Ver Artes”, RTP2 show about visual arts and architecture, between 1994 and 1996. He collaborated with several visual artists and participated in many collective exhibitions. He is a founding-member of the Daltonic Brothers, duo of authors of satiric comic books, animated films and experimental films. He signed the Photography Direction and/or the camera work in several fiction films, documentaries and video clips (from directors such as Paulo Rocha, Rodrigo Areias, André Gil Mata, Jorge Quintela). He directed over 20 experimental films, mostly in the Super8 format, that were selected, displayed and distinguished in numerous shows and national and international festivals of this nature (DocLisboa, IndieLisboa, MotelX, Curtas Vila do Conde, Edinburgh FF, Roterdam IFF, New York Indie DocFest, International Cinema Show of São Paulo, among others).
Selected filmography
1991 Esta Noite não Estou para Ninguém (short)
2000 Xonor (short)
2010 For Plus- X (short)
2011 Broda / Barba / Beard (short)
2012 O Facínora (short)
2012 We śnie / Adormecido / Asleep (short)
2013 Varadouro (short)
2015 Raimundo (short)
2015 Phil Mendrix
2016 NYC 1991 (short)
2017 I don't belong here (doc.)
2018 Alis Ubbo (doc.)
2020 Czego nie widać / O Que Não Se Vê / What Is Not Seen (short)
2023 Ubu