Documentary produced by MEP Francisco Guerreiro nominated for best Portuguese film of the year at Fantasporto 2024

Lisbon, January 22, 2024: The Fantasporto 2024 line-up is now known and the documentary “Carne: a pegada insustentável” is among the nominees in the Official Portuguese Cinema Section. This category honors the best Portuguese film productions of the past year and the film produced by independent MEP Francisco Guerreiro, from the European Parliamentary Group Greens/European Free Alliance, and directed by Hugo de Almeida is one of the candidates to win the award.


“Meat: the unsustainable footprint” is the first Portuguese documentary to address the urgent need for a change in the world population's eating patterns, favoring a plant-based diet over one based on animal protein. Although it focuses on the national reality, this feature film was shot in countries such as Portugal, Lebanon, the United Kingdom, France and Belgium.


With more than 20 interviews with national and international experts in the field, as well as people who have adopted this type of diet, “Meat: the unsustainable footprint” also includes the participation of biologist, writer and regular columnist for “The Guardian”, George Monbiot, as well as professor Gabriel Mateus and the founders of the animal sanctuary located in Paredes de Coura, Quinta das Águias, Ivone and Joep Ingen Housz.


“The main aim of this project has always been to alert or raise awareness of the harmful consequences that current eating habits are having on the planet, on human health and on animal welfare. Based on this premise, we decided that a film would be the ideal solution to not only illustrate reality in a more positive way, but also to encourage more active participation by society,” explains Francisco Guerreiro.


“The nomination for best Portuguese film of the year by the country's largest film festival is a huge honor for us, which only proves the quality of the work done by the team and the immense talent of director Hugo de Almeida,” concludes Francisco Guerreiro.


For its part, the festival organization justifies the nomination as follows: “It's not very common for Fantasporto to present documentaries. The quality and impact, I would even say necessity, of this film makes it necessary to screen it. In a world where everything is changing due to climate change and its dramatic impact on millions of human beings.”

The 44th Porto International Film Festival - Fantasporto'2024 - will take place from March 1 to 10 at the Batalha Cinema Center in the “Cidade Invicta”. For this year's edition, around 400 feature films and 1,200 short films from five continents were submitted directly. All the films are new to Portugal, many of them with international or world premieres. The organization selected approximately 70 feature films and 20 short films from the 72 participating countries to be screened and compete in Fantasporto 2024. The winners will be announced on March 9th.


For more information see: https://fantasporto.com/pt-pt/
Link to the competition section: https://fantasporto.com/en/category/official-section-portuguese-film/  

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