Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Week of Portuguese Cinema, April 19-25, 2015

Manoel de Oliveira, a titan of Portuguese cinema who died at age 106 on April 2, and who was still making films well into his 100s, is paid tribute during the Week of Portuguese Cinema, which is organized by the Thai Film Archive, Cinamateca Portuguesa, the Bangkok Art and Culture Center and the Camões Institute.

The selection includes de Oliveira's first feature, 1942's Aniki-Bóbó, about a gang of street children in the director's hometown of Porto. There is also his 1990 drama, No, or the Vain Glory of Command, which covers Portugal's military history as seen through the eyes of a soldier in colonial Africa.

Other entries include The Eyes Of Asia, a 1996 drama about a Roman Catholic missionary in Japan; the 1963 coming-of-age drama Os Verdes Anos (The Green Years), which is the debut feature of Paulo Rocha; and 1989's Recordações Da Casa Amarela (Recollections of the Yellow House), a Lisbon waterfront drama directed by and starring João César Monteiro.

There's also the sweeping 2012 romance Tabu, which recalls star-crossed love among expats in colonial Africa, uniquely toggling back and forth between the modern day (in color) and the 1960s (in old-timey black-and-white). This screened at last year's World Film Festival of Bangkok, and was among the must-see selections of that fest's programmers.

And there's the 2013 documentary E Agora? Lembra-me (What Now? Remind Me), in which HIV-positive filmmaker Joaquim Pinto looks back at his life; and Capitães De Abril (April Captains), a 2000 drama that recalls the 1974 coup that overthrew a right-wing dictatorship.

Notably, some of the films will actually be screened with 35mm prints, which doesn't happen much anymore in this digital age. Here is the schedule:

April 19, Thai Film Archive (35mm film screening)

• 1pm – Aniki-Bóbó, Manoel de Oliveira, 1942, with introduction by José Manuel Costa, director of Cinamateca Portuguesa
• 4pm – Os Olhos Da Ásia (The Eyes Of Asia), João Mário Grilo, 1996
• 6pm – Non Ou A Vã Glória De Mandar (No, or the Vain Glory of Command), Manoel De Oliveira, 1990

April 21, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

• 6pm – Os Verdes Anos (The Green Years), Paulo Rocha, 1963

April 22, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

• 6pm – Recordações Da Casa Amarela (Recollections of the Yellow House), João César Monteiro, 1989

April 23, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

• 6pm – Tabu, Miguel Gomes, 2012

April 24, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

• 6pm – E Agora? Lembra-me (What Now? Remind Me), Joaquim Pinto, 2013

April 25, Thai Film Archive (35mm film screening)

• 1pm – Capitães De Abril (April Captains), Maria De Medeiros, 2000
• 3.30pm – Non Ou A Vã Glória De Mandar (No, or the Vain Glory of Command), Manoel De Oliveira, 1990
• 5.30pm – Aniki-Bóbó, Manoel de Oliveira, 1942

Admission is free. All films will be shown with English subtitles. And, here's a cool thing I wish the other "free" film fests in Bangkok would do – you can book your seats online at the following link: bit.ly/portuguesefilmthailand.