Blood of my Blood
João Canijo
Release Date: 05-10-2011
This is a film about unconditional love – the love of a mother for her daughter and of an aunt for her nephew – and about the lengths those women are prepared to go to in order to protect the ones they love…Márcia is a single mother with two grown-up children, who works as a cook and shares her home in a social housing estate with her sister Ivete, a hairdresser. One day, Cláudia, her daughter, a student nurse, who also works as a supermarket cashier, tells her that she has fallen in love with a married man that is much older than her. When Márcia finds out who he is, she realises that the relationship poses a terrible threat to her family… Meanwhile, her son Joca, a small-time drug pusher, tries to get one over on his own dealer, but the plan misfires and he gets caught. It is his aunt, Ivete, who pays the ultimate price in her attempt to save him. 

Statement of intention

“We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little lifeIs rounded with a sleep”.
Shakespeare

“The only thing any of us wants in life is to be loved without explanations.We want unconditional love, without having to give or receive explanations.The deepest love is that which has no reason to exist at all.”
António Lobo Antunes


This quotation from Lobo Antunes encapsulates the central theme of the film –  the tragedy that results when real life collides with unconditional love, a love without explanations, that has no reason to exist at all.
 Unconditional love may be put to the test, but it is never put at risk. For, as Aristotle said, happiness is absolutely final; it is always chosen for itself alone, never as a means to an end. And in this film, all actions aim at achieving the happiness of a person that is loved. That is the purpose of the rest; all else occurs in function of it. The happiness of the loved person is always chosen as an end in itself, and never as a means.
 The film explores how love and affection manage to survive in the sterile environment of a deprived inner-city neighbourhood. In such a context – threatened by irredeemable circumstances, by ignorance, violence and the total absence of civilized values – love can be put under the microscope and its essence observed. 
The more arid the emotional landscape, the more unconditional and unquestionable any gesture of love becomes. This society is depicted in all its depravity in order to allow unconditional love to take shape. For it is only in a context of great violence that a blood bond can be truly put to the test. 
festivals
PRÉMIOS

SAN SEBASTIAN Donostia Zinemaldia Festival | Espanha 
TVE Otra Mirada–Menção Especial
Prémio da Crítica (FIPRESCI – Federação Internacional da Imprensa Cinematográfica)

PAU Festival International du Film du Pau | França
PYRÉNÉE para Melhor Filme

MIAMI International Film Festival | EUA
Grande Prémio do Júri

LINZ Crossing Europe Film Festival | Aústria
Prémio New Vision

BARCELONA International Auteur Film Festival | Espanha
Prémio do Público

CURITIBA International Film Festival – Olhar de Cinema | Brasil
Prémio Olhar para Melhor Filme

BRNO Cinema Mundi | República Checa Best World Movies
Melhor filme

RAVENNA Mosaico International Film Festival | Itália
Melhor filme

MONTEVIDEO Festival Cinematográfico Internacional | Uruguai
Competição Internacional de Longas-metragens - Menção Honrosa
ACCU/FIPRESCI - Competição Internacional - Mençao Honrosa

TORONTO International Film Festival | Canadá
RIO DE JANEIRO Festival do Rio | Brasil
TORINO Film Festival | Itália
PALM SPRINGS International Film Festival | EUA
FICUNAM Festival Internacional de Cine UNAM | México
CHICAGO
European Union Film Festival | EUA
VILNIUS
International Film Festival | Lituânia
ISTANBUL
International Film Festival | Turquia
AUSTIN
Cine Las Americas | EUA
PANAMA
International Film Festival | Panamá
DELFT
FESTIBERICO Festival de Cinema Português e Espanhol | Holanda
TRANSILVÂNIA
International Film Festival | Cluj Napoca, Roménia
NOVI SAD
Cinema City International Film Festival | Sérvia
BELO HORIZONTE
Cine FIT | Brasil
EDINBURGH
International Film Festival | Grã-Bretanha
OAXACA
Cine Alcalá - FICUNAM extension | México
SEATTLE
LATINO Film Festival | Washington, EUA
HAMBURG
FilmFest | Alemanha
SILVER SPRING
AFI Latin American Film Festival | Washington, EUA
LEEDS
International Film Festival | Grã-Bretanha
LOS ANGELES
AFI Fest 2012 | EUA
LUANDA
Festival Internacional de Cinema | Angola
CALI
International Film Festival | Colômbia
SEGOVIA
MUCES Muestra de Cine Europeo | Espanha
BERLIN
Around the World in 14 Films | Alemanha
PORTLAND
International Film Festival | EUA
PORTO ALEGRE Mostra de Cinema Português | Brasil
CÔTE D’AZUR 15ème Semaine du Cinéma Lusophone | França
MONTEVIDEO Festival Cinematográfico Internacional |Uruguai
LJUBJIANA CINEMATECA What is there in Portugal? | Eslovénia
CHICAGO LATINO Film Festival | EUA
MONTERREY CINETECA de Nuevo Léon | México
MOSCOVO Mosco International Film Festival | Rússia
LUXEMBURGO Portuguese Film Festival |Luxemburgo
UHERSKE HRADISTE Summer Film School | República Checa
BUENOS AIRES Semana de Cine Portugués (Mabla) |Argentina
RIEUPEYROUX Rencontres à la Campagne | França
SEVILHA Festival de Cine Europeo ! Espanha

Com  RETROSPECTIVA DA OBRA

BUSAN International Film Festival | Coreia
BAFICI
Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente |Argentina  Integral
LA ROCHELLE Festival International du Film de La Rochelle | França 
LA CORUÑA
Centro Galego de Artes de Imaxe | Espanha 
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
XXVI Cineuropa | Espanha
CINETECA NACIONAL
Cidade do México | México

INSTITUCIONAIS


MADRID Mostra de Cultura Portuguesa | Espanha
CARACAS
3ª Mostra de Cinema Português | Venezuela
FILMOTECA EXTREMADURA
– Cáceres e Badajoz | Espanha
PRAGA
I Mostra de Cinema Lusófono | República Checa
RIO DE JANEIRO
, SÃO PAULO Mostra de Cinema Português Contemporâneo | Brasil
MOSCOVO
Mostra de Cinema Português | Rússia
MOÇAMBIQUE
Ciclo de Cinema de Países da CPLP | Maputo, Nampula e Sofala
MARSELHA Universidade de Aix- Marselha | França
BRASÍLIA Centro Cultural de Brasília | Brasil
BUENOS AIRES Festival de Cinema Europeu | Argentina
VALLADOLID Cátedra de cinema da Universidade de Valladolid | Espanha
VIGO III Ciclo de Cinema - Instituto Camões /Mini Retrospectiva | Espanha

Outros Prémios e Distinções
FAIAL Film Fest | Portugal
Melhor Filme
Prémio Dom Quixote (Federação Internacional de Cineclubes) – Menção Especial

CAMINHOS do Cinema Português | Portugal
Melhor Filme
Melhor Argumento
Melhor Realizador
Melhor Actriz– Rita Blanco

Prémios Autores/SPA – Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores
Melhor Filme
Melhor Actriz (Rita Blanco)
Melhor Argumento

XVII Gala dos Globos de Ouro – SIC
Melhor Filme
Melhor Actriz – Rita Blanco

Prémios GDA
Nuno Lopes – Melhor Actor

Indicação para o Óscar de Melhor Filme Estrangeiro por Portugal, 2012
cast
Rita Blanco - Márcia Fialho
Anabela Moreira - Ivete Fialho
Cleia Almeida - Claúdia Filipa Fialho
Rafael Morais - Joca Fialho
Marcello Urgeghe - Alberto Vieira
Nuno Lopes - Telmo Sobral
Beatriz Batarda - Maria da Luz
Fernando Luís - Hélder/Nini
Teresa Madruga - Dona Judite
Teresa Tavares - Sandra Vanessa
Francisco Tavares - César Chaves
Wilma de Brito - Érica
crew
director João Canijo 
cinematographer Mário Castanheira
sound Olivier Blanc, Ricardo Leal, Gerárd Rousseau, Elsa Ferreira
art director José Pedro Penha Lopes
production manager Ângela Cerveira 
assistant director Patrick Mendes
editor João Braz
producer Pedro Borges