FANTASFORUM/SPECIAL PROGRAM 2026
EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING PROGRAM OF FANTASPORTO 2026
MEETINGS / DEBATES / WORKSHOPS / CONFERENCES / BOOK PRESENTATIONS
THE MOVIE TALKS
Specifically dedicated to film education, and taking advantage of the availability of some of the national and international guests of Fantasporto 2026, a program of lectures/debates/ workshops has been organized aimed at younger audiences, young filmmakers and film students. This program, in addition to the festival's film screenings, aims mainly to promote information and discussion defining criteria before making a film, the path to project completion, its finalization, promotion, and distribution. Location: Bar do Batalha CC, FREE ENTRY.
MOVIE TALKS FANTASPORTO 2026
Sunday , March 1 - 15.00
Book Presentation
“Sobre o Amor Inútil” About Useless Love
by Artur Manso
Is Love Useless? The author answers this question with this essay, which is simultaneously a philosophical challenge and a sensory manifesto. Rejecting the idealization of romantic or spiritualized love, he leads us on an unexpected journey where carnal desire is the starting point for rethinking the place of love in our lives. From Empedocles to Saint Augustine, from Teresa of Ávila to Oscar Wilde, passing through Plato, Kant, Rousseau, and Anaïs Nin, this text intertwines erudite references with lucid and audacious writing. The author thus attempts to reclaim eroticism as a foundational dimension of human experience, demonstrating social and moral hypocrisies that, for centuries, have repressed pleasure in the name of virtues built on fear.
Artur Manso was born in 1964, during the autumn, as the leaves fell, in the Transmontane village of Izeda. A university professor at the University of Minho, he has dedicated himself over time to learning and teaching about small things under the sign of aesthetics and ethics, about our place in the world and how beauty can bring us peace. His extensive work includes the books: Agostinho da Silva: Aspects of his life, work and thought (2000); Representations of desire (2005); Manuel Laranjeira. 1877-1912 (2013); Schools for what? Essay on indolent pedagogy (2017); Equivocal traits (2019); Brief is all life. Towards a pedagogy of death and dying (2021); Aesthetic education. The beautiful as a manifestation of the good (2023); Agostinho da Silva. 1906-1994 (2025). About useless love (2025).
Sunday , March 1 - 17.00h
Book Presentation
“Mulheres & Homens” Men & Women By Danyel Guerra
When his era pointed the finger at itself, Karl Kraus was that finger" - Elias Canetti
In Women & Men, following Horace's mad challenge to Virgil, under the auspices of the work of the bohemian aphorist Karl Kraus, Danyel Guerra parades a farcical corsair of thoughts, aphorisms, meditations, reflections, quotations, lucubrations, maxims, insinuations, tributes, and enigmas. Here is a profuse torrent of rote meth, aroused and suggested by a sharp observation of human and social life. Even if they are inhuman and antisocial lives. In the reverse of the reverse of the reverse of the reverse of the carnival fantasy, Pierrot becomes Harlequin. To carnivalize is necessary, spreading the bittersweet perfume of the absurd, the paradox, the irony, the sarcasm, the jocular, the burlesque, and even the nonsense.
Danyel Guerra (aka Danni Guerra) was born in São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on a November day of Venus, under the sign of Scorpio. In the year that Billy Blanco and Tom Jobim gave birth to ‘Tereza da Praia’. He has a degree in Universal History of Infamy from the Faculty of Protested Letters, and is a journalist in his (poorly) paid hours. In his spare time he wrote, edited and/or published the books ‘Em Busca da Musa Clio’ (2004), ‘Amor Città Aperta’ (2008), ‘O Céu sobre Berlin’ (2009), ‘Excitações Klimtorianas’ (2012), ‘O Apojo das Ninfas’ (2014), ‘Oito e demy’ (2015), ‘O Português do Cinemoda’ (2015), ‘Os Homens da Minha Vida’ (2017) and ‘Corpo Estranho’ (2021). In 2025, ‘Cinema Amor’, the first installment of the ‘Textosterona’ trilogy, premiered at Fantasporto.
Monday, March 2 - 15.00 h
Book Presentation
Adaptation and Intertextuality in the children's book "Greek Tales" by António Sérgio
By José Carlos Pereira
José Carlos Magalhães Pereira is a senior technician at the Municipality of Felgueiras, a cultural animator, poet, writer, academic researcher, and author of scientific articles. He was a journalist for the Jornal de Notícias newspaper, holds a degree in Portuguese-History from the Universidade Aberta, a master's degree in Classical Studies – Poetics and Hermeneutics from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra, and holds an Advanced Training Course for a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature from UTAD. His dissertation, "Adaptation and Intertextuality in the Children's and Young Adult Literature 'Greek Tales' by António Sérgio," received the honorable mention of the António Sérgio Prize 2023 in the area of Studies and Research, awarded by CASES – Cooperativa António Sérgio para a Economia Social, which published it as a book in 2025. Presentation: André Dinis, writer and screenwriter
Monday, March 2 - 17.00h
DEBATE
“Cinema Today: How to produce independently , how to apply to funding and other sources of funding”
With Pedro Farate (Cinematographer), Pedro Gil Vasconcelos (Director and Screenwriter), Luis Moya (Director), Isabel Pina (Director), Luís Diogo (Director), Vasco Viana (Director) and Beatriz Pacheco Pereira (Writer, Fantasporto).
Tuesday, March 3 - 17H
DEBATE
“Edgar Allan Poe: through the Lens of Roger Corman”
By Jaqueline Pierazzo
The work of Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) constitutes a central example of the 19th-century Gothic Revival, functioning as an expression and complement to the fears associated with the Industrial Revolution, as well as a precursor to modern horror fantasy. Originally produced for the publishing market of the time, his horror stories were sometimes considered excessive, sensationalist, or culturally inferior. In the early 1960s, this literary legacy was revisited and reinterpreted in cinema in the cycle of Poe adaptations directed by Roger Corman (1926–2024). By bringing together literature and cinema often classified as "low" or marginal forms, this paper proposes a reflection on the cultural, aesthetic, and historical value of popular Gothic horror.
Jaqueline Pierazzo is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto, Portugal, and a researcher at the CETAPS Digital Laboratory (Centre for English, Translation, and Anglo-Portuguese Studies). Her work focuses on the evolution of terror in Edgar Allan Poe’s writings, explored through digital humanities tools and methodologies. She is also developing a digital edition of Poe’s writings of terror.
Moderador: Beatriz Pacheco Pereira
in english
Wednesday, March 4 - 15.00h
Book Presentation
Glimpses of Past Futures
by Francisco Duarte.
“Glimpses of Past Futures" is a journey through distant universes, epic battles, and human dilemmas. "Princesses of Strife" comprises seven stories of women at war, amidst machines, spaceships, and antastical worlds. Each book brings together seven tales that combine action, emotion, and extraordinary worlds,
Francisco Duarte is a Portuguese author with almost two decades of experience writing science fiction, fantasy, and adventure. Throughout his career, he has written dozens of short stories for video games, including "MAV: Modular Assault Vehicle," and developed several modules for narrative games, notably "Dungeon Crawl Classic and Dungeons & Dragons." He also published the urban fantasy novel "Heather: A Kaiju Novel," a tribute to the giant monster movies of his childhood, combining the sense of wonder of those classics with the intensity of urban fantasy and military fiction.
Em Português
Wednesday, March 4 - 17.00h
DEBATE
(Framing Fantasy- A Debate on the present situation of Fantasy and its multiple expressions. )
Professor Dr Nic Hurst (FLUP), Professora Dra Fátima Vieira-(FLUP), Francisco Duarte (escritor de videojogos e ficção científica) e Beatriz Pacheco Pereira (escritora, diretora do Fantasporto)
Nicolas Hurst is President of the Portuguese-British Association of Porto. Assistant Professor of English Studies at FLUP (retired). Professor of English, ELT methodology and materials design. Several articles published in Portugal and abroad. Regular speaker at local and international conferences. PhD in Anglo-American Studies.
Vice-Rector for Culture at the University of Porto. She is a full professor at FLUP (Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto), where she began teaching in 1986. She coordinates CETAPS – the Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies, a joint initiative between the University of Porto and Nova University of Lisbon.
Francisco Duarte is a Portuguese author with almost two decades of experience writing science fiction, fantasy, and adventure. Throughout his career, he has written dozens of short stories for video games and developed several modules for narrative games, notably "Dungeon Crawl Classic and Dungeons & Dragons". He also published the urban fantasy novel "Heather: A Kaiju Novel".
Beatriz Pacheco Pereira holds a degree in Germanic Philology from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto, specializing in English Literature. She is involved in various areas of culture, working as a writer, film researcher, and sculptor. She co-founded Fantasporto in 1981. She has also served as a jury member for the ICA (Portuguese Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual), selected Portuguese films for the Oscars, and has published several books of essays, chronicles, short stories and novels. Her fiction is mostly in the realm of fantasy. She is the author of the anthology "Fantasporto 40 Years: A History of Cinema".
english and portuguese
Thursday, March 5 - 15.00 h
DEBATE
How to encourage the production and discovery of cinema
by Professora Dra Fátima Vieira (FLUP)
Vice-Rector for Culture at the University of Porto. She is a full professor at FLUP (Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto), where she began teaching in 1986. She coordinates CETAPS – the Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies, a joint initiative between the University of Porto and NOVA University of Lisbon.
in Portuguese
Thursday, March 5 - 17.00h
DEBATE
"Norwegian Cinema Focus- Production, Identity, Labor Relations, Autonomy and Gender Equality as the Framework of a Contemporary Success"
with
Eléonore Anselme is the producer of the film “Don’t Call Me Mama,” which is in competition at Directors' Week, and is known for films such as “Okkupert” (TV series)e “Girls Will Be Girls” (2024), among others.
Rodrigo Stoicheff, current commissioner of the NEO Program, is a film professor and editor, known for “The Last Crusader” (2005), “The Twin” (2022) and “Lillyhammer” (2012). He also participated in “Don’t Call Me Mama” in competition in Fantasporto 2026.
In collaboration with the Norwegian Film Institute, responsible for the Focus Norway Programme at Fantasporto 2026, and Film Ferbundet.
In English
March 6 - 15.00H
DEBATE
I wrote film reviews and still managed to enjoy cinema
by Pedro Garcia Rosado
Pedro Garcia Rosado was born in Lisbon in 1955. As a journalist, he worked as an editor and contributor for various national media outlets and was Variety's correspondent in Portugal. He was a film critic and author of the Portuguese video yearbooks from 1989 to 1993, a communications consultant, and a professional translator. He has published eleven novels, all thrillers, translated into French and Spanish, the most recent being “O Último Refúgio” (Clube do Autor). He maintains the opinion blog “Pedro Garcia Rosado”.
He is a member of the International Jury for Fantasy in Fantasporto 2026
Em Português
March 6 - 17.00H
“David Fincher's “Fight Club”: an Incel MANifesto?”
By Professor Dr Mark Poole
“Incel” is a portmanteau of “involuntary celibate.” In its most basic form, incel describes someone, usually a male, who is frustrated by their lack of sexual experiences. The Anti-Defamation League, which works to address hate and extremism, defines incels as “heterosexual men who blame women and society for their lack of romantic success.” (CNN)
"Mark Poole was born 5 days before “Psycho” was released in America. The two events have nothing to do with Mark later completing a PhD on the films of Alfred Hitchcock. They studied film studies as a first degree, completing it in the same year that” Back to the Future” won best original screenplay at the Oscars. Their Master's was on the films of the 2025 Best Director Oscar winner and completed in 2004. They have taught Film Analysis, The History of World Cinema, and various other-film related courses at undergraduate and Master's level. They have now retired to paint". (MP) He is a member of the International Jury in the Directors Week in Fantasporto 2026.”