Meg Ryan, Kim Catrall and Giancarlo Esposito

Tribeca Festival Lisboa wrapped its second version on Saturday after internet hosting a bevy of U.S. expertise, led by Meg Ryan, Kim Cattrall, Edie Falco, Giancarlo Esposito, Ed Westwick and Daniela Ruah and Piper Perabo and director Stephen Kay, her husband. 

The co-organizers – Tribeca Enterprises and Portuguese media group Impresa – said they’re delighted by the means that the spirit of the New York pageant is bringing recent power to the Portuguese movie and TV sector.

“We thought we were only going to do one festival, back in 2002 and now we’re now going to be 25 years old!” commented Jane Rosenthal, Tribeca co-founder and CEO. 

“Continuous studying is what makes any pageant a residing respiratory organism. We sit up for bringing more of our experience right here, particularly by our mentorship packages. 

She added: “Like New York, Lisbon is a very international city. I feel very much at home here. I have my own Portuguese connection from my childhood in Providence, Rhode Island, where one of our most famous senators was Claiborne Pell, whose father served as U.S. ambassador to Portugal and of course I was lucky to grow up around great Portuguese bakeries!” 

Francisco Pedro Balsemão, Impresa CEO, explained that with the success of Tribeca Lisboa  and after attending two editions of Tribeca in New York, he would now like to arrange a year-round program of Tribeca-linked initiatives and incorporate the related mentoring experience into the wider producing strategy of the Impresa Group: “For this year’s edition we made sure that there are more screening venues, more talks focusing on a wide array of filmmaking skills, bringing it closer to the New York festival, where the Tribeca neighborhood itself is also a key element.”

Various fruits of the Tribeca-Lisbon connection had been highlighted during the fest’s second version, including Chazz Palmentiri who after attending last 12 months’s version together with his documentary, “A Bronx Tale: The Original One Man Show,” now plans to return to Lisbon to stage the first live performance of his present outdoors the U.S. 

“We’ve upgraded this year’s event,” explained Tony Gonçalves, former AT&T-exec, who’s one among the fest’s government producers. “We’ve changed from a one-size-fits-all festival pass to individual ticketing, and most of the films are sold out.” 

“There’s a lot of resonance between New York City and Tribeca,” says Cara Cusumano, Tribeca’s Festival Director and senior vp of programming. “Our flagship event filled a need of both the city and the local industry. I think that Tribeca Festival Lisboa has that potential as well.”

Held in Lisbon’s Beato Innovation District over Oct. 30–Nov. 1, Tribeca Lisboa showcased 5 movies from the flagship Tribeca pageant, together with other U.S. impartial movies and Portuguese movies. 

“The timing of this festival is perfect to raise awareness, in the buildup to the Awards season,” says Cusumano. “Last year, the Portuguese premiere of ‘Anora’ put us clearly on the radar.”

Julian Schnabel’s ‘In the Hand of Dante’ opened this 12 months’s fest, in a ceremony that included a tribute to Impresa Group founder, Francisco Pinto Balsemão, who died Oct. 21. 

Other titles, that didn’t beforehand display in Tribeca in New York, included Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia,” and Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great.” Mexican director Michel Franco attended for the Portuguese premiere of “Dreams.”

Two movies from Tribeca’s New York line-up have a direct Portuguese connection: Lilian T. Mehrel’s darkish comedy, “Honeyjoon,” shot in the Azores, and Alberto Arévelo’s Spain-to-Portugal highway film, “All We Cannot See.” 

“Honeyjoon,” which received Tribeca’s AT&T 2024 Untold Stories $1 million award, was produced by Portuguese producer, Andreia Nunes, and had its world premiere at Tribeca in June. “It feels very full circle,” explained Mehrel, “It’s so rewarding to see a film that is inspired by real life, real grief, real love, based on my original trip to the Azores, to be celebrated in New York and now here.”

Foreign expertise attending the event heaped reward on Portugal. Meg Ryan said she desires to journey to Nazaré, after watching Chris Smith’s documentary sequence “100 Foot Wave,” that includes Garrett McNamara. “Are those waves real?” she requested. 

The event also served to showcase rising worldwide curiosity in Portuguese movie and TV, with one among the highlights being dialogue of Netflix’s “Turn of the Tide,” that includes director Augusto Fraga and the lead forged, including José Condessa and veteran actor Joaquim d’Almeida. Almeida just lately returned to Portugal after a 4 decade profession in Hollywood. Fluent in 5 languages, he confided that he will get more nervous when performing in his native tongue. 

Other Portuguese movies screening during the fest included Antonio Ferreira’s colonial struggle pic, “The Scent of Things Remembered,” Duarte Neves’ feature debut, “Match,” and Fernando Vendrell’s aviation pioneers drama, “Além do Horizonte – A Travessia,” based on his sequence “Star Sailors.” 

Casting administrators Cindy Tolan, Lucy Bevan and Patricia Vasconcelos offered a  masterclass and held a sequence of casting periods with Portuguese actors in the build-up to Passaporte Lisboa, a casting pageant that runs in November.

Vasconcelos who curated this 12 months’s talks, said she’s delighted to program such a big selection of matters, including tips on how to leverage Portugal’s tax incentives. Podcasts had been curated by Joana Beleza, who invited varied well-known podcasters to the pageant, making it potential to succeed in past the rapid fest viewers. 

Latvian producer Matiss Kaza mentioned making “Flow,” that received the 2025 Animation Feature Academy Award, and how smaller international locations such as Latvia and Portugal can put together worldwide co-productions. 

Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas concluded that he’s delighted by this 12 months’s version: “I want to create dynamism for our city and want to create a dream, and Tribeca is an integral part of that dream.”