Memory of Alfama
Since our founding in 2009, we have observed an emptying and loss of cultural identity on which we wanted to reflect, taking the preservation and reconstruction of the memory of Alfama as one of the greatest goals of the Cinalfama Association.
In a first phase, photographic and documentary collections from several recreational clubs in the neighborhood were digitized, thus ensuring the maintenance and preservation of these records.
A campaign is underway to collect old photographs and videos of Alfama from the population of the neighborhood and Lisbon. Fundamental to this task are several local partners such as the Alfama Population and Heritage Association (APPA) and the Santa Maria Maior Parish Council as well as the Lisbon City Council and other bodies .
In the pilot phase is the filmed collection of stories and oralities from Alfama : the objective is to film testimonies and stories from the inhabitants of Alfama in the hope of restoring historical accuracy and rescuing an authenticity that the simplifications of the omnipresent tourist industry and the gentrification of this area history tend to erase.
Several of the directors who make up the Cinalfama team, such as Pedro Costa, Leonor Teles or Pedro Cabeleira, participate in this pressing project.
The first fragments of this collection will be screened at the Lisbon International Film Festival in July 2024.
It is in the collection of this content and the signing of structuring protocols with the Municipal Archive and the National Archive of Moving Images of the Cinemateca that the way is paved for one of Cinalfama's most ambitious projects: producing films calling on filmmakers to reflect cinematically on the Alfama neighborhood, mobilizing the audiovisual source built by the Association.