E eles voltaram a dançar
Director:
Apolline Weinstein
Producer:
Rita Sousa Rêgo
Production company:
Largo Filmes
Production country:
Portugal
Duration in minutes:
50
Contact:
Sinopsys:
In Coimbra, center of Portugal, the República Baco is an associative student commu- nity that has existed since 1934, bearing a political, social, and cultural history deeply rooted in the city. During summer 2024, the University of Coimbra initiates eviction proceedings against it, the fragile balance of the place begins to waver. As the threat becomes clearer, the members of the Republic must confront the urgency of the situation while trying to preserve the cohesion of the group. Tensions rise, disa- greements emerge, and interpersonal relationships change, revealing both the fragili- ties and the solidarities that run through the community. Through scenes of everyday life, collective meetings, moments of waiting, intimate dis- cussions, collective actions, the film follows the ways in which they organize, resist, and redefine what it means to live together, to fight for a place, to continue making it exist, and to preserve the memory it carries. On a human scale, it reveals the broader issues of collective memory, self-management, and the right to housing in the face of institutional logics.
Long Sinopsys
In Coimbra, center of Portugal, the República Baco is an associative student commu- nity that has existed since 1934, bearing a political, social, and cultural history deeply rooted in the city.
During summer 2024, the University of Coimbra initiates eviction proceedings against it, the fragile balance of the place begins to waver.
As the threat becomes clearer, the members of the Republic must confront the urgency of the situation while trying to preserve the cohesion of the group. Tensions rise, disa- greements emerge, and interpersonal relationships change, revealing both the fragili- ties and the solidarities that run through the community.
Through scenes of everyday life, collective meetings, moments of waiting, intimate dis- cussions, collective actions, the film follows the ways in which they organize, resist, and redefine what it means to live together, to fight for a place, to continue making it exist, and to preserve the memory it carries.
On a human scale, it reveals the broader issues of collective memory, self-management, and the right to housing in the face of institutional logics.
Creative Process
The film’s creative process is built on a constant back-and-forth between intimate memory and collective history. The eviction faced by República Baco is a profoundly collective experience, yet it also generates deeply personal concerns, fears, and projec- tions. The film seeks to make this dual dimension visible.
The formal approach begins with the creation of a scale model of the building. The façade is first presented as a closed entity; when it is opened, each room of the house appears inhabited. This model becomes both a narrative and symbolic tool: it allows memory to be spatialized, gives tangible form to a place threatened with disappea- rance, and provides access to the intimacy of lived spaces.
Part of the film will take the form of experimental sequences shot on Super 8. These dreamlike images give shape to the dreams, memories, and anxieties of the house’s members. I have already completed an initial test: a sequence filmed in the attic of República Kuarenta, evoking my discovery of Baco through a voice-over poem, at a time when I did not yet live there. Through its materiality and imperfections, Super 8 makes it possible to explore a fragile, subjective, and affective memory.
The film’s narration incorporates my own French-language voice-ov
er, which accompanies the story as an openly acknowledged personal thread. It in- tertwines with the voice-overs of current and former residents, creating a polypho- ny in which generations speak to one another. This plurality of voices is essential to constructing a collective memory that is not fixed, but constantly being reshaped.
Archival work also plays a central role in the process. Numerous documents are scanned and integrated into the film: photographs, texts, drawings, and administrative records. This act of archiving contributes to the preservation of the house.
Finally, the film is also shaped through movement. I will travel across Portugal, and occasionally abroad, to meet former residents, collect their testimonies, and situate República Baco within the broader history of student republics. In parallel, I will entrust a small camera to the current members of the house so that they can document their daily lives from within. The film thus becomes a work about a collective, made by the collective itself, even as I remain its director.
Director's note
The film’s creative process is built on a constant back-and-forth between intimate memory and collective history. The eviction faced by República Baco is a profoundly collective experience, yet it also generates deeply personal concerns, fears, and projec- tions. The film seeks to make this dual dimension visible.
The formal approach begins with the creation of a scale model of the building. The façade is first presented as a closed entity; when it is opened, each room of the house appears inhabited. This model becomes both a narrative and symbolic tool: it allows memory to be spatialized, gives tangible form to a place threatened with disappea- rance, and provides access to the intimacy of lived spaces.
Part of the film will take the form of experimental sequences shot on Super 8. These dreamlike images give shape to the dreams, memories, and anxieties of the house’s members. I have already completed an initial test: a sequence filmed in the attic of República Kuarenta, evoking my discovery of Baco through a voice-over poem, at a time when I did not yet live there. Through its materiality and imperfections, Super 8 makes it possible to explore a fragile, subjective, and affective memory.
The film’s narration incorporates my own French-language voice-ov
er, which accompanies the story as an openly acknowledged personal thread. It in- tertwines with the voice-overs of current and former residents, creating a polypho- ny in which generations speak to one another. This plurality of voices is essential to constructing a collective memory that is not fixed, but constantly being reshaped.
Archival work also plays a central role in the process. Numerous documents are scanned and integrated into the film: photographs, texts, drawings, and administrative records. This act of archiving contributes to the preservation of the house.
Finally, the film is also shaped through movement. I will travel across Portugal, and occasionally abroad, to meet former residents, collect their testimonies, and situate República Baco within the broader history of student republics. In parallel, I will entrust a small camera to the current members of the house so that they can document their daily lives from within. The film thus becomes a work about a collective, made by the collective itself, even as I remain its director.
Director
Apolline Weinstein
Apolline Weinstein is a video artist trained in cinema in Paris before joining ERG in Brussels, where they studied videography. They began filming social movements in Paris before developing documentary work with communi- ties, notably in Spain. Their filmmaking practice is rooted in an immersive approach, attentive to forms of collective life, social struggles, and threate- ned spaces, where image and sound become tools of memory.
outros trabalhos:
Producer
Rita Sousa Rêgo
Realizadora e produtora cultural, Rita Sousa Rêgo trilhou um percurso marcado pela hibridez artística na música e na pintura antes de se dedicar ao audiovisual. Com formação e experiência internacional na gestão de indústrias criativas e mediação artística na costa Catalã, foca agora o seu trabalho na investigação das dinâmicas sociais e interpessoais. Radicada em Coimbra, utiliza o cinema como uma ferramenta crítica e de comunicação com o território e a sociedade.
