EXCLUSIVE: The subversive and experimental works of Portuguese filmmaker João César Monteiro have long been unavailable or difficult to view in the U.S. thanks to tight copyright laws and poor preservation. But that’s all about to change.
The NYC-based Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights to Monteiro’s films and is planning a broad theatrical retrospective of the films—all newly restored in 4K—in the U.S. and Canada in early 2025.
The deal was negotiated by Edward McCarry and Peter Kelly of Cinema Guild with Branco of Leopardo Filmes. Digital and home video releases will follow the theatrical retrospective in 2025.
Born into a wealthy Catholic family and raised in Lisbon, Monteiro was one of the most controversial and unusual filmmakers of his generation. His often unclassifiable features spanned satirical, experimental, and fabulistic themes. Some of his most notable works include the militant and mythical What Will I Do With This Sword?, his fable-like breakthrough Silvestre, and Recollections of the Yellow House, which won the Silver Lion at Venice in 1989. His 1995 feature God’s Comedy won the Grand Jury Prize in Venice.
A profoundly eccentric figure, Monteiro also acted in many of his later films, starring as the recurring character João do Deus — named after the Portugese-born patron saint of the destitute.
“If there was ever someone who lived completely free, where life and creativity always intertwined, it was João César Monteiro,” said Paulo Branco, Monteiro’s producer and longtime friend. “He never conformed to any rules and always brought a sense of ‘madness’ to his work— something he proudly embraced. That’s why his films are so essential and unique in world cinema.”
Monteiro’s works have grown in prominence of late, primarily among academics and scholars. The first-ever retrospective of his work in the U.S. was held at Harvard in 2010. Subsequent screenings of Monteiro’s work have been held at MoMA and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Discussing today’s deal, Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes, winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Director at this year’s Cannes, said: “Next to Manoel de Oliveira, I believe that Monteiro was the leading filmmaker for my generation in Portugal. I am very happy that Cinema Guild is once again giving his work the visibility it deserves.”
Monteiro died of cancer in 2023 at the age of 64.
The complete films of Monteiro is the latest project in Cinema Guild’s expanded repertory operations, building out from the release of Japanese filmmaker Shinji Somai’s filmography in recent years, which included the 4K restorations of Moving and Typhoon Club. The company has told us they plan to further build out their theatrical slate of restorations in 2025.
