Scenes From The Class Struggle in Portugal
Presented by Joana de Sousa, Head of Distribution and Cultural Outreach, and Rui Machado, Director de la Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema
Combining newsreel footage, still photographs, interviews, and analytical narration, this documentary focuses on the anti-fascist, anti-imperialist efforts of labor groups, peasants, and working-class soldiers to liberate Portugal from the control of the Salazar government. Shot from April 1974 to November 1976, it relates the conflicts in Portugal to parallel liberation movements in the United States and South Africa. A prologue and an epilogue were added to it in 1978.
This copy is the result of the 4K digitization of a 35mm internegative (enlarged from a 16mm original) and the optical band of a 16mm sound positive, materials produced when the film was preserved by Cinemateca in 2001. The color correction was done by Irma Lucia and the digital restoration by Cineric in 2023, using the copy preserved by Cinemateca in 2001 as reference. The digital restoration of the sound was done by Billyboom in 2023, using a distribution print as reference. Two official versions of the film (one in english and another one in portuguese) were made and Cinemateca Portuguesa has restored both.
The restorer – Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema
Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema has the mission of safeguarding and promoting the Portuguese cinematographic heritage. It was founded in 1948 by one of the pioneers of European cinematheques, Manuel Félix Ribeiro, and became an autonomous institution in 1980. Since 1956, Cinemateca has been a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), created in 1938, with the aim of promoting the conservation and knowledge of film heritage, combining the efforts of the most important archives in the world. In 1996, Cinemateca opened a modern conservation centre on the outskirts of Lisbon, the ANIM (National Archive of the Moving Image), which is currently the basis of all conservation, research and exhibition activities, access to film, video, and digital collections, as well as to collections of cinematographic devices and objects. Since 1998, ANIM is equipped with a photochemical restoration laboratory, which however has become the last in operation in the Iberian Peninsula. As part of its cultural dissemination strategy, Cinemateca Portuguesa has been working on a large scale digital preservation plan, which by 2025, will see more than 1000 short and feature-length Portuguese films digitized and made available in new high-resolution copies for projection in cinemas or other screening platforms (by Cinemateca, or in partnership with public and private entities), or via Cinemateca Digital, its streaming platform which already holds more than 1,400 films. Cinemateca also contributes to film culture in the Portuguese education system through its participation in the National Cinema Plan.
Photo credits : Scenes From The Class Struggle in Portugal © Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema
Robert Kramer is an American independent filmmaker, born in New York in 1939. Very active politically in the 1960s, he participated in the radical left-wing movements against the Vietnam War and for the emancipation of minorities. During the Pentagon demonstration in 1967, he met other filmmakers with whom he founded the Newsreel collective. We owe him key films about this generation, including Ice and Milestones. He emigrated to France in the early 1980s, where he lived until his death in 1999.
Philip Spinelli was an american filmmaker and actor. He is best known for his work in Scenes from the Class Struggle in Portugal (1977), Hovering Over the Water (1986) and Eyes of Fire (1983).
New York Cinéma Co.
Cinemateca Portuguesa - Museu do Cinema
Joana de Sousa joana.sousa@cinemateca.pt
Scanning and restoration
Digital copy available: DCP 2K encrypted, color and b&w
