Integrated into the birth centenary commemorations of the former Prime Minister and President of the Republic, the film series Mário Soares -- A Man of Culture will take place between Thursday and Saturday at the Arts and Entertainment Center (CAE) and at the Figueira da Foz Image Barracks, in the district of Coimbra, curated by Mário Barroso and presented by Abílio Hernández at all sessions.

The program begins on Thursday, at 9:30 pm, in the CAE's João César Monteiro auditorium, with the screening of "My Night at Maud's", by Éric Rohmer (1969).

It continues on Friday, at the same place and time, with "Breathless" (1960), by Jean-Luc Godard, a masterpiece of French New Wave cinema, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.

On Saturday, at the Image Barracks, at 3:00 pm, the film "Stolen Kisses" (directed by François Truffaut, in 1968) will be shown and at 6:00 pm, again in the João César Monteiro auditorium, the series Mário Soares - A Man of Culture ends with the screening of "Changing Life" (1966), by Paulo Rocha, starring Maria Barroso.

Although the reason for choosing these four specific films has yet to be explained -- the Lusa agency was unable to hear from the curator of the series, Mário Barroso, who is absent in Paris - the university professor and writer Abílio Hernández, who will be in charge of the comments on the cinematographic works, highlighted their importance within the so-called French New Wave of the late 1950s and 1960s, which later spread to the rest of Europe and South America.

"'Breathless' is a film-emblem of this new French wave and the director is too. 'My Night at Maud's' is lateral, it is by a director who has always been a bit on the sidelines of his companions' activity, Eric Rohmer has always been a bit of an isolated man", he explained.

Rohmer, according to Abílio Hernández, was Catholic, which separated him from his fellow new wavers, and this condition, he added, is noticeable in this film (considered an erotic-philosophical tale), namely in the struggle of the main character, played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, "between desire and duty, the idea of sin".

Also a connoisseur and specialist in cinema, Abílio Hernández also highlighted "Changing Life" as a pivotal film in the new Portuguese cinema, by Paulo Rocha, "one of its main directors".

About the protagonist of "Changing Life" -- Maria Barroso, Mário Soares' wife -- Abílio Hernández recalled that she was an actress "mainly in theater", remembering her performance in a play, in Coimbra, at the Avenida theater, in the 1960s.

"The Avenida was completely full and, at that time, before the works, it had a capacity of around a thousand people, it was an extraordinary room. And I remember that session, not only because of Maria Barroso, but also because there were dozens of PIDE agents", he stressed.

"The show had passed through censorship, but the fact is that Maria Barroso was a prominent figure in the democratic opposition to the regime and that was a special session", noted the full professor at the University of Coimbra.

Returning to cinema, the presenter "with great pleasure" of the initiative dedicated to Mário Soares, considered the set of four films as "an excellent series", although he admitted not knowing the eventual cinephile condition of the honoree.

"The truth is that he spent a good part of his exile in Paris. And Paris was, precisely, at the center of this new wave, it was for many years the cultural capital of the world", observed Abílio Hernández.

The film series Mário Soares -- A Man of Culture has free admission, upon collection of tickets at the CAE box office in Figueira da Foz.

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