Sofia Franco

Zé Maria Magalhães is an innocent young man who, suddenly, sees his dreams and family destroyed by a man's greed: Miguel Ferreira da Fonseca, a powerful banker. For 15 years, Zé Maria is forced to remain hidden, in a life of lies, in another country, imprisoned by the memories of the past, having to assume a new identity. Today, he is a great farmer, owner of the Ouro Verde empire, known as Jorge Monforte, and has become one of the richest men in Brazil. The course of time only fueled his desire for revenge, making him lose the sense of right and wrong and the ability to love. Fifteen years later, he returns to Portugal, ready to avenge the past and destroy Miguel Ferreira da Fonseca.

In a Lisbon techno club, Abdul, an immigrant worker on his very first shift, is on a video call with his wife Aliyah, who is going into labor and urging him to be present, while his new boss Maria desperately calls for his help. Caught between work’s demands and his son’s birth, Abdul grapples with the fear of losing his job and the challenge of becoming a father from afar, and fights with his strict father-in-law for his right to perform the sacred tradition of reciting the Adhan for his newborn son. The film Prayer, which explores the intersection of tradition, fatherhood, and the struggles of undocumented immigrant labor, is based on the autobiographical story of its screenwriter, Deo Mahameru. The project was created as a student film within the KinoEyes Joint European Film Masters at Lusofona University in Lisbon.