Laura Gama Martins
Editing
Biography
Laura Gama Martins has dedicated herself to independent cinema, as editor, art director and director. She has collaborated with directors such as David Pinheiro Vicente, Helena Estrela, Leonardo Mouramateus, Afonso Mota, Duarte Coimbra and Ricardo Branco. Her esteem for human reality and her desire to develop different artistic practices and their interconnections through the body and its movement, have driven her involvement, through creation and collaboration, in various film projects, but also in performance, theatre, dance and writing. Laura studied Cinema at the Cinema School in Lisbon, specialising in Editing, and she post-graduated in Aesthetics and Artistic Studies. Currently Laura also programmes and produces segundas na z: weekly events that take place every monday night, in Galeria Zé dos Bois, in Lisbon; always proposing a different occupation of its space. This occupation translates into a series of artistic and interdisciplinary events, of a more or less experimental nature. Laura programmed two cinema programmes: gestos (2021) and Invisíveis são os Desejos (2022), at Galeria Zé dos Bois, in Lisbon.
Known For
Three Portuguese queer short films brought together in a program that charts an alternative path through converging universes, forming a new constellation of desires, fears, and struggles. Entre a Luz e o Nada by Joana de Sousa, Sob Influência by Ricardo Branco, and Uma Rapariga Imaterial by André Godinho are three cinematic gestures that explore techniques and narratives from science fiction to horror, seeking new ways to view and imagine other possibilities. After traveling through various festivals, these films can now be experienced together, in a mutual exploration of mysterious worlds, unsettling dreams, and singular visions.
UFO’s, Monsters and Utopias: Three Queer Shorts
Gonçalo and his friends set off on a mission to his deceased grandfather’s house, in the north of Portugal. There, the memories of the past open up new perspectives into the future.
O Filme Feliz :)
It’s summer, a boy and his friends go to the river. On the ride there, a story is told about a man and his pet snake that tried to eat him. The boy falls from a tree trunk and gets hurt. A girl follows him. A couple kiss each other, another boy explores the woods and a third one just lays by a tree eating a peach. In four chapters, the heat and the humidity of the forest unravel desires among them.
Where the Summer Goes (Chapters on Youth)
In the year 74 BC, Titus Lucretius Carus, a young man with bold ideas, tries to convince his friend Memio that moving to the city of Rome to study is a total waste of time. Years later, Lucretius returns from the capital. Trying to find a balance between his explanations of the natural world and his emotional experience of it, Lucretius lives a deep and troubled passion with his foreign wife Isa.
Rain Hums a Lullaby to Pain
Edgar is preparing for another show as transformist when faced with her son's arrival, Lawrence. Seeing him in a place that until then he didn't know, Edgar questions about the position to take: family or spectacle. The two worlds seem incompatible, but something changes in their relationship.
Camarim
The apparition of a bloodstain reaffirms the relentless cycle of life, filmed in all its fragility and complexity.
The Lamb of God
Accompanied by two botanical guides, a group of hikers embarks on a journey through the enchanting landscapes of Arrábida Natural Park. As they traverse the park's diverse flora and fauna, they uncover evidence of a troubling transformation: rather than the work of nature, it becomes clear that human intervention is reshaping this once-pristine environment.
The Moving Garden
Twenty years ago, believing she was doomed, Irma took a trip to Greece. Today, she retraces that journey, accompanied by three young men. From island to island, between sky and sea, the travelers read, listen and live, carried by a longing for beauty and clarity.
Fuck the Polis
Laura is on a vacation with her friends for the weekend in a luxurious and isolated house. The group decide to do a hallucinogenic drug and seem to become absorbed by their nature surroundings. However, after a strange encounter at night, Laura is having trouble facing reality.
Under the Influence
He comes home in tears. She cooks dinner disregarding the distance that has permeated their existence. But they aren’t ready to give up on trying to bridge it. Perhaps they can meet halfway.
Late in the Evening
It’s summer and it feels like everything is melting. The body melts in sweat and the afternoon fades into endless nights. Weird dreams invade Shade’s sleep and unexplainable lights appear in the sky. Between work, home and friends, Shade seems to be floating. They are in suspension, in an intermediate state in which the reality of the world does not sustain itself.
Between Light and Nowhere
A bronze figure declares his love to a woman, Isabel. Isabel recognises her inability to reciprocate this feeling and to surrender to this relationship. This story is staged by a Third Person, in a closed room with no time, in an atmosphere of urgent search for perfection in the performances of the two interpreters. The Third Person is, in turn, observed by a Fourth Person.
Um quarto de bronze
Miguel is 9 years old and obsessed with singer Mariah Carey. He goes to a Catholic school and one day his class is challenged by the nuns to sell calendars of the Virgin Mary. When he finds out that he won't be able to keep the profits from the calendar sales like he thought, he decides to take action. Like some kind of miracle, his favorite singer is going to perform in his hometown.