Ashore

Winner of the Golden Bear for best short film at the 2016 Berlinale with Balada de um Batráquio, the Portuguese filmmaker Leonor Teles chose to return to her hometown of Vila Franca de Xira, near Lisbon, to shoot her debut feature.

 

Ashore portrays a year in the life of fisherman Albertino Lobo, whose days are divided between the quiet solitude of the Tagus, where he laboriously harvests shrimp and clams, and the family that anchors him. Teles’ cinematography captures difficult moments with care, such as wedding plans that become cause for material worry when Albertino is hit by a fishing ban, to deliver a sensitive portrait without grand gestures.