‘18 Holes To Paradise:’ Portuguese Filmmaker João Nuno Pinto Returns With Tallinn Competition Title — First Trailer
EXCLUSIVE: João Nuno Pinto returns to feature filmmaking this year with 18 Holes To Paradise, which debuts at the upcoming Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Check out the first trailer for the film above.
The film’s synopsis reads: Set on a drought-stricken Portuguese estate, the film tells the story of landowners and staff who recount the same events from irreconcilable perspectives, revealing a fractured world on the brink of collapse.
18 Holes to Paradise is a Wonder Maria Filmes (Portugal) production, directed by João Nuno Pinto from a screenplay by Fernanda Polacow. The film stars Margarida Marinho, Beatriz Batarda, Rita Cabaço, and Jorge Andrade. Alpha Violet is repping sales.
In the film’s press notes, Pinto said 18 Holes to Paradise was “born out of a long-standing desire to reflect on the environmental catastrophe we are witnessing; not as an abstract threat, but as a daily reality.”
“Since moving to the arid Alentejo region of Portugal in 2020, I have lived side by side with a community facing drought, desertification, and the pressures of tourism and real estate speculation,” Pinto added. “I have witnessed a landscape where streams no longer fill, grass no longer grows, and the anxiety of the absence of water. This local reality echoes a global crisis.”
The film cast features Francisca Margarida Marinho, Catarina Beatriz Batarda, Susana Rita Cabaço, and Lourenço Jorge Andrade.
18 Holes To Paradise is Pinto’s first feature since Mosquito (2020), which screened at Rotterdam.
Check out the trailer above.
