Alma Viva

Cristele Alves Meira's 2022 film follows young Salome, who spends every summer in her family's village in the Portuguese mountains. This time her beloved grandmother dies suddenly; while the adults tear into each other over the funeral and the inheritance, the child keeps sensing the dead woman's presence. The film holds belief and quarrel on the same plane. In the village the grandmother was known as a healer and that standing survives her death; the family both rejects it and takes it into account. Whether what Salome sees is supernatural, the film does not decide. Alves Meira shot in the region her own family comes from and used villagers as performers. The summer heat, the sound design and the night scenes build the texture. Who it's for: those who like contemporary Portuguese cinema and narratives grounded in folk belief. Who it's not for: viewers expecting an outright genre film; the horror elements are never fully opened.