The winners of the Arché awards, Apordoc's project development laboratory supported by the Ibermedia program, have been announced.

The Arché jury - made up of Catarina Mourão, Clémentine Mourão-Ferreira and Juan Pablo Bastarrachea - distinguished two of the twelve projects in this year's competition: 'Ruído', by Juan Pablo Polanco and 'A Terra das Viúvas dos Vivos', by Melanie Pereira.

A Terra das Viúvas dos Vivos, by Melanie Pereira, was awarded the Portuguese Catholic University's School of the Arts - Special Jury Prize for Best Arché Project in the Writing or Development Phase, worth €2,500.

The same film also won the #LINK Encuentro Iberoamericano de Cine Documental Award for Best Portuguese Arché Project in the Writing or Development Phase and the Impronta Award for Best Arché Project or Guest Country in the Writing or Development Phase.

Every year, the Escola das Artes associates itself with the main Portuguese film festivals as a way of supporting the development of Portuguese cinema and broadening the reach of the films presented there.

Director: Melanie Pereira

Production: Pedro Neves
Producer: Red Desert Films
Country of Production: Portugal
Estimated running time: 90'

Synopsis: In the Land of the Widows of the Living, it is in the women's blood to survive in a territory where poverty and emigration are omnipresent, and the relationship with nature is sometimes complicit and sometimes tense.