At the end of this vast Cycle, which totalled 65 different programs and the first two parts of which were screened in March and April, we presented in May a nucleus of films entirely devoted to Portuguese emigration, and, within this, especially to emigration to France in the sixties and seventies. The choice is due to the fact that, within this more general theme, this was by far the historical phenomenon that, due to its unique drama, became the object of greater cinematographic investment. As is well known, contrary to what had happened before, when emigration was controlled by the regime and a passport and travel authorization were required to go to Brazil, the colonies, Venezuela, South Africa or the United States, this immense wave of emigration to Europe was made "at large", in a clandestine manner, while the regime closed its eyes, aware that the exodus also alleviated poverty and guaranteed not inconsiderable remittances to the internal economy. Hundreds of thousands of people thus left in the most precarious way, initially for France and then spread to various other countries. In the eighties, it was estimated that the Portuguese population in France amounted to about one million people, equivalent to 10% of the population of Portugal. After the harsh "muddy years", in which mainly rural populations lived in slums, the following decades were of progressive integration, also creating a very special relationship with the destination countries and with Portugal. Unlike those who had emigrated to other continents and who, for the most part, never returned here, those who emigrated to Europe came regularly on holiday to their countries and never cut off their ties with their country of origin entirely. If a phenomenon such as the huge Portuguese emigration to Brazil in the 20th century left no cinematographic traces, in the case of emigration to France there is abundant material filmed, including by first or second generation immigrants. In this sub cycle, in which we chose to include only two works of fiction (O SALTO and GANHARA A VIDA), different stages and facets of the phenomenon will be addressed: the "years of mud"; the assimilation in the country of adoption; the regular and temporary arrivals in Portugal; the realization of the dream of having a house in the land where they were born; the disenchantment of those who return permanently and cannot reintegrate. The selection of titles is not intended to be exhaustive and has an important, involuntary gap, which we cannot fail to mention: one of the titles that we consider unavoidable, and which, moreover, the Cinemateca could present in the past - PORTUGUESE NATIONALITY, conducted in 1973 by Fernando Lopes and Nuno de Bragança among the Portuguese communities in France - is today a title of which we cannot find any copy ... and for which we just want to issue a warning about the danger of their survival. Christian de Chalonge's O SALTO is a work of which no copies are known in the original format, and which - until one can conclude a restoration that finally seems viable thanks to the collaboration of several entities - only enters the Cycle through the precious collaboration that was provided to us by the Museum of Migration and the Communities of Fafe. Almost all the films programmed are unpublished in the Cinemateca, and we call attention to the final debate, in which, among others, will be present several directors who not only approached but also lived this reality themselves.

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