Overthrow of Europe's last dictatorship on screen

'Capitaines d'Avril', a film on the 1974 coup that overthrew the right-wing Portuguese dictatorship will be screened at 3 pm on May 15 and 6.30 pm on May 16 at Alliance de Francaise.

Directed by Maria de Medeiros the film was selected for Un Certain Regard at the prestige Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the intimate tale of a group of soldiers who orchestrated the 1974 overthrow of Europe's last dictatorship, changing the destiny of Portugal.

Released in April 2000, the film portrays the life of Captain Salgueiro Maia who was born in 1944 and died of cancer in 1992. He was one of the Portuguese heroes of the revolution and it was he who forced the government to resign and it was in great part due to his intelligence and common sense that it was possible to have a "bloodless revolution" that ended 48 years of dictatorship. Captain Salgueiro Maia wasn't promoted (nor did he ever seek any kind of promotions or fame or power) and was for some time forgotten. Eventually he was honored with two streets in Santarém and Castelo de Vide (where he was born and where he is buried) that now bear his name. Also in Santarém stands a statue of Captain Salgueiro. In Lisbon, in Largo do Carmo, where he stood with a megaphone and his troops and hundreds of civilians crying "Victory," forcing the government to resign, there is a inscription dedicated to him written on the ground.

'Capitaines d'Avril' was the first full-length feature of, Maria de Medeiros who is well-known as a great international actress. She has also worked with Manoel de Oliveira in La Divine Comédie and starred in Teresa Villaverde's Tres Irmaos, which earned her the Best Actress prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1994. She has also starred in several French films (Des Nouvelles du Bon Dieu by Didier Le Pêcheur or Babel by Gérard Pullicino) and in the United States in 'Henry and June' by Phillip Kaufman, in which she played the role of 'Anaïs Nin'. Maria de Medeiros came to international light with her role in the cult film and 1994 Palme d'Or winner, Pulp Fiction.