Lisbon is holding the 12th edition of its international cinema festival DocLisboa in October, with the focus this year on Dutch filmmaker Johan Van Der Keuken, Neorealism and New Realism.
The DocLisboa program will feature films by Van Der Keuken including "Amsterdam Global Village" (1996) or the "North-South Trilogy" that includes "Diary" (1972), "The White Castle" (1973) and "The New Ice Age" (1974).
Regarding the retrospective of Neorealism and new Realism, the festival screens films by Italian directors including Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Carlo Lizzani and Francesco Maselli.
Countries exhibiting their films include England, China, Philippines and Iran.
Cintia Gil, one of the festival's organizers, told Xinhua the contemporary films selected from different regions are mainly based on "sociopolitical issues, with a focus on the community and poetic constructions built from those realities."
She said the festival chose filmmaker Van der Keuken this year because he "dedicated himself to the diverse problems and constructed an interesting work because of his both local and global eye."
Around 25,000 spectators attended in 2013 compared with 30,000 in 2011. Despite the fall in attendees, which has been attributed to the financial crisis, Cintia Gil says this isn't a concern for the festival's organizers.
"The number of people who attended last year is still extraordinary and reflects that we have a very aware and critical society," she said.
She also pointed out that DocLisboa is Portugal's only documentary festival and has been recognized internationally, having become a member of the prestigious organization Doc Alliance in January 2013.
"DocLisboa was created at a time when there was no funding, it was associated with television with none of its own rights. DocLisboa changed that."
She said the festival was "comprehensive" as well as "coherent and rigorous."
She highlights that the festival encourages debates and is a place for people to "think about the world and communicate with others."
The event this year will take place from 16 to 26 October.