CUENCA, Spain — Portugal’s “Told by Women” (“Contado por Mulheres”), an ambitious anthology of TV movies all made by first-time women filmmakers, is set for a Season 2 which raises the ante including 20 new titles as compared to the original’s 10 films.
The second season will also re-team the Portuguese producers of the original collection: public broadcaster RTP and Lisbon-based Ukbar Filmes, behind Netflix hit “Turn of the Tide.”
Now in development, “Told by Women” Season 2 will go into production this September/October, said Ukbar Filmes producer Pandora da Cunha Telles, also the first collection’s creator, talking at Spanish co-production forum Conecta Fiction on Wednesday.
Well respected international producers, such as Gudny Hummelvoll (Norway), Mariela Besuievsky (Spain), and Francesco Virga (Italy) are providing mentorship on the new projects.
Their involvement strengthens the project’s cross-border relevance and reinforces its focus on excellence and sustainability, the producers said in a press statement Tuesday.
First presented at the Berlin Film Festival, featuring entries by Diana Antunes, Anabela Moreira, Rita Barbosa and aired on primetime on RTP, the first “Told by Women” TV movie collection made a splash when released in 2023 on RTP beating the broadcast network’s same slot average ratings.
Some individual titles also sparked upbeat critical reactions, such as Sofia Teixeira Gomes’ renewed childhood friendship tale “Vizinhas” and Laura Seixas’ “Serpentina,” whose characters while trying to make a film find themselves trapped in a reality which feels like a gangster movie.
Part of Season 1’s success may be put down to its offering a fresh take on daily life in smaller city rural Portugal, Cunha Telles noted at Conecta Fiction.
Individual titles will again be around 45-52 minutes long, TV movies, not feature films, taking the pressure off directors of making a first feature, Cunha Telles added.
They will again be shot outside Lisbon in small cities of less than 100,000 inhabitants and presented in the small cities where they are shot. Productions will have two weeks of prep and two week shoots using the same crews but with a change of DP. Films are written by screenwriters who are not the directors. The 20 productions will go into production, shooting back to back four batches of five titles.
Season 2’s new directors will be “acclaimed women directors, crossing generations and creative backgrounds — from cinema and theatre to dance and advertising, Cunha Telles and RTP Program Director José Fragoso said in the press statement. They just won’t have directed a feature film to date.
“About five years ago, we decided to try to reset to a certain extent Portugal’s audiovisual environment,” Da Cunha Telles recalled at Conecta Fiction.
“The project doesn’t just create space — it fosters growth. The program also pairs these directors with experienced mentors, creating an environment for development, collaboration, and long-term impact,” Tuesday’s press statement ran.
“It also addresses the still-present gender imbalance in Portugal’s directing landscape — a gap that remains despite progress across much of Europe.
By offering real production opportunities, visibility, and support, this initiative continues to stand out for its entrepreneurial approach to inclusion and capacity-building, setting a new standard in the national industry.
And it’s also about storytelling. This new season invites audiences to rediscover Portugal through the lens of 20 unique voices — women capturing contrast, identity, and resilience in their own visual language. Each film is a contribution to a collective narrative that is bold, fresh, and deeply human.”
The TV movies are ¡supported by Portugal’s refund scheme, and could be a launch pad for a franchise format or a collection of 10 films from 10 countries, Da Cunha Telles said at Conecta Fiction.
The second Netflix original for Portugal, “Turn of the Tide,” an Azores-set drama thriller, made Netflix’s Top 10 Global non-English language charts for two weeks in 2023, has been commission for three seasons.
One of Portugal’s most active international movie co-producers, Ukbar Filmes’ credits also include Amazon Prime Video miniseries “Silent Cargo.” Variety announced out of Rio2C that Ukbar is co-producing “O Misterio do Cinco Estrelas” with Brazil’s Boutique Filmes.
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