The workshop will be conducted in both Portuguese and English, welcoming participants from diverse linguistic backgrounds. Over the course of the residency, participants will work with 16mm film and use natural materials harvested from Casa do Xisto’s “Cinematographic Garden” and its surroundings to develop their images. Alchemical processes will be at the heart of the experience: developers will be made from coffee, vitamin C, and baking soda, while other chemicals may include hydrogen peroxide and vinegar or acetic acid—with lemon juice offered as a natural alternative to citric acid. Hybrid techniques will also be explored, such as creating negatives using a coffee-based developer and then printing positives using a mint-based developer, yielding distinct tonalities.

The residency will culminate on the evening of July 16 with an open-air public screening and closing celebration in Casa do Xisto’s Garden-Cinema, in partnership with Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival. This collaboration, which began in 2022, integrates the residency into the festival’s official programme and offers full accreditation to participants, granting access to all festival screenings and events from July 12 to 20, 2025. The festival also provides logistical support for the guests’ travel and participation in the residency’s final showcase.

The 16mm Immersive Lab had nine participants, selected through an open call, from different places, from Los Angeles, in the United States, Romania to Portugal: Lisbon, Trás-os-Montes, Porto, Viseu and locally, neighboring villages Barcelos municipality. With the final result of eighteen short films with a free theme influenced by nature and the region where the initiative is located. Nine black and white films, with a developer based on coffee, caffenol, guided by Ricardo Leite, and nine colour films, Ektachrome by Kodak, developed using the traditional process that uses tetenal chemical developer, guided by Steve Cossman of MONO NO AWARE, NY. 

The films were shown primarily at Casa do Xisto for participants, guests and friends, open to neighbors, residents of the village of Macieira de Rates. We received a visit from the artists and director of Doc’s Kingdom, Nuno Lisboa, who in the end invited a participating artist, Juliana Julieta, from the neighboring village of Courel, to do the Naomi Uman workshop, also in 16mm during the artist residency at Doc’s Kingdom. 

Filmes do Xisto opened Doc’s Kingdom 2021, on October 1st in Arcos de Valdevez, on the program “A Vez do Cinema”. They were also presented at Porto Post Doc 2021, at Industry Screenings. 

The initiative has the financial support of the Instituto de Cinema e Audiovisual Português – ICA, the Municipality of Barcelos, Kodak and has MONO NO AWARE as an international partner.