Open Call FUSO Lisbon – selected works.

FUSO festival's Open Call, launched every year, is the only video art competition in Portugal that gives awards (acquisition and incentive). The festival is receiving a significant, and ever increasing, number of applications, far exceeding our expectations. This year, 193 videos were submitted. It was therefore a very difficult task to select the works that compose the program of this edition of the festival.

The themes range from the decolonial reflection that opens the program — other works address this issue, often in a metaphorical way — to the exciting return of young artists with a conceptual inspiration that does not exclude a very welcome sense of humor. Other topics, such as gender, landscape and technology, are also important subject-matters in this program.

It is worth mentioning the growing number of foreign artists producing video art in Portugal, who are therefore present in this edition.

Finally, a note about the time we live in: the autofiction films inspired by the lockdown during the pandemic are less frequent now. A sign that we are living for the 'here and now', and that art can exist as a gesture of resilience and hope.