In a session that took place at the Queluz National Palace, in Sintra, the festival's producer and director, Paulo Branco, revealed that the Canadian director will be at the opening of LEFFEST, on November 10, to present, in preview, the film "Crimes of the Future".

The festival, which ends on November 20, closes with the documentary "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed", by American director Laura Poitras, about the artist Nan Goldin, which won her the Golden Lion this year in Venice.

Laura Poitras appears as one of the guests of the festival and, according to Paulo Branco, the photographer Nan Goldin was also invited, but her presence is not yet confirmed.

Nan Goldin will be in Porto on November 28 to receive an Honoris Causa Doctorate from Universidade Lusófona.

John Malkovich

In other highlights of the LEFFEST, which will be shared by the Nimas cinema and Tivoli Theater, in Lisbon, and by the Olga Cadaval Cultural Center and MU.SA – Museu das Artes, in Sintra, the American actor and producer John Malkovich will present the show "The Infamous Ramirez Hoffman", based on texts by writer Roberto Bolaño, and there will be performances by Dino D'Santiago and saxophonist Archie Shepp.

This year, the festival proposes a reflection on prisons, with a program entitled "Breaking the Barriers".

In this context, the Olga Roriz Company will put on a show in collaboration with a group of inmates from the Linhó Prison.

Among the guests announced, with Paulo Branco stressing that they will be available for contact sessions with the public, are directors Abel Ferrara, Aleksandr Sokurov, Cristi Puiu, Darezhan Omirbayev, Stephen Frears and Jerzy Skolimowski, producer Ewa Piakowska and actors Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender.

The program, available on the festival's official website, also includes the films "Armageddon Time", by James Gray, "White Noise", by Noah Baumbach, "Decision to leave", by Park Chan Wook, "Master Gardener", by Paul Schrader, and "Nostalgia" by Mario Martone.

"Nação Valente", by Carlos Conceição, and "Vadio", the first feature film by Simão Cayatte, will also be shown at the festival.