IHC researchers Pedro Aires Oliveira and Quintino Lopes were the historical consultants of the film The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, directed by João Botelho and based on the homonymous novel by José Saramago, which will open on Portuguese theatres on 1 October.

Marking the opening, the José Saramago Foundation has scheduled a series of debates and talks, including one by Quintino Lopes on September 30, where he “will talk about the research carried out from José Saramago’s preparatory materials for the novel.” In his investigation, among other sources, the IHC historian used not only José Saramago’s notes, but also newspapers, such as the Diário de Notícias and O Século, of those years (1935-36). In addition, the September issue of the digital magazine Blimunda, will include a dossier on the film and novel, as well as an interview with Quintino Lopes.

The novel The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis was first published in Portugal in 1984 and, in it, José Saramago chose as main character Ricardo Reis, the heteronym of Fernando Pessoa, who would have arrived in Lisbon in December 1935, where he settled and lived “The year of all dangers”, 1936. Now, João Botelho recovers that narrative for the big screen, in a film that features Luís Lima Barreto (Fernando Pessoa), Chico Díaz (Ricardo Reis) and Catarina Wallestein (Lídia) as protagonists.