The Portuguese-French director Ruben Alves premiered his new film, "Santo António – The Matchmaker of Lisbon", this week in cinemas. The feature film is described as a love letter to the city of Lisbon.
In the interview accompanying the news, Ruben Alves says he can still feel at home in Lisbon, but acknowledges that now it requires an effort. According to the director, before this feeling was natural, but nowadays it is no longer so.
The director considers that the film works as a "call to action", warning about the future of the Portuguese capital. Ruben Alves fears that, in a few years, "we will look back and realize it's too late, that we sold all of Lisbon's city center to foreigners and now nobody lives in this city", in a reference to the transformation the city has been undergoing with real estate pressure and tourism.
