SONICA EKRANO is a documentary film festival dedicated to the music, musicians, sounds and movements at the edges of massification and popularity, allowing access to exceptional films portraying artists, sounds, local and global movements, which often slip through the cracks of the wide variety of audiovisual media on offer in our present day - because history is still often created away from the spotlights of the media - in the present as in the past, where these histories sometimes lay dormant for decades until their (re)discovery.
The fourth edition of the festival provides an opportunity to watch cinematic works that - even in this era of digital platforms - remain difficult to access, contributing to a greater audiovisual inclusion by considering geographical diversity and balancing historical perspectives with contemporary narratives.
The name SONICA EKRANO, which means “Sound Screen” in Esperanto, seeks to reflect music and cinema as “universal languages” while simultaneously paying tribute to the strong Esperantist tradition on both sides of the Tagus River, particularly in Barreiro and Lisbon, which will host the festival from April 11 to 19.
Over the course of 33 sessions, divided between ADAO, the Cineclube do Barreiro, and Casa do Comum, we present 23 films, eleven of which - each making its national premiere - will be part of a Competitive Section for the first time in the festival's history, with the winner being decided by the audience.
The 2025 program, which includes the competitive section, special selections, and short films (also debuting at SONICA EKRANO this year), allows us to explore several thematic threads: improvisation, the deep bonds of friendship associated with making music, the role of migrant communities and individuals, the relationship between music and (dis)ability, and dance as a form of political expression.
The opening and closing parties, concerts and listening parties also return - not that cinema isn’t, in itself, a celebration, but a festival dedicated entirely to music clearly deserves to celebrate it in communion.
May this edition be one of encounters, discoveries, and strengthened connections with Music, Art, and with Human Progress - we already know, in theory, that everything is fragile and under constant threat, but the realities of our times loudly remind us that empathy, the lessons of History, and the (re)cognition of the Other must be cultivated every single day.