How does Susana de Sousa Dias use archives in her films about Portugal's fascist regime?

She uses archival footage and police records from the fascist era to uncover suppressed truths about torture and repression.

What challenges did de Sousa Dias face accessing Portuguese archives?

Portuguese authorities made access difficult, requiring authorization from individuals in photos, a process she found 'Kafkaesque'.

How does de Sousa Dias reveal hidden meanings in fascist-era images?

She uses editing techniques and music to find and highlight details within the images that contradict the regime's intended message.

Home / Arts and Entertainment / Filmmaker Unearths Hidden Truths in Fascist Archives

Filmmaker Unearths Hidden Truths in Fascist Archives

21 Nov, 2025

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Summary

Filmmaker de Sousa Dias uses fascist regime archives to reveal suppressed history.
She discovered hidden stories of torture and repression in police records.
Editing techniques and music help expose the dictatorship's hidden narratives.

Filmmaker Unearths Hidden Truths in Fascist Archives

Portuguese filmmaker Susana de Sousa Dias is interrogating her country's fascist past through a unique use of archival materials. Inspired by Italian neorealism, she focuses on the period of dictatorship in Portugal, specifically the methods employed by António de Oliveira Salazar's regime. De Sousa Dias's films explore the extensive archives of the political police, seeking to uncover the hidden realities behind official records.

Her process involves re-examining propaganda films and photographs, juxtaposing them with testimonies from former prisoners. De Sousa Dias revealed that the official archives omit details of torture, compelling her to "fill some of these gaps" through her cinematic work. She meticulously edits images, finding "something in the image that had escaped the message that the regime wanted to convey."