There are few places where cinema feels more at home than beside the sea. As twilight settles over the old whaling village of Lajes do Pico and the Atlantic stretches into the darkness beyond the harbor, the screen rises beneath an open sky, transforming history, landscape, and storytelling into a single shared experience. It is in this remarkable setting that Lavadias, the Azores’ distinctive open-air film festival dedicated to the sea, returns this August for its fifth edition.

Presented by MiratecArts in partnership with the Municipality of Lajes do Pico, the festival will take place from August 13 to 15 at the historic Fort of Santa Catarina, offering three evenings and eight films that celebrate humanity’s enduring relationship with water, oceans, and maritime life.

More than simply an outdoor cinema, Lavadias has established itself as one of the Region’s most original cultural events. Every film is connected, in some way, to the waters that define the Azores—whether through the sea itself, marine life, environmental themes, or the emotional and symbolic power of the ocean.

This year’s edition introduces a new nightly schedule, with screenings beginning at the distinctive hour of 9:21 p.m. Each evening opens with a carefully curated selection of short films designed to evoke tranquility, contemplation, and inner peace through striking imagery of oceans and coastlines from around the world.

Among the featured filmmakers are Judith Anketell, Martin Gerigk, Afroza Hossain Sara, Pierre Breath, and Kaushiik Subramaniam, whose works offer poetic visual meditations on the marine environments that connect cultures across continents.

The festival officially opens with “Azul,” directed by Pedro Varela, a film deeply rooted in the landscapes of the Azores, having been filmed on the islands of Faial and Pico.

Set in a near future where a year has passed since the last whale disappeared from Earth, the story follows Olívia, a determined young woman with Down syndrome and the daughter of a renowned marine biologist. Joining a group of environmental activists, she embarks on an extraordinary mission to bring whales back to the planet, blending environmental awareness with hope, imagination, and human resilience.

The second evening turns toward the child within every audience member through a program dedicated to animation.

Following “Whale Song,” the South Asian animated short by Afroza Hossain Sara, winner of the Animela Award for Best South Asian Film, audiences will enjoy the feature-length adventure “Captain Sabertooth and the Countess of Grel,” a lively animated production combining humor, nostalgia, and high-seas adventure.

Saturday’s closing program shifts toward a more mature audience with an evening dedicated to action and historical drama.

The festival concludes with “The Arctic Convoy,” the latest film by acclaimed Norwegian director Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken. Inspired by true events during the summer of 1942, the film recounts the perilous Arctic naval convoys of the Second World War, offering an intense portrayal of courage, survival, and sacrifice amid one of history’s harshest maritime theaters.

All films will be presented either in Portuguese or with Portuguese subtitles, and admission remains free, reflecting MiratecArts’ longstanding commitment to making arts and culture accessible to the wider community.

Should weather conditions make outdoor screenings impossible, the festival will relocate to the Municipal Auditorium of Lajes do Pico, ensuring that the program proceeds regardless of the Atlantic’s unpredictable moods.

The choice of the Fort of Santa Catarina as the festival’s home is particularly fitting. Once built to protect a village whose fortunes depended upon the sea, the historic fort now welcomes audiences gathered not to defend the coastline but to celebrate it through cinema. The same Atlantic that once sustained generations of sailors, fishermen, and whalers now provides the backdrop for stories that explore humanity’s enduring relationship with the world’s oceans.

In many ways, that is what makes Lavadias unique.

It is not merely a film festival with an outdoor venue. It is a festival where the setting becomes part of the narrative itself. As waves break gently below the old stone walls and stars illuminate the Pico sky above, every screening becomes inseparable from the landscape that surrounds it. Here, the sea is not simply the subject of the films—it is an active participant in the experience.

By bringing together environmental storytelling, international cinema, family entertainment, and historical drama in one of the Azores’ most evocative locations, Lavadias continues to demonstrate that cinema, like the ocean itself, has the power to connect places, cultures, and generations. For three August nights, beneath the stars of Pico, the Atlantic once again becomes both screen and storyteller.

Based on a Press Release and photos from MiratecArts.