Every summer, young Salomé leaves France for the mountainous northern climes of Portugal, where her rugged grandmother Avo instructs her in the techniques of spiritual conjuring. When the old lady, who some in the village consider a witch, suddenly dies, the family becomes increasingly divided and Salomé herself is haunted by a ghostly presence. In her feature-film debut, director Cristèle Alves Meira creates a sensitive, autobiographically-tinged tale of feminine power and self-determination within a traditional social environment in Trás-os-Montes, a region on the border with Spain – shot in her own grandmother’s village, with her own daughter, Lua Michel, in the role of Salomé to boot.

Cristèle Alves Meira – trained as an actress – began her career as a theater director. She then directed a documentary in Cape Verde, SOM & MORABEZA, and one in Angola, BORN IN LUANDA, before tackling short fiction films in Portugal: SOL BRANCO and CAMPO DE VÍBORAS, selected for the Cannes Critics’ Week, as well as her next short film, INVISÍVEL HERÓI. After that, she directed TCHAU-TCHAU, her latest short film. ALMA VIVA is her feature film debut.

Filmography: 2007 SOM & MORABEZA, 2010 BORN IN LUANDA, 2014 SOL BRANCO, 2016 CAMPO DE VÍBORAS, 2019 INVISÍVEL HERÓI, 2020 TCHAU-TCHAU (all short films), 2022 ALMA VIVA