Not Portuguese enough. Not Canadian enough. Just ash. A love letter to a cinema that never loved you back.

Overview

Fogo Frio is a contemplative meditation on Portuguese cinema and identity, framed by critic Justine Peres Smith’s haunting narration. Two landscapes—a Portuguese family home and Quebec’s Laurentian wilderness—merge in a dreamlike exploration of memory and artistic belonging. At its center, Lloyd burns letters in a fire, perhaps including Justine’s own words ("Dear Lloyd... Yours truly, Justine"). Their ambiguous bond mirrors the film’s tension between tradition and reinvention. Born from the director’s resistance to conventional "Portuguese cinema," Fogo Frio becomes a personal reckoning—a collaborative, improvisational work that challenges the solitary auteur myth. Through fire, silence, and stark beauty, it asks: How do we make art on our own terms?

1. Chico Peres Smith

   Director, Writer