Key topics such as wildfires, disability, and housing will take centre stage, the organisers announced.

The event—which offers free admission and includes interpretation in Portuguese Sign Language—will take place from 12 November to 14 at the Convento São Francisco. This edition marks the 50th anniversary of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, highlighted by a concert-discussion titled “Article by Article” (“Artigo por Artigo”), featuring singer Selma Uamusse and actress Cláudia Semedo on the festival’s final day.

“It promises to be an intimate performance exploring what this historic document pledged, and what remains to be fulfilled,” the production team stated in a press release sent to the Lusa news agency.

Co-produced by the Isonomia Association, the Municipality of Coimbra, and the Convento São Francisco, the festival also includes an exhibition dedicated to the anniversary of Portugal’s foundational law.

Titled “Our Constitution Is the Most Beautiful in the World” (“A Nossa Constituição É a Mais Bonita do Mundo”), the exhibition is an artistic and photographic project by Central Models. It features models, artists, and athletes as the protagonists of the Constitution’s key articles—an approach the organisers describe as “a new way of thinking about citizenship.”

Voting in the European Parliament is the focus of another exhibition, titled “Parliamentary Constellations” (“Constelações Parlamentares”), by João Bernardo Narciso. The work is “built from maps that aggregate thousands of European Parliament votes to provide a visual interpretation of power relations on a European scale.”

The Festival Política begins on 12 November. Among other initiatives, it will feature a comedy show titled “LIVRE MENTE” (“Free Mind”), starring the drag queen Sincera Mente—a well-known figure on Portuguese social media—who reflects “on her own free will and on the times when the choices she made were anything but beneficial.” On the 13th—a Friday—at 6:00 pm, the ‘Welcome Centre’ at Convento São Francisco will host a collective listening session for the podcast “País de Incendiários” (“Land of Arsonists”), produced by the magazine “Divergente,” followed by a conversation with journalist Sofia da Palma Rodrigues.

“Portugal is the European Union country with the largest area affected by wildfires, with arson being one of the primary causes. This session seeks to explore these causes and highlight specific cases that have shaped the country’s recent history.”

On the same day, at 9:30 pm in the main auditorium, Emmy Curl will present a performance created specifically for the Festival Política (Politics Festival), titled “Solarpunk – A Pastoral of a Regenerative Future.” In it, the Portuguese artist reflects on the connection between love for one’s homeland and love for nature, envisioning a future where resource management and environmental policy are geared toward regenerating the planet.

On 14 November, the final day of the festival, the program begins at 3:00 pm in the foyer of the Convento São Francisco with a workshop titled “Civic and Activist Participation of People with Disabilities in Coimbra.” The session will be led by psychologist and activist Inês Simões, a recipient of a grant awarded by the Festival Política to young artists, creators, and activists.

Also on the 14th, at 3:30 pm in the café-concert venue, the project A Música Portuguesa a Gostar Dela Própria (“Portuguese Music Appreciating Itself”) will present “Eu Fui ao Mar às Laranjas” (“I Went to the Sea for Oranges”). This initiative documents and shares traditional knowledge through field recordings that highlight the ethnographic character of each location.

Throughout the three-day Festival Política, 14 films will be screened across five sessions. The first session, taking place on the 12th at 7:00 pm, centres on the “Right to the City” and features four short films that explore the experiences of migrant communities—from Brazil to Bangladesh—as well as issues surrounding housing.

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