As we toured through modern Guimarães, the founding city of Portugal, we wondered: “What stories does it have to tell?” The answer to this question came to us via the voices of four filmmakers with unique visions of cinema.

If only all omnibus films were this good! When Guimarães was the European Capital of Culture, it commissioned this luminous gathering of visionaries: Aki Kaurismäki, Pedro Costa, Victor Erice, and Manoel de Oliveira. Wry, mournful, inquisitive and comic, they delve into Portugal’s soul.