This book celebrates the 20th Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival, through a reflection on cinema, from twenty interviews and talks with twenty-six authors who have been in the festival. It intends to be, therefore, a document that discusses the changes and trends in contemporary cinema in its various mutations, calling into question the very definition of what cinema is. The result of this analysis also helps to clarify the identity of Curtas Vila do Conde in the last two decades while film festival contaminated by other art forms. The book is complemented by personal reflections on the festival by film critic Augusto M. Seabra and by American filmmaker Mike Hoolboom; finally, there is a critical history of the festival.

Interviews included: Manoel de Oliveira, Alexander Sokurov, Luc Moullet, Kenneth Anger, Ken Jacobs, Peter Tscherkassky, Gus Van Sant, Jon Jost, Mikhäil Kobakhidzé, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thom Andersen, Matthias Müller & Christoph Girardet, João Pedro Rodrigues, João Canijo, Sergei Loznitsa, Corneliu Porumboiu, José Miguel Ribeiro, Paulo Furtado, Helvécio Marins Jr., Yann Gonzalez, Louis Garrel, Bertrand Mandico & Elina Löwensohn, Basil da Cunha.