This documentary follows a few decisive days in the lives of two teenagers by the time of high school final exams, filmed at Santa Maria Maior High School in Viana do Castelo. It is a sincere portrait of doubts and anguishes typical of a future whose close destiny is about to be played, of the routines and minutiaes that help to pass time while thinking about what is still going to happen. It is also a reflex of a troubled period of transition into adulthood, in which students are conditioned to think in terms such as “employability” and hear sentences such as “we cannot think we are special, we have to think we are essential.” However, among them, they speak with fear about an “empty future.” Based on a naturalist, direct and unadorned approach, but full of compassion for its characters, 18 closely follows two friends who are not sure what that future is going to be or how their friendship will survive if they end up studying in different cities. This is the debut of Rui Esperança in the National Competition, after having been at the Take One! Competition in 2014 with another documentary, “Tudo vai sem se dizer”. (JA)