{"id":32509,"date":"2026-08-08T13:11:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32509"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:11:28","slug":"locarno-2026-film-interview-on-asphalt-guerrilla-ai-radicalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32509","title":{"rendered":"Locarno 2026 Film Interview on &#8216;Asphalt Guerrilla,&#8217; AI, Radicalism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tReal history, fiction and AI blend together for a look at a former radical far-left underground armed organization in Portugal in the new film from auteur Edgar P\u00eara (<em>Telepathic Letters<\/em>, <em>Manual of Evasion LX94<\/em>), <em>Asphalt Guerrilla<\/em> (<em>Guerrilha no Asfalto<\/em>). The movie marks the Portuguese writer-director\u2019s return to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/2026-locarno-film-festival-program-unveiled-hong-sang-soo-1236641562\/\">Locarno Film Festival<\/a>\u00a0in Switzerland, where it will world premiere in the Out of Competition program during its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/locarno-2026-films-pardi-di-domani-open-doors-screenings-1236634144\/\">79<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0edition<\/a> on Monday, Aug. 10.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe militant group that the film revisits is the FP-25, short for For\u00e7as Populares 25 de Abril, or Popular Forces 25th of April, which was active between 1980 and 1987. It carried out dozens of bombings, shootings and bank robberies. The film is based on the\u00a0eponymous book\u00a0by Manuel Ricardo de Sousa, a member who ended up being lynched by a mob in the aftermath of a bank robbery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tBut there is also a meta level to the movie. \u201cIt\u2019s also about trying to make a film that ought to be shot in a guerrilla mode, with no compromises with the system,\u201d notes the Locarno website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tA synopsis teases the mind-bending quality of the movie by describing it as \u201ca fictional film rooted in reality about a utopian time in Portuguese democracy.\u201d And it continues: \u201cSet in the early \u201980s, it begins with a quiet student who becomes involved in a radical organization and ends up being shot and lynched by the mob in the aftermath of a bank robbery. Throughout the film, we witness the sometimes comical, sometimes tragic problems of these \u2018asphalt\u00a0guerrillas\u2019 fighting against the system; at the same time, the director of the film quits the organization in order to fight to make films in a guerrilla mode.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:969px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((545\/969)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Asphalt-Guerrilla-film-still-2-Bando-a-Parte-H-2026.jpg?w=969\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"545\" width=\"969\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"a-font-secondary-s lrv-u-margin-r-025\">\u2018Asphalt Guerrilla,\u2019 courtesy of Bando \u00e0 Parte <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tP\u00eara wrote the screenplay with Rodrigo Areias, and the voices of P\u00eara and Albano Jer\u00f3nimo feature in <em>Asphalt Guerrilla<\/em>. Jorge Quintela is the cinematographer, while Jo\u00e3o Mora is the editor. The cast features Miguel Moreira, Maria Leite, Ivo Arroja, Jer\u00f3nimo, Bernardo Santo Tirso and Luke Eberl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tP\u00eara talked to <em>THR<\/em> about <em>Asphalt Guerrilla<\/em>, what inspired it and what it says about his latest take on the use of AI in filmmaking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cThere are many films in this film,\u201d P\u00eara highlights. \u201cThe very beginning was this book, which I read in the \u201990s and basically shows a very amateurish group of guerrilla men or terrorists, depending on your point of view, but it gradually transforms into a film about my own guerrilla [film] scene, mainly because my friend and producer Rodrigo Areias made me do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIndeed, P\u00eara started making an underground name for himself in the mid-1980s with his avant-garde style as a \u201cneuro-punk\u201d filmmaker associated with DIY counterculture and the Portuguese music scene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cI would never pitch a film about me, including an autobiography, but I really understood that Rodrigo proposed it,\u201d he tells <em>THR<\/em>. \u201cI told him that I wanted the film to be about the future, not about the past, not about the \u201980s and the problems we had back then in Portugal, but about this society and the state of cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIf you are watching the film and can\u2019t quite tell which parts are real and which ones are fictional, P\u00eara won\u2019t mind. \u201cThis fusion, or blur, of fiction and reality is something that I like, but it\u2019s also something that I must fight against,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo the film is also a mirror of what\u2019s happening, where you sometimes don\u2019t really know what\u2019s real.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:969px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((545\/969)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Asphalt-Guerrilla-film-still-3-Bando-a-Parte-H-2026.webp?w=969\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"545\" width=\"969\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"a-font-secondary-s lrv-u-margin-r-025\">\u2018Asphalt Guerrilla,\u2019 courtesy of Bando \u00e0 Parte <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tDoes he really feel like a film guerilla? \u201cActually, when I was in my 30s, there was this producer who called me the Sniper,\u201d P\u00eara tells <em>THR<\/em>. \u201cI think he said that with respect. I think I have that respect from other filmmakers of my country because I never tried to do anything that was not myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAs the filmmaker did in his 2024 Locarno film <em>Telepathic Letters<\/em>\u00a0(<em>Cartas Telep\u00e1ticas<\/em>), <em>Asphalt Guerrilla<\/em> uses AI images. \u201cI always try to leave some clues for what is AI-made,\u201d he highlights. \u201cBut there are moments where, to show the danger of AI, you have to behave like a dangerous AI, which is why this film has moments [referencing] what worries me most, news becoming fabricated. And actually, the worst part is that AI also gets the most fun part of creating, such as [people] asking AI to write prompts.\u201d Concludes P\u00eara: \u201cSo I try to fight all of that and create my own prompts and create my own algorithm. If you leave things to the YouTube algorithm, you know what you get.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAdded the auteur: \u201cYou have to make at least a playlist so that you\u2019re not invaded by this ultra commercial thing. That\u2019s my fight inside of AI to create some images that are original in the way that they are recombinations of things that already exist. That\u2019s what every artist does.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tHow does that fit into P\u00eara\u2019s early neuro-punk days? \u201cI was always interested in the effects of cinema on the minds of people and how the mind works,\u201d he tells <em>THR<\/em>. \u201cNeuro-punk was meant to say that we have to fight things with ideas, not with violence. So, cameras are weapons. Make films, not violence.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:969px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((545\/969)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Asphalt-Guerrilla-film-still-4-Bando-a-Parte-H-2026.webp?w=969\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"545\" width=\"969\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"a-font-secondary-s lrv-u-margin-r-025\">\u2018Asphalt Guerrilla,\u2019 courtesy of Bando \u00e0 Parte <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe auteur didn\u2019t necessarily know how timely his film would feel in a time full of wars, a rise in political and other radicalism and, of course, AI when he first started conceiving it. \u201cI think it\u2019s not a coincidence. It\u2019s a synchronicity,\u201d he offers. \u201cBut even when we think times are okay, we have lots of things that worry us. Now, we are in the worst of times, as they say. But even in the best of times, there\u2019s still exploitation, people dying and all that. So yes, I think it\u2019s a timely moment to go to the roots of the problems and not only focus on radicalism. I think radicalism is a symptom; it\u2019s not the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tHe sees the underlying issue this way: \u201cRadicalism is a symptom of the decay of our system. I\u2019m not an expert, but I feel that it\u2019s not the radicalist we have to fight because that means [we are] becoming another radical. So that\u2019s a trap. Instead, let\u2019s talk about what makes our planet worse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tP\u00eara is working on another movie, which will keep speaking out about worries he has. It\u2019s called <em>The Spiral of Fear,<\/em> and it\u2019s about \u201cbig tech and what media says about the masters and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real history, fiction and AI blend together for a look at a former radical far-left underground armed organization in Portugal in the new film from auteur Edgar P\u00eara (Telepathic Letters, Manual of Evasion LX94), Asphalt Guerrilla (Guerrilha no Asfalto). The movie marks the Portuguese writer-director\u2019s return to the Locarno Film Festival\u00a0in Switzerland, where it will&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Asphalt-Guerrilla-film-still-1-Bando-a-Parte-H-2026.webp?w=969&h=545&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}