Award-winning Portuguese auteur João Pedro Rodrigues (“Will-O’-the-Wisp”) is developing his next feature, the Luca Guadagnino -produced “Afonso’s Smile,” a coming-of-age story about a teenage boy who discovers his sexuality amid the upheaval of the Portuguese revolution. The director will be presenting the film during the Venice Gap-Financing Market, which runs on the Lido from Aug. 29 – 31.

“Afonso’s Smile” begins in the aftermath of Portugal’s April 1974 Revolution, as 16-year-old Afonso returns from Macau to live with his artist mother, Noémia, in Lisbon, a city still caught in the throes of post-revolutionary fervor. As the capital begins to awaken from decades of dictatorship, Afonso is stirring with his own emotional and sexual awakening.

Before long, he’s drawn into Lisbon’s cla

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