Announcing the 2025 Luso World Cinema Blogathon

The official day has come at last! Letícia Magalhães and I are announcing the 2025 Luso World Cinema Blogathon. We are thrilled to co-host another edition, and we hope you can participate. Here’s everything you need to know about the blogathon, its subject matter, and how to sign up.

Meet Your 2025 Luso World Cinema Blogathon Co-Hosts

In 2019, Letícia Magalhães and I launched the Luso World Cinema Blogathon. We both have Lusitanic heritage, and we’re both Classic Movie Blog Association members. Letícia is a Brazilian film writer. She runs the bilingual, classic film blog Crítica Retro. Her blog’s slogan is “classic film with a tropical twist.” She aims to “bring a Portuguese-speaking perspective to [her] analysis.” As we like to slice-and-dice our ethnicities when discussing them in the US, I’m half Portuguese. I grew up hearing older generations on my mom’s side speak the language, but not pass it on. Our backgrounds motivated Letícia and I to found the blogathon.

The Subject Matter

The Luso World Cinema Blogathon is the only one to celebrate the cinematic achievements of Lusophones and their descendants. It also provides the opportunity to turn a critical eye on their portrayals. Lusophones are Portuguese language speakers. The major Portuguese speaking “nations and regions” of the world are “Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal, & São Tomé and Príncipe.” Because of exploration, trade, colonization, slavery, immigration, and intermarriage, Lusophones and their descendants can be of any race. They are found all over the world.

A Little More About Luso, Lusophones, and Lusitanic

The prefix Luso is derived from the word Lūsitānia, the Roman name for the province that encompassed much of what became Portugal. European Portuguese people embrace their historical and spiritual connection to Lūsitānia. They don’t tend to connect with the word Hispania, what the Romans called the whole Iberian Peninsula under their rule. I favor the word Lusitanic, which means of the Portuguese cultural and linguistic worlds. Lusitanics use the #Luso to connect with each other online. I like using the prefix Luso for the blogathon because I see it as welcoming a broad group of people, however they describe their identities.

2025 Luso World Cinema Blogathon Dates

The blogathon runs Thursday, June 19 through Sunday, June 22 this year.

Why the Date Change?

We changed the blogathon’s dates for a special reason. Usually, we schedule the blogathon for May 5, World Portuguese Language Day. Letícia proposed we start the blogathon on June 19th. That is Brazilian Cinema Day. By making the switch, we want to honor the historic Oscar win of AINDA ESTOU AQUI  / I’M STILL HERE (2024). Brazil had never won Best International Feature Film before, and it is the first Lusophone country to do so. France produced the only Portuguese language film to win previously, ORFEU NEGRO / BLACK ORPHEUS (1959). The Academy has never nominated any of Portugal’s submissions for the category.

Who Can Participate?

If you create content about movies, you are welcome to join the blogathon! We are looking for passionate film fans, who can commit to producing an on-topic piece. Ideally they will release it during the blogathon’s active dates. Bloggers, vloggers, and podcasters have contributed to past editions. Letícia and I are not restricting platforms. Whether you publish via a traditional blog, Substack, Medium, YouTube, Tiktok, podcast, etc, she and I will welcome your contribution!

Topic Ideas

You’re welcome to cover film creatives with Lusitanic heritage. Past participants wrote profiles or reviewed films made by their selected artists. Others focused on films featuring Lusophone characters and/or countries as settings. It’s perfectly acceptable to select a politically critical film.

Please do not repeat a subject. For example, the blogathon’s most popular performer chosen as a subject annually is Carmen Miranda. If someone has already signed up to write a profile of her or another creative, and you really want to write about them, consider reviewing one of their movies.

For anyone new to the blogathon, it may be hard to select a person to cover, especially if you live in the United States. One of the biggest, contemporary, American movie stars, Tom Hanks has Portuguese heritage, but most people don’t know that. If he had a different Latin background, such as a Hispanic or an Italian-American one, you’d probably know. Those are viewed as more marketable and known groups. Those connections end up in print. Only specialty and regional press tend to mention Lusitanics. You’re helping to close that coverage gap!

Here are some links to help you source subjects:

*Some films from these countries or regions will fit the blogathon theme, and some will not.

If you’re really stumped in choosing a topic, please reach out to Letícia or me. We’re glad to help!

How to Sign Up

Simply comment below with your name, blog name and link, and topic. If you know your desired publication date, please share that, too. Otherwise you can let us know closer to the date. Letícia and I will update our announcement posts to show participants and taken subjects.

2025 Luso World Cinema Blogathon Banners

Please use our blogathon banners on your posts and link them back to the announcement post. You’ll find a wide assortment to choose from here.

2025 Luso World Cinema Blogathon Participants

Thank you!

Obrigada for checking out what our blogathon is about, and I hope you decide to join the fun!