The film “Ariel”, by Spanish director Lois Patiño, inspired by a work by William Shakespeare and shot in the Azores, is being released today in Portuguese cinemas.
© Getty Images/Jens Kalaene
13/08/2026
by
Lusa
“ Ariel”, which had a world premiere in 2025 at the Rotterdam Film Festival in the Netherlands, is a coproduction between Spain and Portugal, with Bando a Parte, and was run on the Faial and Pico islands.
The project of the film arose “from the desire to explore Shakespeare’s ‘The Storm’, from the perspective of Ariel’s character – the spirit of the air – but gradually opened up to the rest of the author’s work, to reflect on how and from where poetry, humanity and the depth of Shakespeare’s texts can challenge us today”, according to Lois Patiño’s note of intent.
In “Ariel” there is an Argentine actress who arrives in the Azores to perform in the play “The Storm”, by the English playwright, along with the Flying Galician company.
“ But upon arriving on the island, after a strange event on the ferry where he was travelling, he begins to observe unique behavior in the inhabitants. The appearance of a girl, Ariel, will guide her through that strange place, where the real and the imaginary, the dreamy and the spectral, seem to merge into an ambiguous space ", reads in the synopsis.
Before arriving at Portuguese cinemas, “Ariel” has been shown at several festivals, including Buenos Aires, Barcelona and London.
“Ariel” has interpretations by Agustina Muñoz and Irene Escolare, and is the latest feature film by director Lois Patiño who, as the official biography refers, is part of a new generation of Galician filmmakers, along with Oliver Laxe, Diana Toucedo or Jaione Camborda.
Before “Ariel”, Lois Patiño and screenwriter Matias Piñeiro were in an artistic residence at ARQUIPÉLAGO – Centro de Artes Contemporâneas, in São Miguel, where they shot the short film “Sycorax” (2021), premiered in Cannes and also linked to Shakespeare’s “Tempest”.