The Heritales Heritage Film Festival, now in its sixth edition and dedicated to the theme of peace, is planning several sessions focused on films that explore the reasons and causes of conflict. On November 20th, the festival will promote a session in collaboration with the Public History department at the University of Évora to discuss the challenges of conflict. The aim is to examine the various causes of conflict at local, national, and international levels, and to highlight the social issues associated with war and conflict, which ultimately lead to losses for all affected communities.
The Heritales festival program features a selection of animated films that question war and highlight a range of issues present in numerous international conflicts. The screening will be followed by an debate at the so called open classroom session, led by Mafalda Soares da Cunha, head of the Public History department at the University of Évora, along with María Zozaya from CIDEHUS-UÉ serving as mediators. During this session, they will explore conflicts from both collective and individual perspectives, address their causes, discuss the victims who suffer as a result, examine gender differences, and delve into various dimensions that raise questions about the sensory and emotional aspects of political conflicts.
The session deals with “War and conflict. People and causes across the board”, based on Heritales animated short films’.
Date: 20 November 2025. 6pm to 8pm.
Venue: University of Évora, CES: Colégio do Espírito Santo, room 134.
Free entrance to the projections and debate.
PART I- THE WAR

Last Call: Indian Son
Vyacheslav Slavik Bihun, Ukraine, 0’60”
Key Words: war effects, societal organisation, families-individuals, emotions, feelings
We Are All Watching! Ceasfire now,
Abdoo Eladly, Russian Federation, 01′

Key Words: war effects, societal organisation, families-individuals, emotions, feelings

Up to the sea she weaves a dream
Maryam Khalilzadeh, Islamic Republic of Iran, 08′
Key Words: war effects, gender, families and societal organization, emotions, feelings.
Maki Argosino Liwanag, Philippines, 09′

Key Words: subaltern, individuals, minorities, economic mafias, non democratic regimes
DEBATE OF PART I, WARS
With María Zozaya (CIDEHUS-UÉ) & Mafalda Soares da Cunha (CIDEHUS-UÉ)

PART II- CHANGE AND HOPE

Merve Cirisoglu, United Kingdom, 08’30”
Key Words: gender, emotions, subaltern, violence, collaboration
JEON Youngchan, United States, 05’27”

Key Words: symbolic violence, representation of community, emotions, union.
- Invited Short Film from the National Museum of Archaeology (Spain):
Mothers that sang the war (Exhibition at MAN), 01’42”

Thiago Martins de Melo, Brazil, 13’50”
Key Words: Legends, dead, spirits, wars, symbolic world, Beliefs, History.
Amir Shakiba Esmaeili, Islamic Republic of Iran, 01’40”

Key Words: War attitude, peace, play and games, values, individual & personal choices.
SUMMARY OF THE SESSION
PART I- THE WAR (33 mins + debate)
Last Call: Indian Son (Vyacheslav Slavik Bihun), Ukraine, 0’60”
We Are All Watching! Cease fire now, (Abdoo Eladly) Russian Federation, 01′
Up to the sea she weaves a dream (Maryam Khalilzadeh), Islamic Republic of Iran, 08′
Max’s Dream, (Maki Argosino Liwanag) Philippines, 09′
The Black Pomegranate (Ali Zare Ghanatnowi) France /Iran, 14’17”
PART II- CHANGE AND HOPE (30 mins)
The Silent Route (Merve Cirisoglu), United Kingdom, 08’30”
Statue (JEON Youngchan), United States, 05’27”
Mothers that sung the war *Spain guest, MAN, 01’42”
Rasga Mortalha (Thiago Martins de Melo), Brazil, 13’50”
The Dream Of A Blue Planet (Amir Shakiba Esmaeili), Islamic Republic of Iran, 01’40”
DEBATE
After watching short films that critique various aspects of war from five different continents, the session will include a debate about the interconnected causes and consequences of conflicts, particularly regarding victims and collateral damage. The discussion will address women’s issues, the relationship between individuals and communities, perceptions of others, and the emotional and sensory dimensions of these experiences. The focus will be on the severe impacts of war and conflict, with the aim of promoting the ideals of peace.
Programming: María Zozaya. Session on war and conflict based on a selection of animated short films competing in the Heritales International Heritage Festival, 2025/2026 edition, with a guest short film from the National Archaeological Museum of Spain (MAN).
Organisation: Heritales Heritage Festival, University of Évora and BRIDGES (PLANAPP-FCT).
Coordinators:
María Zozaya (Heritales co-director & Principal Researcher at CIDEHUS-UÉ) and
María Zozaya-Montes
FCT Principal Researcher at CIDEHUS-Univ. Évora
María Zozaya-Montes holds a Doctor Europeus degree in History from the Complutense University of Madrid, where she received several awards (Bachelor’s and Doctorate), besides the Social History AHS and PVM awards. Specialising in elites, spaces of sociability and material culture, she is the author of five books. She has written several articles on the phenomenon of Napoleonic PoWs during the Peninsular War (1808-1814), attacks on people and symbolic violence against objects in the de 1854 revolution, or against sculptures, and her current study of the role played by material culture in creating political cultures and nationalisation processes.
Mafalda Soares da Cunha

PhD Mafalda Soares da Cunha, Auxiliary teacher in the Department of History at ECS, University of Évora, and member of CIDEHUS – in the research group Actors, Powers and Social Change. Among her work on collective violence, she coordinates the European project RESISTANCE. Rebellion And Resistance In The Iberian Empires, 16th-19th Centuries (778076-H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017), and the coordination of the book Resistências: Insubmissão e Revolta no Império Português, 16th-19th Cents. Alfragide, 2021.
CREDITS
-Short animated film session at the Heritales International Heritage Festival on the theme of war. Heritales film festival counts with the partnership of UNESCO Chair on Education of Global Peace (Universidade de Lisboa).
The format is an open lecture-debate at the University of Évora, in the context of the “Public History” course, organised with Dr. Mafalda Soares da Cunha.
-This session is runned in connection with the BRIDGES project dedicated to ‘BRIDGES- Cultural Inclusion to Achieve a More Democratic Society’ granted by PLANAPP-FCT, Science for Policy (S4P 25) , for which voluntary surveys/forms will be requested (more information coming soon on the website: https://bridges.hypotheses.org/).
-Session with the support of CIDEHUS (Interdisciplinary Centre for History, Cultures and Society) at University of Évora, which is supported by the FCT project: UID/00057/2025, DOI https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/00057/2025 .
-This activity integrates the project «Seeking Political Culture in collective life: sociability, emotions, memories, material culture, relationships of fraternity and violence. The informal implementation of the Liberalism System in Portugal (1807-1930s)» PR Dr. Maria Zozaya- Montes. DOI: 10.54499/2023.06129.CEECIND/CP2849/CT0006

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CRÉDITOS
Autora: María Zozaya-Montes é Investigadora Principal FCT no CIDEHUS da Universidade de Évora (CIDEHUS UID/00057/2025, DOI https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/00057/2025), é responsável pelo projeto «Seeking Political Culture in collective life» DOI 10.54499/2023.06129.CEECIND/CP2849/CT0006). É investigadora responsável do projeto Ponte Cultural – Promover a Inclusão Cultural Para Conseguir uma Sociedade mais democrática – BRIDGES (PLANAPP-FCT).
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OpenEdition le sugiere que cite este post de la siguiente manera:
Maria Zozaya-Montes (15 de noviembre de 2025). Heritales screens animated shorts to discuss wars, at the University of Évora. Heritales Project . Recuperado 6 de febrero de 2026 de https://doi.org/10.58079/155gv





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