A newly restored version of Bissau-Guinean filmmaker Flora Gomes's 1992 feature "Udju Azul di Yonta" ("The Blue Eyes of Yonta") will receive its world premiere in Venice Classics at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.
Portugal's national film archive, Cinemateca Portuguesa–Museu do Cinema, created the restoration from the original 35mm image negative and magnetic soundtrack in its collection. The image restoration and color grading were completed by the Lisbon companies Cineric Portugal and Irmalucia Efeitos Especiais. Estúdio BillyBoom restored the sound in 2025.
Gomes tells a tragicomic story of unrequited love set in Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, less than 20 years after the country gained independence from Portugal. Young Yonta is in love with Vicente, a friend of her parents and a veteran of the independence war, but he has no interest in her. Zé, a shy young man, is devoted to Yonta, but she barely notices him. He anonymously sends her romantic letters describing snow he has never seen and Yonta's nonexistent blue eyes — the source of the film's title. The love triangle connects Vicente's liberation generation with young people deciding what they want from life in an independent Guinea-Bissau.
Maysa Marta, António Simão Mendes and Pedro Dias lead the cast.
The film, Gomes's second fiction feature after "Mortu Nega," originally screened in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992.
The 98-minute restoration will screen in Portuguese and Guinea-Bissau Creole with English and Italian subtitles.
The Venice International Film Festival takes place on the Lido in Venice, Italy, from 2 to 12 September 2026.