Debate with Giovanni Allegretti and comments by  Maria Prazeres Francisco

Synopsis
The objective of the documentary (France/Portugal, 2014 | 42 minutes, Solid Productions) is to give the floor to politicians, civil servants, researchers and citizens involved in the manner municipal funds are managed in order to help define the concept of Participatory Budget (PB), clarifying its positive challenges and some contradictions or weaknesses detected during the last decade of experiments, by considering different situations that have developed around the world. Portugal, European country with the highest rate of PB experiences in municipal context, is seen as a metaphorical place to test some of these challenges and weaknesses, using data and results of the project, even though the film combines voices and images from different continents that act as “distorting mirror” of the Portuguese situation. The ambition of this medium-length film is to show how important emotions are in PBs performances and to what extent these small experiences are vital to qualify and strengthen democratic regimes (although they are often limited to local contexts).

This film has as raw material an analysis of the Portuguese participatory budgets, from the data and materials collected in the research project “OPtar” a research developed at CES between 2010 and 2013 and funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.