Edgar Morais joins the cast of João Pedro Rodrigues’ upcoming feature Afonso’s Smile, produced by Luca Guadagnino. The filming has recently wrapped.

Set in the aftermath of Portugal’s April 1974 Revolution, Afonso’s Smile follows 16-year-old Afonso, who returns from Macau to Lisbon to live with his artist mother, Noémia. As the country emerges from decades of dictatorship, the teenager navigates his own emotional and sexual awakening.

In an interview with Variety, director Rodrigues said, “Homosexuality was only legalized in Portugal in ’82. The revolution was ’74. There was a conservative behavior. The mindset didn’t really change concerning sexuality and openness to new forms of sexuality. Those rights were not conquered at the same time as freedom was conquered.”

The gay coming-of-age film is a co-production between Portugal’s Terratreme Filmes, Luxembourg’s Joli Rideau and Italy’s Frenesy Film, with producers João Matos, Fabrizio Maltese and Guadagnino. Based on a story by Miguel Fajardo originally set in Colombia, the screenplay was adapted by Rodrigues to explore Portugal’s revolutionary period of the 1970s.

Edgar Morais is best known for his lead performance in A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On, Albania’s official Oscar submission, which earned him Best Actor at the Prishtina International Film Festival and a Portuguese Golden Globe nomination. His screen credits also include Lovely, Dark and Deep and The Worst Man in London. As a filmmaker, he directed shorts Heatstroke and We Won’t Forget. He is currently in post-production on his feature directorial debut, and the documentary It Was Them, executive produced by Larry Clark, and will next be seen in Sara Driver’s An Odd Enchantment.

João Pedro Rodrigues is internationally recognized for films including Will-o’-the-Wisp, To Die Like a Man, The Last Time I Saw Macao and Two Drifters.