Arquivo

Filmed with the same camera, with passages taken from Working on the Douro River, the film focuses on the inauguration of the Ermal hydroelectric plant on the river Ave. The plant was founded in January 1932 by Manoel de Oliveira?s father, Francisco José de Oliveira, an entrepreneur who was able to foresee the importance of electrical power at a time in which it was still regarded as a luxury. He was the first manufacturer of electric light bulbs in Portugal. After Hulha Branca was shown for the first time in 1938, the film was believed lost, and became available for circulation only in 1998, after it was restored by Cinemateca Portuguesa.