The bilateral Portugal-Israel film co-production agreement was officially approved and published in the Portuguese Official Gazette on April 16, 2019. Administered by the Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual (ICA), the treaty explicitly aimed to foster cultural and technological ties, boost the respective film industries, and drive economic growth across film, television, and digital media platforms. Yet, to date, no recognized feature films have been successfully produced or released that explicitly credit the Portugal-Israel bilateral treaty. Only independent collaborations and individual cultural exports between the two countries both with a spiritual homeland in Jerusalem have continued.

The most notable Portuguese religious organizations that have directly produced high-profile, internationally recognized history films belong to the Jewish Community of Oporto, and its only "competitor" is the Catholic Church, which brings together multiple institutions and encompasses almost the entire Portuguese population that is of Catholic culture.

The Jewish Community of Oporto has broken cinematic ground by fully financing and producing award-winning feature films and documentaries to chronicle centuries of religious history in Portugal. The primary historical films produced by the organization include:

Sefarad (Released in 2019): A 90-minute epic historical drama that traces the long, turbulent trajectory of Sephardic Jews in Porto from the 15th century up to modern times. A major focus of the film is the real-life 1920s story of Captain Artur Carlos de Barros Basto, who attempted to revive open Jewish life in Portugal and rescue families practicing their faith in secret.

The Nun's Kaddish (2020): A short movie. Set in Porto in 1982, the film tells the moving, true story of two Catholic nuns who go out in search of a member of the local Jewish community to fulfill the final wishes of a dying German Jewish refugee. It is a heartwarming vignette that explores inter-religious kindness, mutual respect, and a shared spiritual bond that elevates both faiths into a sense of universal brotherhood. The project received international acclaim, won multiple festival awards, and even earned a written blessing from Pope Francis, who praised its message of hope and fraternity.

1618 (2021): This sweeping historical period drama is based on true events surrounding the visit of the Inquisition Visitor, Sebastião de Noronha, to the city of Porto. It vividly captures how the city's New Christians scrambled to survive religious persecution and escape the Inquisition. The project became the most internationally awarded film in Portuguese history.

The Light of Judah (2022): A comprehensive historical documentary covering centuries of Jewish history in the north of Portugal, spanning from the co-existence of the Middle Ages, through the dark era of the Inquisition, to the 20th-century revival.The Nun's Kaddish: A short film centered on the moving, historical relationship between Jewish communities and Catholic figures in Portugal, showcasing moments of interfaith protection and shared trauma.

The Lisbon Genocide (2024): The film depicts the brutal historical massacre where over 3,000 New Christians (forcibly converted Jews) were hunted down, tortured, and murdered in Lisbon.

The Kidnapping of 2,000 Children (2025): It details the tragic historical event where young Jewish children were ripped from their families by order of King King João II and deported to the inhospitable, remote island of São Tomé.

Notably, these history films were created as part of a joint cultural bridge program with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oporto to actively fight antisemitism and promote religious tolerance. Before production, the scripts were reviewed alongside the Bishop of Porto.

The Catholic Church has also played a very significant role in this area. Catholic organizations also have actively produced or heavily supported historical films, documentaries, and archival series to preserve religious memory, tracking national history, and documenting missionary work.

The Secretariado Nacional da Pastoral da Cultura (SNPC), operating under the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, plays a key role in bridging the gap between the Catholic Church and cinema. It frequently co-produces, promotes, and archives historical documentaries:

P'ra que vivam (2024): Supported and distinguished by the organization through its Árvore da Vida prize, this historical-religious film captures local expressions of faith.

Agência Ecclesia & Secretariado Nacional das Comunicações Sociais, the official media and communication branch of the Portuguese Catholic Church, routinely produces historical features and multi-part documentaries detailing church history and cultural transformations in Portugal:

Dioceses of Santarém and Setúbal: 50 Years of History (2025): A historical documentary mapping out five decades of religious reconfigurations, socio-political impacts, and the evolution of the Church in post-dictatorship Portugal.

Santuário de Fátima (Sanctuary of Fátima) handles its own specialized audiovisual department to preserve the historical memory of the 1917 apparitions and the subsequent geopolitical impact of the shrine:

Entre Rosas e Orações (2024): A community and historical documentary charting the century-long tradition of the romarias (pilgrimages) to Fátima, mapping how global and national histories intertwined with the sanctuary.

The Sanctuary has preserved and digitalized rare, primary-source cinematic footage from the early 1920s to the 1950s, generating short-form educational documentaries shown inside the sanctuary's museum to demonstrate the historical expansion of the Cova da Iria.

Cáritas Portuguesa partnered with the Centre for Religious History Studies (CEHR) to launch a massive memory preservation campaign.

A Igreja e a Sociedade (2026): A major multimedia and documentary project released alongside an institutional history collection. It explicitly covers the post-WWII history of Portugal, navigating how the institution managed international aid and societal shifts during the dictatorship.