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The End Was Just The Beginning Joins the Whush Catalogue
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Whush is proud to welcome The End Was Just The Beginning (O Fim era Apenas o Início), the thought-provoking short film by Portuguese filmmaker Antonio Aleixo, to its curated catalogue of independent cinema.
At a time when headlines are dominated by war, climate anxiety, pandemics, economic instability, and social fragmentation, one question increasingly occupies the minds of many young adults: What does it mean to bring a child into the world today? It is this profound and deeply personal question that lies at the heart of Aleixo's quietly powerful film.
The story follows Catarina, a woman who discovers she is pregnant and is suddenly confronted with the weight of a decision that extends far beyond herself. As she reflects on the future awaiting her unborn child, the film unfolds as both an intimate drama and a speculative meditation on humanity's relationship with uncertainty. Rather than offering easy answers, The End Was Just The Beginning invites viewers to contemplate the tension between fear and hope, between responsibility and desire, between the world as it is and the world that might still become.
Drawing inspiration from both contemporary anxieties and classic post-apocalyptic narratives, Aleixo avoids the conventions of dystopian cinema. Instead of focusing on catastrophe itself, he explores the emotional landscape that precedes it. The result is a film that feels remarkably relevant to the present moment while remaining timeless in its concerns.
What makes the work particularly compelling is its refusal to succumb to cynicism. Beneath its questions about collapse and uncertainty lies a subtle but persistent belief in humanity's capacity for adaptation and renewal. The film suggests that every generation has faced reasons to despair, yet people continue to choose life, love, and the future.
Aleixo, a two-time nominee and recipient of the Portuguese Film Academy's Sophia Award, brings both formal elegance and emotional intelligence to the project. His direction is measured and thoughtful, allowing the film's ideas to emerge organically through character and atmosphere rather than exposition.
Whush curator Kris De Meester explains the film's inclusion:
"What fascinated me about this film is that it addresses one of the defining questions of our era without ever becoming ideological or didactic. We live in a time shaped by wars, pandemics, ecological uncertainty, and a constant stream of alarming information. For many people, the decision to bring a child into the world is no longer self-evident. It carries philosophical, ethical, and emotional implications that previous generations perhaps experienced differently.Antonio Aleixo transforms that anxiety into cinema. Rather than presenting a dystopian warning, he creates a space for reflection. The film asks whether hope itself can be considered an act of courage. It reminds us that every beginning contains uncertainty, and that every future generation is born into a world that is, in some way, unfinished. The beauty of the film lies in its ability to make us ponder these questions long after the final frame."
With its blend of science fiction, intimate drama, and existential inquiry, The End Was Just The Beginning stands as a compelling example of contemporary European independent cinema. It is a film less concerned with predicting the future than with examining the choices we make in the present.
In an age defined by uncertainty, Aleixo offers something increasingly rare: a cinematic meditation on hope.
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