In search of a new Portuguese cinema talks about the genesis of this movement that became known as this is a huge transformation in the way of seeing and making movies in Portugal. As shown clearly, many debates about the social function of art grew out of discussions on the impasse reached between the art of modernist bias, and the other features neorealists. The dual link between cinema and literature, in Portugal, it is not only through numerous literary adaptations throughout the twentieth century, but also with the work of writers and poets within the field of film production. Arguing over the exact role of some of these writers, the central and structuring of this work is re-discuss and display the portuguese neorealist cinema tetralogy and re-think the genesis of the new cinema. The new film, as stated here, born of the churning of the Portuguese cultural life over the years 1950, against the consensus view, which perceives the aforementioned decade as the dark years of the Portuguese cinema. The experience of cinema clubs, a huge spread and propagation of journals, as well as the performance of Manuel Guimarães, Alves Redol and Leão Penedo are the starting point for debate about the features of a new film that takes place mainly due to the throughout the 1950s and 1960s. To this end, the work is of a historical component that is essential, despite the increased interest is contained in the interpretation and, above all, in assessing this.