Pedro Costa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 30 December 1958 Lisbon, Portugal |
| Alma mater | University of Lisbon Lisbon Theatre and Film School |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1984–present |
Pedro Costa (born 30 December 1958) [1] is a Portuguese film director. He is best known for his sequence of films set in Lisbon, [2] which focuses on the lives of the impoverished residents of a slum in the Fontainhas neighbourhood.
After completing a degree in history from the University of Lisbon, Costa worked as an assistant for Jorge Silva Melo, Vítor Gonçalves and João Botelho. [3] He released his debut film O Sangue at the age of 30.
Costa's films would receive acclaim from critics consistently throughout his career. He collected the France Culture Award (Foreign Cineaste of the Year) at 2002 Cannes Film Festival for directing In Vanda's Room . Colossal Youth was selected for the 2006 Cannes Film Festival [4] and earned the Independent/Experimental prize (Los Angeles Film Critics Association) in 2008. Horse Money was awarded the Leopard for Best Director in 2014, while his Vitalina Varela was awarded the Gold Leopard for Best Film in 2019.
He is considered to be part of "The School of Reis" film family. António Reis, Portuguese director, was his teacher at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School.
His menteeship under directors Straub–Huillet was explored in his 2001 documentary "Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie?".
Stephen Whitty of Screen Daily described Costa's films as "lit like a Rembrandt, [and] acted like a neo-realist classic." [5] He is acclaimed for using his ascetic style to depict marginalised people, often non-actors playing themselves, in desperate living situations. Shot on digital video and making use of non-actors, Costa's early works have been called examples of docufiction. Although continuing to collaborate with non-actors in his later works, he would gradually transition away from the low-resolution documentary style into what critic Armond White characterised as "museum-quality compositions". [6]
From the release of Ossos onwards, Costa's films have been entirely set in Fontainhas, a slum neighbourhood on the outskirts of Lisbon. His subjects, immigrants and the socially disadvantaged, feature as recurring characters throughout the sequence. One notable example is the character of Ventura, protagonist of both Colossal Youth and Horse Money.
In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Costa signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages. [7] [8] [9]
In January 2024, alongside over 300 other filmmakers, producers and actors, Costa signed an open letter against the cuts to the funding of the Argentine film agency INCAA contemplated by the so-called omnibus bill. [10]
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was born in 1961 in Abéché, Chad. He is a film director from Chad. He left Chad during the civil wars of the 1980s. Haroun is the first Chadian full-length film director. He both writes and directs his films. Though he has lived in France since 1982, most of his films have been set in and made in Chad.
Tan Chui Mui is a Malaysian filmmaker, film producer and director.
Ossos is a 1997 Portuguese film directed by Pedro Costa.
In Vanda's Room is a docufiction film by Portuguese director Pedro Costa. This is the second film in his Fontainhas trilogy.
Down to Earth is a 1995 Portuguese drama film directed by Pedro Costa. The film is set in Cape Verde Islands, a former Portuguese colony.
Colossal Youth is a 2006 docufiction feature film directed by Portuguese director Pedro Costa. It was third feature by Costa set in Lisbon's Fontainhas neighborhood, and the first to feature the recurring character Ventura.
Wang Bing is a Chinese director, often referred to as one of the foremost figures in documentary film-making. Wang is the founder of his own production company, Wang Bing Studios, which produces most of his films. His movie on Chinese labour camps, The Ditch, was included in the 2010 Venice Film Festival as the film sorpresa.
Docufiction is the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is and which simultaneously introduces unreal elements or fictional situations in narrative in order to strengthen the representation of reality using some kind of artistic expression.
Ethnofiction refers to a subfield of ethnography which produces works that introduce art, in the form of storytelling, "thick descriptions and conversational narratives", and even first-person autobiographical accounts, into peer-reviewed academic works.
Cédric Kahn is a French screenwriter, film director and actor.
Robert Jules Guédiguian is a French film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Most of his films star Ariane Ascaride and Jean-Pierre Darroussin.
Abderrahmane Sissako is a Mauritanian-born Malian film director and producer. His film Waiting for Happiness (Heremakono) was screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival official selection under Un Certain Regard, winning a FIPRESCI Prize. His 2006 film Bamako received much attention. Sissako's themes include globalisation, exile and the displacement of people. His 2014 film Timbuktu was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Patricia Mazuy is a French film director and screenwriter. Her film Peaux de vaches was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. Eleven years later her film Saint-Cyr was screened in the same section at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
Mark Cousins is an English-born, Northern Irish director and writer. A prolific documentarian, among his works is the 15-hour 2011 documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey.
Philippe Faucon is a French film director, screenwriter and producer.
Arnaud des Pallières is a French film director and screenwriter. His film Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas was screened in the main competition section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Hicham Lasri is a Moroccan comics artist, film director, novelist, producer and screenwriter.
Vitalina Varela is a 2019 Portuguese drama directed by acclaimed director Pedro Costa. It won the Golden Leopard and Best Actress Award at the 2019 Locarno Film Festival. The film follows Vitalina Varela, a character who previously appeared in Pedro Costa's Horse Money.
Vitalina Varela is a Cape Verdean actress.
John Gianvito is an American filmmaker, film curator, academic and movie critic.
Pedro Costa nasceu em Lisboa, 30 de Dezembro de 1958.
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