Pedro Costa (born 30 December 1958) is a Portuguese

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

. He is best known for his sequence of films set in Lisbon, which focuses on the lives of the impoverished residents of a slum in the Fontainhas neighbourhood.

Biography

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. 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 The 59th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official selection Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over t ...

and earned the Independent/Experimental prize (Los Angeles Film Critics Association) in 2008. Horse Money was awarded the

Leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

for Best Director in 2014, while his Vitalina Varela was awarded the Gold Leopard for Best Film in 2019.

Style and influences

He is considered to be part of "

The School of Reis The School of Reis is a film theory concept relative to the teachings of Portuguese director António Reis, to his work, conceived with his wife Margarida Cordeiro, and to the works of the directors influenced by theirs. It is a pun on the surname o ...

" film family.

António Reis António Ferreira Gonçalves dos Reis, known as António Reis (27 August 1927 – 10 September 1991), was a Portuguese film director, screenwriter and producer, poet, sculptor and ethnographer. He was married to Margarida Cordeiro, co-director o ...

, Portuguese director, was his teacher at the

Lisbon Theatre and Film School The Lisbon Theatre and Film School (''Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema'') of the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon inherited the function of the National Conservatoire, founded by Almeida Garrett, in 1836, and of teaching Film, introduced in the ...

. His menteeship under directors

Straub–Huillet Jean-Marie Straub (; 8 January 1933 — 20 November 2022) and Danièle Huillet (; 1 May 1936 – 9 October 2006) were a duo of French filmmakers who made two dozen films between 1963 and 2006. Their films are noted for their rigorous, intelle ...

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 Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally cons ...

, ndacted like a neo-realist classic." He is acclaimed for using his

ascetic Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

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 Docufiction (or docu-fiction) 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 (as direct cinema or cinéma vérité) a ...

. 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".

Fontainhas sequence

From the release of Ossos onwards, Costa's films have been entirely set in Fontainhas, a slum neighbourhood on the outskirts of

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

. 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.

Filmography

Features

* '' O Sangue'' (1989) * '' Casa de Lava'' (1994) * ''

Ossos ''Ossos'' (English: "Bones") is a 1997 Portuguese film directed by Pedro Costa. The film was shot in the Fontainhas district of Lisbon (also known as "Estrela d'Africa"), where disadvantaged dwellers and immigrants from former Portuguese colonies ...

'' (1997) * '' In Vanda's Room'' (2000) * '' Colossal Youth'' (2006) * '' Horse Money'' (2014) * '' Vitalina Varela'' (2019)

Documentaries and shorts

* ''Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie?'' (2001) (documentary) * ''State of the World'' (2007) - "Tarrafal" segment (short) * ''Memories'' (2007) - "The Rabbit Hunters" segment (short) * ''

Change Nothing ''Change Nothing'' (french: Ne change rien) is a 2009 documentary directed by Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa. The documentary focuses on the French singer Jeanne Balibar in rehearsal and concert as seen through Costa's characteristically long, ...

'' (2009) (documentary)

Plays

* ''

The Daughters of Fire ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (2016)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Pedro 1958 births Living people Portuguese film directors People from Lisbon University of Lisbon alumni Portuguese-language film directors Lisbon Theatre and Film School alumni