Bio
I was born in 1977 in Lisbon, Portugal but I have travelled and lived all over the world, currently settling in London.
I hold a BA in film from the National Conservatory of Arts in Lisbon.
I have written and directed a handful of short films which you can see in this site and I have written a novel which is awaiting publication.
Films
I've made several short films while doing my BA and later at the New York Film Academy. Since then, I've written/produced/directed a handful of shorts. I make them because they are fun and the best way to practice and learn for bigger projects.
Introduction to a Theory of the Young Girl - 2009, 5'
Inspired by Situationist films and more specifically inspired by a French Philosophy book that came out in 2001 called Premiers matériaux pour une théorie de la Jeune-Fille. The film mixes documentary footage with fiction. I've also written a blog post about the making of the film which you can read here.
Couple Looking for Couple - 2009, 13'
Terry and Cynthia are a young couple on their way to meet another couple for a swing, but really have no idea what they are getting themselves and their relationship into.
Knossos - 2009, 14'
A variation on the myth of the Minotaur. Knossos was the palace where, as myth and archaelogy would have it, King Minos lived. This film is in many ways a melodrama, with an emphasis on the illusions humanity creates to fulfil its needs and desires.
Owls of the Forest - 2008, 5'
This was part of the 48 Hour Sci-Fi Film Challenge in 2008. A restaurant owner buys a revolutionary machine that makes customers taste food, without actually eating it. But the disgruntled former chef has plans to sabotage the opening night.
Necromantic - 2008, 2'
This is a script I wrote and intended to shoot, but then opted to let someone else shoot it. Nonetheless, I'm very pleased with the final film and it kept most of my script intact.
Closed Circuit Love - 2007, 7'
"Closed Circuit Love" is, in its essence, a love story. It is set in contemporary times and addresses such issues as voyeurism, jealousy and the universal feeling of not really knowing our partners.
C-1905 - 2005, 1'
The challenge was to create a 60-second film to celebrate the 100th birthday of Einstein. I shot this at my granny's house using a PD170 camera and still photography lenses. I tried to do too much in just 1 minute, but I really like this film nonetheless.
Torn Portrait - 2004, 3'
This was a lot of fun and very inspiring. I hadn't made a film for a long time and wanted to see if it was possible to do it all by myself. So I borrowed a consumer-grade palmheld DV camera from a friend and shot this in one Saturday morning. The locations are close to my home at the time in Olaias (Lisbon, Portugal) and the cast and crew are all long-time friends.
<<< Back
Blogs
Barely alive...
Meditations XXI
These are my meditations about arts, politics, society, ethics, morals, and everything else that I think about. It is an open letter to my future self. A potential soliloquy that hopefully will engage other thinkers out there.
Defunct as it has evolved into a fully-fledged book written offline.
Business Traveller
A serialized novel in various media. For its duration (Feb-Nov 2008) it was updated weekly. I have rewritten this into a 300-page novel and am now seeking a publisher for it.
<<< Back
Prose
Prose is the medium that gives storytellers the most freedom, and short stories are a great way to practice and learn. These are some of my best.
You Held a Sun - A damned man's last attempt at happiness (16 pages).
Akihiro's Night Out - A reclusive Japanese boy gets an unexpected visitor (6 pages).
Who is Carlos Ferrão - Abstraction via insomnia and Google image search (4 pages).
Gold - Close-up of a girl painted in gold (1 page).
Endurance - Love in a blank room (1 page).
Obsession - Don't kiss and don't tell (1 page).
They Stood Around Doing Nothing - Phone call between concerned citizens (2 pages).
Odalisque - Born unto a purpose (1 page).
Marionette - A very special show comes into town (1 page).
A Child's Body - Not paedophilia (1 page).
<<< Back
Scripts
Film Scripts
These are screenplays I've written. Some have been shot either by myself or by someone else, while others never went beyond the original script.
Couple Looking for Couple - My most chatty of scripts. The intention was to cram the dialogue full of ambiguity and subtext disguising it with seemingly normal conversation. It was a relatively easy script to write. I had an idea for the original setup and wrote the first draft in just two evenings. There were very small changes until arriving at the version that was actually shot (see Films section) and these mostly came directly from rehearsals and actor's input. (17 pages).
Knossos - The script that was the starting point for the short film (see Films section). Incredible how things change from script to actual production through cast and crew input and rehearsals. One scene was completely dropped while another had its dialogue completely revamped in the actual day of shooting. This is one of my favourite scripts. (12 pages).
Black and White Dreams - This and its application went all the way to the shortlist for the Haringey film fund, but was beaten in the end. Since then I have grown to dislike this script as being too manipulative and obvious. It's well-written though, if I may say so myself! (9 pages).
Necromantic - I wrote this to shoot it myself so I could apply to the CUT! competition for the TV channel Zone Horror. It's a 2 minute horror script which I believe to be very effective given the limitations. It ended up being shot by JP Frazier and you can check how it turned out by clicking here. (3 pages).
Closed Circuit Love - It all started with the song "Free Love" by Barry Adamson. This ended up being filmed although the film itself is only about 80% of the original material (9 pages).
Sergei - Faux documentary about an illegal immigrant stranded away from home. Based on a true story! Never got to direct this and probably never will. If you want to give it a go, godspeed to you. Just let me know about it (10 pages).
Comic Scripts
I suppose I should call them sequential art not comics! I can't really draw but I love writing for other people to draw.
Flip into Infinity - A one-pager to test the waters in this format. Art by Gary Bainbridge. This PDF has both script and art so it's cool to see how it developed (1 page script + 1 page comic.
<<< Back
Projects
London 2012 - Amongst the Multitude
A separate website dedicated to my upcoming feature film about protestors during the Olympic Games in London. It will be shot BEFORE the Games themselves and will be a work of fiction. I plan to start shooting around late 2009 or early 2010.
Projects Forum
This is a forum for collaborators to talk about and keep track of current projects. Username/password required - email me to get them if needed.
<<< Back