Director, screenwriter and producer, Teresa Villaverde is one of the most important names of a generation of Portuguese film directors that emerged in the 1990s. She is the
author of a very personal filmography, influenced by certain paradigmatic Portuguese
characteristics, and which pays particular attention to themes such as childhood and
adolescence, inadequacy and difficulty of interpersonal communication.
She participated in several productions as an actress, set designer, screenwriter, assistant
director and assistant editor, before directing a striking trio of feature films, screened at
the greatest film festivals: Alex (1991), a reconstitution of Portugal in the beginning of
the 1970s, marked by the Colonial War; Two Brothers, My Sister (1994) which won the
Best Actress Award at the Venice Festival given to Maria de Medeiros and The Mutants
(1998) selected for the Cannes Film Festival, section Un Certain Regard, which
approaches the rootlessness of young teenagers coming from dysfunctional family
environments.
In 2006, Teresa Villaverde directed Trance, a film portraying illegal immigration and
human trafficking, which was also chosen for the Cannes Film Festival (Quinzaine des
Réalisateurs) and the Toronto Festival, irrevocably consolidating her international
profile.
Swan (2011) assembles many subjects from her previous films, echoes of her first
works, recurrences and extensions of Water and Salt, a film she directed in 2001.
Teresa Villaverde collaborated on some collective works, contributing with her
segments in Visions of Europe (2004), Venice 70 – Future Reloaded (2013) and Bridges
of Sarajevo (2014). In 2004 she also directed a documentary, In Favor of Light, a
portrait of the artist Pedro Cabrita Reis.
In 2016, Teresa Villaverde is preparing to premiere her new film, Colo, starring Beatriz
Batarda in the lead role.
The tenth edition of Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival will present a complete retrospective
of her work.
