António-Pedro Vasconcelos is a Portuguese director from the city of Leiria. He was a student of Film at the University of Paris IV and is considered one of the chief representatives of the Cinema Novo Português. He co-founded the Centro Português de Cinema and in 1970 directed his first film Perdido por Cem, which was heavily influenced by the French Nouvelle Vague. He has directed some of the most internationally renowned Portuguese films, such as O Lugar do Morto (1984) and Jaime (1999), the latter a recipient of the Jury Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and, in Portugal, of Golden Globes for Best Film and Best Director. A producer, he was part of the creation of V.O Filmes and Opus Filmes, along with the aforementioned Centro Português de Cinema, which produced most of the films of the Cinema Novo Português. He is also a screenwriter and editor and has acted in some films. A regular presence in television, he presented, in the 1970’s, the RTP2 programme Cineclube, worked as a film and literary critic, co-directed the newspaper O Cinéfilo alongside João César Monteiro and was a columnist for the magazine Visão and director of A Semana, a supplement of newspaper Independente. In 1985 he represented Portugal at the Budapest Cultural forum, after an invitation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He presided over and led a group of workers responsible for the Livro Verde para a Política do Cinema e Audiovisual. He was president of the Portuguese Association of Directors, between 1978 and 1984, president of the Secretariado Nacional do Audiovisual between 1991 and 1993, and president of RTP’s Conselho de Opinião, from 1996 to 2003. He was a professor at the Film School of the Conservatório Nacional and is currently the executive coordinator of the Film, Television and Publicity Film degree at Universidade Moderna.
António-Pedro Vasconcelos
Director