João Botelho

Was born in Portugal in 1949. His first feature film was The Other One (1981), which premiered at the Directors' Fortnight, at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1982. This was followed by A Portuguese Farewell (1985) and Hard Times, an adaptation of Dickens work, reinvented for the Portuguese reality. He would visit the works of Garret (Who Are You?, 2000), Diderot (The Fatalist, 2005), Agustina Bessa-Luís (True and Tender Is the North, 2008), and Pessoa again (Disquiet, 2010). The Maias (2014) was the most profitable movie of the year in Portuguese cinemas, drawing over 100 thousand movie goers. After that, a "love letter" to Manoel de Oliveira, with Cinema, Manoel de Oliveira and Me. Pilgrimage (2018) was selected as Portugal’s candidate for the Oscars and the Goya Awards, and this year João Botelho once again turns to literature to make cinema. Inspired by Les Petites Filles Modèles by the Countess of Ségur, he returns to childhood in a film that pays tribute to Paula Rego. At LEFFEST, it is screened out of competition.