Pedro Costa
An image from Casa de Lava, one of the productions that also features Pedro Costa.
Pedro Costa

Pedro Costa

December 30, 1958 — Lisbon, Portugal

Pedro Costa is a Portuguese film director. While studying history at University of Lisbon, Costa switched to film courses at Lisbon Theatre and Film School (Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema) where he was a student of António Reis, Paulo Rocha and Alberto Seixas Santos. After working as an assistant director to several directors such as Jorge Silva Melo, Vítor Gonçalves and João Botelho, he made a first feature film O Sangue (The Blood) in 1989. He collected the France Culture Award (Foreign Cineaste of the Year) at 2002 Cannes Film Festival for directing the film In Vanda's Room. Colossal Youth was selected for the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and earned the Independent/Experimental prize (Los Angeles Film Critics Association) in 2008. He is considered to be part of "The School of Reis" film family. António Reis, Portuguese director, was his teacher at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called Pedro Costa "the Samuel Beckett of cinema". He is acclaimed for using his ascetic style to depict the marginalised people in desperate living situations. Many of his films are set in a district of Lisbon inhabited by socially disadvantaged and shot in a natural and low-key way in documentary format: some are docufictions.

The 13 Roses

The 13 Roses

2007

Vitalina Varela

Vitalina Varela

2019

Horse Money

Horse Money

2014

Colossal Youth

Colossal Youth

2006

In Vanda's Room

In Vanda's Room

2001

Ossos

Ossos

1997

Blood

Blood

1989

Casa de Lava

Casa de Lava

1995