Pedro Costa

Pedro Costa (1958) is a Portuguese film director. Costa attended classes by poet and filmmaker António Reis at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School. He then worked as an assistant to Jorge Silva Melo, Vítor Gonçalves and João Botelho. His directorial debut was O Sangue [Blood] (1989). His later work is dedicated to documenting the lives of the inhabitants of Fontaínhas, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Lisbon, many of whom are immigrants from Cape Verde. These works include No quarto da Vanda [In Vanda’s Room] (2000), Juventude em Marcha [Colossal Youth] (2006), Cavalo dinheiro [Money Horse] (2014), which was awarded the Leopard for Best Director in 2014, and the more recent Vitalina Varela (2019), which was awarded the Gold Leopard for Best Film, both at the Locarno Film Festival.