A director and screenwriter, he started his career as a critic in the late fifties. He was the editor of the Cinéfilo film magazine and one of the founders of Centro Português de Cinema. He has worked in television, directing commercials and documentary films (A Indústria Cervejeira em Portugal, 1967; Adeus, Até ao Meu Regresso, 1974; Emigrantes... e Depois?, 1976). He directed his first feature film One Hundred Times Lost (Perdido por Cem...) in 1973. This was followed by Leave it to God (Oxalá, 1981) and the very commercially successful Dead Man’s Seat (O Lugar do Morto, 1984), as well as the drama Jaime (1999), which received the Portuguese Golden Globe Award for Best Film and Best Film Director in 2000. After the drama The Immortals (Os Imortais, 2003) also screened in Croatia, he directed the thriller Call Girl (2007) and the romantic comedy Beauty and the Paparazzo (2010). Four years later he directed the inter-generational humorous drama Cats Don't Have Vertigo (Os gatos não têm vertigens, 2014) and then the crime drama Amor Impossível (2015).