Miguel Gomes
Lisbon, Portugal, 1972
Director, screenwriter and editor. He studied film at the Lisbon School for Theatre and Film (Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema). He wrote film reviews for Portuguese newspapers until 2000 and then started to direct short films. In 2004, he directed his first feature film, A Cara que Mereces, I which he announced the main elements of his future author style – combination of fantasy and well-known fairy-tales. After two short films he directed the well-received documentary drama Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto (2008), and his next film, the black and white Tabu (2012), attracted attention of both audiences and international critics. The film was shown at many film festivals, and won the Portuguese Golden Globe as best film and Gomes received the FIPRESCI award at the Berlin Film Festival. He proved himself as a respectable film author with the trilogy Arabian Nights: The Restless one / The Desolate One / The Enchanted One (As Mil e Uma Noites: Volume 1, O Inquieto / O Desolado / O Encantado, 2015), based on the series of stories from the Thousand and One Night, which he moved to contemporary Portugal and added to them an open commentary on current social and political problems.