João Salaviza

Directing

João Salaviza

Born 1984-02-19 · Lisbon, Portugal

João Salaviza (Portuguese: João Salaviza Manso Feldman da Silva; born 19 February 1984; Lisbon) is a Portuguese film director, screenwriter, editor, producer, and former actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including the Short Film Golden Bear, the Short Film Palme d'Or, and the Un Certain Regard. João Salaviza was born on 19 February 1984, in Lisbon, Portugal. His father is José Edgar Feldman, a film director, and his mother is a producer. He studied at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School and at the Universidad del Cine de Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His film Arena won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In 2012, his film Rafa won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. Salaviza worked as assistant editor in Manoel de Oliveira's Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl.

Acting credits

Querença poster
9.0

In mid-September 1992, journalist Guida Fontes have to go to Luanda to cover the elections in Angola. In the meantime, she had committed herself to discovering and interviewing the poet Júlio Vera. In 1988, he wrote a series of poems in which he mysteriously anticipated the fall of the USSR. Guida has only 12 days to complete the mission.

Querença

2004

L'Enfant du secret poster
NR

Blanche, a social worker living in Southern France is assigned the case of a five year old deaf boy, who is found by a Gypsy lady after having been abandoned and tied to a shed near her trailer. The boy's life is in danger apparently because he is related to the family of a local politician who is seeking election as mayor. Blanche, though suffering from manic depression and thus emotionally vulnerable, decides to take charge of the situation, get her act together and besides being told to drop the case, seeks to discover the secret the boy has inside.

L'Enfant du secret

1996

A Portuguese Film poster
NR

A documentary about the world of portuguese cinema, with interviews with some critics and directors.

A Portuguese Film

2011

La leyenda de Balthasar el Castrado poster
5.0

At the end of the seventeenth century, in Naples, still dominated by the Spaniards, a young pupil, Balthasar,is castrated to preserve the purity and beauty of his voice. The Duchess dies and her son, the Duke of Arcos, takes charge of the inheritance, which includes Balthasar. With the entrance of Maria Loffredo, former lover of the Duke, a triangle is established that unchains tragic consequences to the allegedly callous life of Balthasar.

La leyenda de Balthasar el Castrado

1996

When It Thunders poster
6.2

The relationship between António and Ruth ends unexpectedly when Ruth decides to live with Pedro, António's best friend. António doesn't fight back and lets himself drown. From the woods come Violeta and Gaspar, two strange beings, a mixture of fairies, demons and guardian angels, who help António overcome his depression. With the thunders the two characters return to their domains. And life goes on.

When It Thunders

2000

When It Thunders poster
6.2

The relationship between António and Ruth ends unexpectedly when Ruth decides to live with Pedro, António's best friend. António doesn't fight back and lets himself drown. From the woods come Violeta and Gaspar, two strange beings, a mixture of fairies, demons and guardian angels, who help António overcome his depression. With the thunders the two characters return to their domains. And life goes on.

When It Thunders

2000

Poor George poster
5.0

One night Jorge will meet with a Japanese industrialist, who will allow him to abandon his teaching position and resume his chemical work. However, when he gets home he finds a person there.

Poor George

1993

In the Interstices of Reality or The Cinema of António de Macedo poster
NR

He was the most prolific within the New Portuguese Cinema generation. He would try western spaghetti, esoteric allegory, supernatural, and science-fiction. Without state subsidies, he would quit filmmaking in the 1990s. Who remembers António de Macedo?

In the Interstices of Reality or The Cinema of António de Macedo

2016

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Da Invicta ao Sonoro

1997

Behind the camera

Hotel Müller poster
NR

An homage to Pina Bausch.

Hotel Müller

2010

Hotel Müller poster
NR

An homage to Pina Bausch.

Hotel Müller

2010

The Buriti Flower poster
7.1

Through her child’s eyes, Patpro will go through three periods of the history of her indigenous people, in the heart of the Brazilian forest. Tirelessly persecuted, but guided by their ancestral rites, their love of nature and their fight to preserve their freedom, the Krahô never stop inventing new forms of resistance.

The Buriti Flower

2024

The Buriti Flower poster
7.1

Through her child’s eyes, Patpro will go through three periods of the history of her indigenous people, in the heart of the Brazilian forest. Tirelessly persecuted, but guided by their ancestral rites, their love of nature and their fight to preserve their freedom, the Krahô never stop inventing new forms of resistance.

The Buriti Flower

2024

Mountain poster
6.4

Day breaks on the eighth floor in a suburban neighbourhood of Lisbon and 14-year-old David’s grandfather is still in hospital. Doctors give him only a few days to live. The imminence of death and the void that it will leave force David to become the man of the house, where he lives with his mother Mónica, who is in her 30s, and his three-year-old sister.

Mountain

2015

Mountain poster
6.4

Day breaks on the eighth floor in a suburban neighbourhood of Lisbon and 14-year-old David’s grandfather is still in hospital. Doctors give him only a few days to live. The imminence of death and the void that it will leave force David to become the man of the house, where he lives with his mother Mónica, who is in her 30s, and his three-year-old sister.

Mountain

2015

Ketwajê poster
NR

The Mentuwajê Guardians of Culture (a group of young Krahô filmmakers) invite the Beture Collective (Mebêngôkre-Kayapó) to visit their village and attend the Kêtwajê festival – an important initiation ritual that has not taken place for ten years. Over the course of several days, children and adolescents undergo various “tests” to transform into adult warriors, under the watchful and shared gaze of the local filmmakers and the Mebêngôkre-Kayapó guests.

Ketwajê

2023

Russa poster
6.0

Russa returns to Bairro do Aleixo, in Oporto, visiting her sister and friends with whom she celebrates her son's birthday. In this short encounter, Russa returns to her neighbourhood's collective memory, where three of the five towers still exist.

Russa

2018

Russa poster
6.0

Russa returns to Bairro do Aleixo, in Oporto, visiting her sister and friends with whom she celebrates her son's birthday. In this short encounter, Russa returns to her neighbourhood's collective memory, where three of the five towers still exist.

Russa

2018

Russa poster
6.0

Russa returns to Bairro do Aleixo, in Oporto, visiting her sister and friends with whom she celebrates her son's birthday. In this short encounter, Russa returns to her neighbourhood's collective memory, where three of the five towers still exist.

Russa

2018

Two People poster
3.5

A man is seen by a prostitute in his home. They try to communicate. But the loneliness they both carry creates a gap between them, enabling that communication.

Two People

2004

The Dead and the Others poster
5.9

Denying his duty and in order to escape a crucial process of becoming a shaman, Ihjãc runs away to the city. Far from his people and culture, he faces the reality of being an indigenous in contemporary Brazil.

The Dead and the Others

2019

The Dead and the Others poster
5.9

Denying his duty and in order to escape a crucial process of becoming a shaman, Ihjãc runs away to the city. Far from his people and culture, he faces the reality of being an indigenous in contemporary Brazil.

The Dead and the Others

2019

The Dead and the Others poster
5.9

Denying his duty and in order to escape a crucial process of becoming a shaman, Ihjãc runs away to the city. Far from his people and culture, he faces the reality of being an indigenous in contemporary Brazil.

The Dead and the Others

2019

Arena poster
6.6

A young man under house arrest spends his time in the best way he can by making some tattoos. His relative peace is strangely disturbed when he's attacked and robbed by three kids from the neighborhood. From then on, he'll try to find the kids who took his money and maybe give them a lesson. But with those actions, comes the reflection of how things were and are in this place filled with violence and hostility. Is change possible?

Arena

2009

Arena poster
6.6

A young man under house arrest spends his time in the best way he can by making some tattoos. His relative peace is strangely disturbed when he's attacked and robbed by three kids from the neighborhood. From then on, he'll try to find the kids who took his money and maybe give them a lesson. But with those actions, comes the reflection of how things were and are in this place filled with violence and hostility. Is change possible?

Arena

2009

Cerro Negro poster
6.3

Developing from an idea of diptych, the story of Anajara and Allison is told from two perspectives in continuity. If late night work complicates the life of one of them, the incarceration in jail of the other determines a cycle of separation. Salaviza's skill to direct amateur actors is showed in this film, one of his more precise works.

Cerro Negro

2012

Cerro Negro poster
6.3

Developing from an idea of diptych, the story of Anajara and Allison is told from two perspectives in continuity. If late night work complicates the life of one of them, the incarceration in jail of the other determines a cycle of separation. Salaviza's skill to direct amateur actors is showed in this film, one of his more precise works.

Cerro Negro

2012

High Cities of Bone poster
6.3

Karlon, born in Pedreira dos Húngaros (a slum in the outskirts of Lisbon) and a pioneer of Cape Verdean creole rap, runs away from the housing project to which he had been relocated.

High Cities of Bone

2017

High Cities of Bone poster
6.3

Karlon, born in Pedreira dos Húngaros (a slum in the outskirts of Lisbon) and a pioneer of Cape Verdean creole rap, runs away from the housing project to which he had been relocated.

High Cities of Bone

2017

Rafa poster
6.2

Rafa is a 13 years old kid concerned with his mother, held in a police station for driving without a license. The director shows a day in the life of a teenager who lives on a problematic area and discovers that her mother was arrested because of an automobile accident.

Rafa

2012

Rafa poster
6.2

Rafa is a 13 years old kid concerned with his mother, held in a police station for driving without a license. The director shows a day in the life of a teenager who lives on a problematic area and discovers that her mother was arrested because of an automobile accident.

Rafa

2012

To Our Friends poster
NR

An intimate documentary exploring friendship, resilience, and love among a group of young people in Madrid. Through a cinéma vérité approach, the film captures their struggles, aspirations, and moments of joy amid economic uncertainty. A central thread follows Sara, who falls in love with another woman, navigating the excitement and vulnerability of new love. Her journey of self-discovery unfolds organically, adding depth to the film’s broader themes of identity and connection. With its raw, unscripted storytelling, To Our Friends offers a poignant look at contemporary urban life and the enduring bonds that sustain us.

To Our Friends

2025

Strokkur poster
4.8

In the beginning the idea was to make something from nothing, in a neutral and unknown place. Collect images and sounds instead of producing them. The camera, the microphone and the mini-amplifier: tools that take away and then give back. We defined a rule: the sound shouldn't illustrate the image and the image shouldn't absorb the sound. Less than a hundred kilometres from Reykjavik we found Strokkur. For three days we saw and heard the internal dynamics of the crevice: the boiling water that spat out every seven minutes and the thermal shock, given the eighteen degrees below zero of the atmosphere.

Strokkur

2011