João Salaviza

Directing

João Salaviza

Born

1984-02-19 (42)

Place of birth

Lisbon, Portugal

Known for

Directing

Credits

40 titles

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…

Known for

Film credits

2000s · 3 titles

1990s · 4 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

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

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

Hotel Müller poster
NR

An homage to Pina Bausch.

Hotel Müller

2010

Hotel Müller poster
NR

An homage to Pina Bausch.

Hotel Müller

2010

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

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

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

Elon Doesn't Believe in Death poster
5.2

As he does every single day, Elon goes to meet his wife at her workplace, but she is not there. He doesn’t find her at home as well, so he starts to retrace the path Madalena makes daily. In the morning after, Elon goes to the police station and files a report, runs into hospitals, morgues. Alone, he wanders through a metropolis, searching for news about the sudden and mysterious disappearance of his wife.

Elon Doesn't Believe in Death

2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Casa Na Comporta poster
NR

Casa Na Comporta is one of four films commissioned to different directors for the Portuguese architecture national exhibition at the Venice Biennale.

Casa Na Comporta

2011

Casa Na Comporta poster
NR

Casa Na Comporta is one of four films commissioned to different directors for the Portuguese architecture national exhibition at the Venice Biennale.

Casa Na Comporta

2011