
Acting
Valdemar Santos
Born
1963-08-06 (63)
Place of birth
Benguela, Angola
Known for
Acting
Credits
53 titles
Known for
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Heart of Gold
2015
7.0Diogo Almada is a successful account manager at a telecommunications company who is struggling with serious stress and anxiety issues due to the constant state of pressure he lives in. His situation becomes worse when he suffers a stroke which puts him in hospital. There, doctors tell him that if he doesn't slow down things could become much worse for him in the future. He also meets the owner of a vegetables and herbs greenery in Beirais, a small village in the midlands, who is looking to sell it. Diogo then decides to buy him out and risk it as a farmer himself. He wants his girlfriend Teresa to come along with him, but she refuses to leave Lisbon due to her career and also because she doesn't want to give up her city comforts. But Diogo decides to move to Beirais anyway, where he is faced with an entirely different reality from what he’s used to.
Welcome to Beirais
2013
6.3At the dawn of the modern era, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan leads an expedition under the Spanish crown in search of the first westward route to the Spice Islands. He embarks on a perilous journey across the uncharted Pacific, where his fleet faces starvation, mutiny, and the psychological toll of endless seas. Upon reaching the shores of Cebu, Magellan is pulled into a fatal conflict with the natives by his drive to spread Catholicism, culminating in his tragic doom.
Magellan
2025
6.0When Edward’s search for his biological family leads him and his girlfriend Ryley to a magnificent villa high in the mountains of Northern Portugal, he is full of excitement at meeting his long-lost mother and twin brother. Finally, he will discover who he is and where he comes from. But nothing is as it seems, and Edward will soon learn that he is linked to them by a monstrous secret.
Amelia’s Children
2024
5.0A collection of six distinct stories drawn from a rich and extensive body of folklore that narrates Iberian mythology. This epic series weaves a tapestry of myths and tales while tackling fantasy, horror, humor, and drama.
Lusitânia
2023
NRBased on the tale of the Prodigal Son, 'Prodigal' is a film about the relationship about father and son, and a simple gesture of love. Shot on 16mm in a single location.
Pródigo
2018
Film credits
2020s · 17 titles
6.3At the dawn of the modern era, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan leads an expedition under the Spanish crown in search of the first westward route to the Spice Islands. He embarks on a perilous journey across the uncharted Pacific, where his fleet faces starvation, mutiny, and the psychological toll of endless seas. Upon reaching the shores of Cebu, Magellan is pulled into a fatal conflict with the natives by his drive to spread Catholicism, culminating in his tragic doom.
Magellan
2025
6.0When Edward’s search for his biological family leads him and his girlfriend Ryley to a magnificent villa high in the mountains of Northern Portugal, he is full of excitement at meeting his long-lost mother and twin brother. Finally, he will discover who he is and where he comes from. But nothing is as it seems, and Edward will soon learn that he is linked to them by a monstrous secret.
Amelia’s Children
2024
6.0Miranda do Corvo, 1933. Tomé, a young worker haunted by guilt over his betrayal, is chosen by his colleagues for an important mission in the union's struggle against the Estado Novo. Faced with this moral challenge, he confronts not only the real dangers of police repression, but also his own demons.
O Pio dos Mochos
2023
5.7In the mid-20th century, a troubled relationship between Germana, a young writer, and Quina, her aunt who lives in the northern Portuguese countryside. Feelings of jealousy, admiration and the complex magnetism between these two strong women arise.
The Sibyl
2023
NRA writer immerses himself in his work La muerte del payaso and becomes a hostage of impossible dreams. Between crimes and hallucinations, between the gothic nature of night and the decadence of the sand, a hopeless story is told, based on the work of Raul Brandão.
A Pedra Sonha Dar Flor
2024
NROne sleepless night, Emília recalls a childhood trauma. Amidst the burning memories, she visits her parents, her sister, Manuel and all the places of her solitude.
Light Was a Break
2024
NRAccused of adultery, Ana Augusta Plácido and Camilo Castelo Branco were imprisoned for more than a year in the Porto Prison, she in June 1860, he in October of the same year, after an adventurous escape from justice through the lands of the North.
Memories of Prison
2026
6.0Like every summer, little Salomé returns to her family village nestled in the Portuguese mountains for the holidays. As the vacations begin in a carefree atmosphere, her beloved grandmother suddenly dies. While the adults are tearing each other apart over the funeral, Salomé is haunted by the spirit of the one who was considered a witch.
Alma Viva
2022
4.0Pavese considered Dialogues with Leucò his best work. Eloquent and at the same time sententious and fragile, but implausible among humanized gods, demigods, heroes, and other pagan figures of Greek mythology, who question, through the imaginary of myths, the society of contemporary man. Out of a time and a certain space, and thus, and like all myths, always current.
Dialogues After the End
2023
NRPessoa famously published under many heteronyms: around 75 different names, each with fully fleshed-out backgrounds, styles, appearances and philosophies. Taking this a step further, Não Sou Nada gives flesh to these characters, all working together under Pessoa, enacted by Miguel Borges, at the publishing house The Nothingness Club.
The Nothingness Club
2023
7.0In a rural landscape, that resembles an old Portugal, an elderly man find out that his wife, whom he believed to be dead, was seen shopping in town. Spiteful and sad, he wants to hide from everyone, but his friends insist that he uses this situation to become stronger and try to get married again.
Surdine
2020
6.3Dreaming of great adventures and of standing up for his homeland, a young Portuguese man enlists in the army during World War I and is sent to the front line in Mozambique, Africa. Left behind by his platoon, he sets out on a grueling trek across the mystic Makua native land, walking for over a thousand kilometers, in search of his dream.
Mosquito
2020
NRUbu, instigated by his wife, murders King Venceslau and usurps the throne of Poland. Intoxicated by power, this grotesque and coward character conducts his reign in an absurd and cruel way, leading his kingdom to ruin. A cinematographic adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s play, a political satire that, cyclically, turns to the reality of world politics.
Ubu
2023
NRA theft of water, a homicide, a question of honour, a tragedy in the village of Gralhas, Montalegre.
Before the Mountains
2020
2.0A compilation of films project multiple versions of people won by vida.
Down by Life
2020
NRInspired by the work of Bertolt Brecht and filmed in Porto's former industrial slaughterhouse, A Santa Joana dos Matadouros is a meta-cinematic essay about the labor market in times of economic crisis in Europe. The film explores the possibilities of cinema in its relationship with theater and brings together a cast of professional actors, amateurs, renowned artists from various disciplines, and a group of unemployed residents of Vale de Campanhã.
A Santa Joana dos Matadouros
2024
NRAn ascetic nurse working in palliative care tries to overcome her fear of death and loneliness while her mother fights for her life after a sudden illness.
Consolatio
2026
2010s · 27 titles
NRBased on the tale of the Prodigal Son, 'Prodigal' is a film about the relationship about father and son, and a simple gesture of love. Shot on 16mm in a single location.
Pródigo
2018
9.0Inspired by popular cult, O COVEIRO is part light part darkness, a bedtime story and almost a nightmare. A child is born and his parents die of fright just to see him. André Gil Mata revisits the traditional Portuguese tale, in a fantastic movie where heads bounce, but you hear a song.
The Gravedigger
2012
6.0In a small fishing village, two boys are forced to take part in drug trafficking. When the eldest plans to escape, the younger one is forced to deal with the adversities of being left behind.
Carga
2017
NRThe story of a vigilante friar, zealous caretaker of goodness and order who, after suffering unrequited love for an engaged woman, becomes a terrifying villain in a quiet town.
The Scoundrel
2012
NRFive low-life people find themselves trapped in a public toilet.
Liberdade Condicional
2014
8.5During a harsh winter, a river by the house of two cousins freezes over. In the cold wind, their relationship grows bitter, reaching its limits.
Augur
2018
NRMadalena is a seven-year-old girl who has to draw the nativity scene. When she lists the characters in the biblical scene, she is confronted with a surprise: God, the father of Jesus, is not included in the scene. The girl is reluctant to accept this new information, but after considering the facts, she eventually comes to a curious conclusion.
Quem é o Pai do Menino Jesus?
2010
4.5A triptych of short stereoscopic films by Peter Greenaway, Jean-Luc Godard and Edgar Pêra. Includes "The Three Disasters" by Godard, "Cinesapiens" by Pêra and "Just in Time" by Greenaway.
3x3D
2013
NRLuana plays between trains and swings while she waits for her father on the other side of the line.
Luana
2018
10.0A man from a village in the interior of portugal is back to visit the family that is left. But the true reasons for his return are not clear.
Pena Fria
2014
6.4A homeless man sleeps in front of an empty store when suddenly a vehicle stops and two men start to carry cases inside. Meanwhile the man tries to understand what is going on.
Momentos
2010
NRLife through a glass, life through a lens, life through a camera. Fade to black. General view of the access to a factory with a big wheel.
Broken Windows
2012
10.0During a night of humiliation, Raymond lives an inner revolt and a kaleidoscopic journey in a country that is about to collapse.
Magnetick Pathways
2019
NRIn 2016, Edgar Pêra released The Amazing Spectator, a playful investigation into cinema’s disquieting essence that had everything from negative film images of boobs and positively splendid interviews to a donkey hand puppet. The film and an accompanying book formed his PhD thesis. But as so often with him, projects turn into obsessions – especially when there are masses of notions not pondered, thoughts not elaborated upon. And so KINORAMA - Beyond the Walls of Cinema was born, a stand-alone continuation of The Amazing Spectator that looks at cinema’s future in cyberspace and, accordingly, perhaps the end of its enslavement to figurative representation, the 'stupid sacred in narrative cinema' (to use a Pêra’ism), realism and artificiality in 3D cinema, and many other aspects.
Kinorama: Beyond the Walls of the Real
2019
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Por Diabos
2016
6.0Dr. Ivan has found two radical cures for unhappiness: the diagnosis of fake terminal cancers and the temporary elimination of some of the 5 senses. But will the therapies result or will they have unforeseeable side effects?
Uma Vida Sublime
2018
6.1Four voices and their visions of Guimarães, cradle city of the Portuguese nation and European Capital of Culture in 2012.
Historic Centre
2012
8.0Double revenge in two separate stories. Set in both a near future and the historical past, revenge is served not by violence, but by love.
Lovers on Borders
2017
NRIn the 1960s, António, an agent of the PIDE, is assigned to follow Aurora to Paris, a young woman suspected of oppositionism. It is May 1968, and during the student revolt, the two young people fall in love. Back in Porto, their forbidden passion ends abruptly. For decades, António writes Aurora letters that she keeps unopened. When the correspondence is unexpectedly interrupted, both give up on life. Based on the director's novel entitled "A Casa Azul" (The Blue House).
O dia em que as cartas pararam
2017
5.7I am the double of the shadow of my own image. An allegory that occupies my place. This is my act of contrition. Beyond good and evil, I stand as an equation: Its result cannot be manipulated By morals or ethics. In mathematics there is no place for beliefs Just as life and death Are a certain fate.
Ornament and Crime
2015
6.2A kino-investigation about spectatorship, a continuous conversation between different kinds of spectators: which one is more cinema: Citizen Kane on a mobile phone or a football game projected in a cinema theatre? What is the cinema of uncertainty? How many kinds of amazement exist? Does fear and belief precede amazement? What are the rights and duties of the spectator? Is the essay film a manifesto against voyeurism? Should spectators be paid? What amazes the spectator of this day and age?
The Amazed Spectator
2016
NRConstantino works as a keeper of flocks during the day and as a keeper of a museum during the night. He works continuously since he has nowhere to live. Aurora passes by him every morning and end of the day. One day she is brave enough to talk to him.
The Keeper
2015
NRA bunch of spectators trapped in a cinema theatre.
A Caverna
2015
6.5This is the story of a man who after living over ten years isolated away from his country, returns to avenge His brother's death. Inspired by the writings of David Henry Thoreau, he is translating 'Civil Disobedience' into Portuguese. The action is set between 1908 and 1910, between the assassination of the Portuguese King and Prince and the creation of the Portuguese Republic, an era where anarchists who fight against the monarchy often cross the path of burglars. On a country where corruption is set, the state representatives try to rob, arrest and kill innocents. The main character faces the tyranny of the state and tries to save the rest of his family. But this is a country where nothing changes.
Hay Road
2012
NRUbi Sunt. Porto. Cartography of an imaginary place attracted by the margins (social and geographical) Hybrid and eclectic project, it is the outcome of a audiovisual research residency of humam and urban exploration of an expanding city. Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt?, meaning "Where are those who were before us?". Reflective essay on mortality and life's transience, it emerges from that dialectic, of a and episodic and fragmented structure with a choreographed cinematography; where the memory intersects the contemporary.
Ubi Sunt
2016
NRA man suffers from amnesia after an accident.
A Ceia
2013
NRMany years after having been locked in the basement by his father, Samuel believes he is still grounded.
De Castigo
2010
2000s · 2 titles
NRIn a lake surrounded by buildings, a man builds a boat.
Arca D'Água
2009
4.0Crime Blue Abyss Physical Remorse is inspired by the life and works of Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso. This controversial 20th century painter defied the world avant-garde of his time: “I don’t follow schools. I am an impressionist, cubist, futurist, abstractionist. A melting pot. The real tradition is not to try and relive the past – which is impossible to achieve – but rather something that sets up a follow-through, as happens with parents and children. A child and his father are never alike.” The film follows Amadeo’s motto. It crosses pictorial fiction – suggested by the emblematic picture “The Procession”, painted in Paris in 1913 – with Portuguese contemporary reality.
Crime Abyss Blue Physical Remorse
2009
Undated · 2 titles
In the mid-1940s, in a Portugal mired in poverty and illiteracy, a group of boys work in the potteries of Alhandra, on the coast, collecting clay to make tiles and bricks. Gineto, Sagui, Malesso, Guedelhas and Gaitinhas form strong friendships and bonds of camaraderie, while dreaming of other places and embarking on liberating adventures, facing the harshness of work, the daily dramas of family life, hunger, abuse and injustice with courage, rebellion and determination. In the end, their unity always prevails in a world of adults who do not understand them.
Creeks
—
A boy walks the streets of a city with his shoeshine box. While he is asked to grow up fast, he continues to look for ways of being a child.
Júlio
—
Series credits
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Heart of Gold
2015
7.0Diogo Almada is a successful account manager at a telecommunications company who is struggling with serious stress and anxiety issues due to the constant state of pressure he lives in. His situation becomes worse when he suffers a stroke which puts him in hospital. There, doctors tell him that if he doesn't slow down things could become much worse for him in the future. He also meets the owner of a vegetables and herbs greenery in Beirais, a small village in the midlands, who is looking to sell it. Diogo then decides to buy him out and risk it as a farmer himself. He wants his girlfriend Teresa to come along with him, but she refuses to leave Lisbon due to her career and also because she doesn't want to give up her city comforts. But Diogo decides to move to Beirais anyway, where he is faced with an entirely different reality from what he’s used to.
Welcome to Beirais
2013
5.0A collection of six distinct stories drawn from a rich and extensive body of folklore that narrates Iberian mythology. This epic series weaves a tapestry of myths and tales while tackling fantasy, horror, humor, and drama.
Lusitânia
2023
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Daqui Houve Resistência
2025
NRNo synopsis available yet.
2' Minutos para Mudar de Vida
2019
