António da Cunha Telles

Production

António da Cunha Telles

Born — Died

1935-02-26 — 2022-11-23

Place of birth

Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

Known for

Production

Credits

47 titles

António Cohen da Cunha Telles was born on February 26, 1935 in Funchal, Madeira. He studied Medicine in the University of Lisbon. He went to Paris around 1956, studying film-making at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques (IDHEC), graduating in 1961. His directing debut was made with the documentary "Os Transportes" (1962), and starts activity as a producer, becoming one of the essential names of the Portuguese New Cinema (Novo Cinema) movement. He produces "Os Verdes Anos" (1963) by Paulo Rocha and "Belarmino" (1964) by Fernando Lopes. In 1970, Cunha Telles directed his first feature-film, "O Cerco". Meanwhile, he established a distribution company (Animatógrafo) which becomes…

Known for

Film credits

2010s · 4 titles

Born with a Thunderstorm poster
NR

The autobiographical texts and letters by film director Manuel Guimarães, and exchanged by him with friends, are the axis for the intimate narrative of his life, social concerns, passion for movies - while revisiting many movies of the 20th century and his complete filmography. One segment documents the epic way directors attempted to bypass official censorship to show their movies out of the country.

Born with a Thunderstorm

2017

An Indian in War - Life and Work of António-Pedro Vasconcelos poster
NR

A retrospective on the life and work of Portuguese director António-Pedro Vasconcelos.

An Indian in War - Life and Work of António-Pedro Vasconcelos

2019

Chamo-me António da Cunha Telles poster
6.0

António da Cunha Telles is an unavoidable personality of Portuguese cinema. As a producer, he was at the origin of Portuguese New Cinema by producing Paulo Rocha's film Os Verdes Anos, Fernando Lopes film Belarmino and António de Macedo's film Domingo à Tarde. As a director he gave him a second breath with his film O Cerco. As a distributor he brought Ivan The Terrible and the Potemkin Battleship from Sergei Eisenstein. As exhibitor he showed us Deus, Pátria, Autoridade de Rui Simões of Rui Simões and The Salt of the Earth by Herbert J. Biberman. But António considers himself more a director than anything else. With a scarce and uneven filmography, his films have, however, been a reflection of the time they were made, showing that António da Cunha Telles is, above all, an attentive spectator, not only of films, but of life.

Chamo-me António da Cunha Telles

2010

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

Series credits

Behind the camera

Rouge Brésil poster
NR

Adaptation of the Jean-Christophe Ruffin novel

Rouge Brésil

2014

The Soft Skin poster
7.2

Pierre Lachenay is a well-known publisher and lecturer, married to Franca and father of Sabine. He starts a love affair with air hostess Nicole, which Pierre is hiding, but he cannot stay away from her.

The Soft Skin

1964

How to Draw a Perfect Circle poster
5.4

Guilherme and Sofia, brother and sister, grow up sharing experiences and slowly discovering their sexuality. The thing that Sofia doesn't know is how far Guilherme will go to keep her inside his own perverse, dark and perfect circle.

How to Draw a Perfect Circle

2009

Sweet Valentine poster
4.7

Ivan, small-time bandit, crosses paths with Sonia, a young woman from the provinces who has recently come to Paris. He hates her from first sight. She falls madly in love with him right from first sight. It's settled: this cruel man will be her Prince Charming, her hero, the man of her life.

Sweet Valentine

2010

The Invisible Circus poster
5.2

After learning that her sister, Faith, has committed suicide in Portugal, Phoebe, an 18-year-old hippie, decides to uproot from her San Francisco home to travel to Europe. Phoebe hopes to discover and experience the life that led to her sister's death by retracing her footsteps, which eventually leads to Wolf -- Faith's boyfriend. However, as Phoebe's journey continues, a series of visions of Faith pushes her mind to the brink.

The Invisible Circus

2001

Portuguese Vacation poster
5.8

Françoise and her husband Jean-Pierre invite some friend couples to spend a weekend in their large villa on the Portuguese coast. What follows is a romantic intrigue, with each character discovering a little more about themselves.

Portuguese Vacation

1963

Mais Tarde poster
7.0

During the investigation of a case, Teresa Rubens, a judge with a long career, married and mother of children, finds in court, as a defense witness, a former lover of her student days, Sousa Afonso, who owns some lands in Alentejo.

Mais Tarde

2001

The Circle poster
7.7

A look at the urban society of the seventies. The story of Marta a young and pretty girl, who leaves her husband to search for her true identity. She doesn't quite know what she wants, but at least she knows what she's escaping from. Soon she encounters financial difficulties and finds herself involved with shady characters, a situation that leads to a mysterious murder. The net closes around her.

The Circle

1970

The Circle poster
7.7

A look at the urban society of the seventies. The story of Marta a young and pretty girl, who leaves her husband to search for her true identity. She doesn't quite know what she wants, but at least she knows what she's escaping from. Soon she encounters financial difficulties and finds herself involved with shady characters, a situation that leads to a mysterious murder. The net closes around her.

The Circle

1970

No artwork available
7.0

Cristina is twenty years old. Her father was declared missing in action during the war in Angola many years before. One day in church the girl meets a man about fifty years old who tries various times, unsuccessfully, to make the sign of the cross. The man is called Cristovão. A few days later the two meet again. The man offers to help her look for her father. A relationship based on memories and confessions is formed between them. But soon they each return to their own solitude.

Paraíso Perdido

1995

Quasimodo d'el Paris poster
4.5

The location is the town of El Paris. When ten-year-old boy Quasimodo shows signs of deformity, his well-to-do parents place him in the charge of the town’s mysterious evangelist, Frollo. In exchange, they adopt a Cuban girl, Esméralda, from a lower social class. Ten years later, El Paris is menaced by a serial killer, and Quasimodo is the prime suspect.

Quasimodo d'el Paris

1999

The Wheat and the Tares poster
8.0

A sad and strong people living in the huge plains of Alentejo. Their endless struggle for bread, their nostalgic, bewitching songs and their daily toil to turn a dry, barren land into golden wheat fields.

The Wheat and the Tares

1965

Dores & Amores poster
NR

Júlia is approaching 30 and works as the director of a modeling agency. Single for quite some time, she is in love with Jonas. However, he is not interested in commitment and is involved with a Portuguese pastry chef, who has a fetish for lingerie.

Dores & Amores

2010

On the Edge of the Horizon poster
5.6

Spino, a pathologist, receives an unidentified body which looks familiar to him... himself, 30 years younger.

On the Edge of the Horizon

1993

The Guns and the People poster
7.3

Film directors with hand-held cameras went to the streets of Lisbon from April 25 to May 1, 1974, registering interviews and political events of the Portuguese "Carnation Revolution", as that period would be later known.

The Guns and the People

1977

Alta Velocidade poster
NR

An overview of the assemblage and production of motor vehicles in Portugal, including the local representatives of Mercedes, Morris, and Massey-Ferguson, and subsidiary industries for car parts.

Alta Velocidade

1967

8 8 poster
7.0

A 14-year-old kid, addicted to videogames, goes with his parents to a shopping mall and separates from them to go to a game store called UTOPYA. He doesn't come back. His parents get in despair, and his father tries everything he can to bring him back.

8 8

2001

Death in Therapy poster
6.2

Antoine Rivière, a highly-reputed psychoanalyst, is visited by a new patient, Edouard Berg. When Berg claims to have killed his own wife, the doctor suspects he is a compulsive liar. How could he know that he has been caught in a trap and it's already too late for escape?

Death in Therapy

1996

The Circular Triangle poster
8.0

Business tycoon dies in plane crash. Suspected, Georg, his main partner, Alain, a young Turkish finance, and Anna Maria, the group's proxy, are all seeking his succession.

The Circular Triangle

1964

True and Tender is the North poster
5.0

Adaptation of a 1987 novel by Agustina Bessa Luis, a multi-generation exploration of a wealthy family with a mysterious past and a house on the island of Madeira.

True and Tender is the North

2008

Amor Perdido poster
7.0

A story about two people (Clara and Tó), from different economic backgrounds, who love each other, but whose love is not accepted by everyone, especially by the father of Clara, who will do everything he can to stop their love. Things go even worse when Clara becomes pregnant.

Amor Perdido

2000

The Mystery of Sintra poster
5.4

Summer of 1870. Two writers, Eça de Queiroz and Ramalho Ortigão, decide to write a four-handed whodunit for the daily "Diário de Notícias". Could it be that the story they wrote as fiction is based on a real case? This question fuels the conflict between the two writers and drives them to a nearly fatal duel. Lisbon is in commotion. One crime follows another in a story in which love is stronger than tradition. Everything happens at frenzied pace, as in a game.

The Mystery of Sintra

2007

Fin de curso poster
5.4

There are two months to the end of High School Spanish classes in Lisbon and it's time to decide the destination for the end of year trip. That decision will cause a real "Civil War" between two irreconcilable groups: the "class nerd", who propose the typical cultural trip to Paris, and "freeloaders" who prefer to enjoy the week in Benidorm, the "New York's Costa Blanca ".

Fin de curso

2005

Shuttlecock poster
3.5

Major James Prentis VC is a British spy of World War II and war hero who goes under the code name of "Shuttlecock". Alienated from his family and children, he ends up in a mental institution in Lisbon, Portugal.

Shuttlecock

1993

Cherchez la Femme poster
NR

At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, Lúcio, a playwright and writer, and Ricardo, a renowned and enigmatic poet, form a deep bond. Marta, an enigmatic figure, arrives and stirs up impulses of desire and madness between the men.

Cherchez la Femme

2026

Cherchez la Femme poster
NR

At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, Lúcio, a playwright and writer, and Ricardo, a renowned and enigmatic poet, form a deep bond. Marta, an enigmatic figure, arrives and stirs up impulses of desire and madness between the men.

Cherchez la Femme

2026

América poster
6.4

In a Portuguese village by the sea, a family sees their house become a transit point to innumerous migrants due to a passport forgery business created by its patriarch, Vítor, and his Spanish ex-wife Fernanda. His Russian wife Liza and his son Mauro—who stops talking—see the newcomers alter the dynamics, relationships and aspirations of the house's residents.

América

2011

Lives poster
8.0

Lives is the story of a middle-aged couple that dwells the night, the heroin and small tricks.

Lives

1984

Lives poster
8.0

Lives is the story of a middle-aged couple that dwells the night, the heroin and small tricks.

Lives

1984

Lives poster
8.0

Lives is the story of a middle-aged couple that dwells the night, the heroin and small tricks.

Lives

1984

Belarmino poster
7.5

A portrait of Belarmino Fragoso, a veteran boxer in Lisbon nearing the end of his career. In a blend of reportage and re-enactment, the many vices of the once national featherweight champion are revealed against a background of the grim economics of boxing in 1960s Portugal.

Belarmino

1964

Catembe poster
7.5

This documentary shows a typical Sunday in Mozambique's capital, tourist main attractions, an inquest in Lisbon about the perception of the people in the street about what life was like in that African colony (or, as the Government had it then, "province"), and then interviews and scenes of Lourenço Marques fishermen and a bar waitresses. African folk music and dance were used as documents and background for the text narration.

Catembe

1965

Exit-exil poster
7.3

The film follows Duke and Olivia , a troubled couple living in a gloomy city. Duke is a failed, alcoholic saxophonist, while Olivia works as a striptease dancer. Trapped in a toxic environment, Olivia decides to break free from Duke’s self-destructive lifestyle to uncover her past She was separated from her parents as a child, and with the help of a judge named Gerard, she travels back to her childhood home located on a garbage dump. There, the locals welcome her as the "Madonna of the landfill".

Exit-exil

1986

Continuar a Viver ou Os Índios da Meia-Praia poster
9.0

The film documents the start, and difficult progress of a house cooperative in the fishermen's village of Meia Praia, during the revolutionary process in Portugal, from April 25, 1974 until mid-1976.

Continuar a Viver ou Os Índios da Meia-Praia

1977

Continuar a Viver ou Os Índios da Meia-Praia poster
9.0

The film documents the start, and difficult progress of a house cooperative in the fishermen's village of Meia Praia, during the revolutionary process in Portugal, from April 25, 1974 until mid-1976.

Continuar a Viver ou Os Índios da Meia-Praia

1977

Continuar a Viver ou Os Índios da Meia-Praia poster
9.0

The film documents the start, and difficult progress of a house cooperative in the fishermen's village of Meia Praia, during the revolutionary process in Portugal, from April 25, 1974 until mid-1976.

Continuar a Viver ou Os Índios da Meia-Praia

1977

Change of Life poster
7.1

After completing his military service in the Angolan War of Independence, Adelino goes back to the Portuguese fishing village he calls home, only to find that the woman he loves has married his brother. Overcome by bitterness, he sets off to find work in the countryside where he meets Albertina, a free-spirited young woman who challenges him to change his life.

Change of Life

1967

A Man is not a Cat poster
10.0

A woman gets into a fight with her boyfriend, concerning her lack of humanism. Leaving him abruptly at the Santa Apolónia Station, she strikes a conversation with an interesting homeless man whom she decides to take home to just to show her boyfriend that she cares.

A Man is not a Cat

2001

The Green Years poster
7.0

Nineteen-year-old Julio heads to Lisbon from the provinces and gets a job as a shoemaker for his uncle Raul. But when he meets Ilda, a confident young housemaid who becomes a regular shop visitor, his working-class values collide with the bourgeois trappings of modern life.

The Green Years

1963

Amo-te Teresa poster
6.9

Amo-te Teresa tells the forbidden love story of Teresa and Miguel, aged 35 and 15, respectively. Teresa is a doctor and, after a frustrated love life, she decides to abandon Lisbon and returns to her native land. Immediately, a strong attraction forms between Teresa and Miguel, a friend of her oldest son.

Amo-te Teresa

2000