Chico Peres Smith

Directing

Chico Peres Smith

Born

1983-06-10 (43)

Place of birth

Lisbon, Portugal

Known for

Directing

Credits

10 titles

Chico Peres Smith is a filmmaker and media artist whose work interrogates the fragile boundaries between analog memory and digital decay. His practice—spanning experimental documentaries, lyrical shorts, and community-engaged cinema—examines how technologies mediate identity, migration, and collective memory. Selected Works Tomorrow Doesn’t Exist (2024) A glitch-based interrogation of screen culture, structured as a triptych of decaying aspect ratios (9:16, 4:3, 16:9). The film’s handheld collage book becomes both subject and structural blueprint, questioning what survives when media erodes. Fogo Frio (2024) A haunting short film that traces the spectral edges of identity through contem…

Known for

HUMAN ERROR poster
NR

Noah, an infamous internet troll, who at the behest of their idol Jimmy Beast, sets off on a mission to unalive the politician who banned the social media app in which they derive all of their self-worth and identity.

HUMAN ERROR

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FOGO FRIO poster
NR

Fogo Frio is a contemplative meditation on Portuguese cinema and identity, framed by critic Justine Peres Smith’s haunting narration. Two landscapes—a Portuguese family home and Quebec’s Laurentian wilderness—merge in a dreamlike exploration of memory and artistic belonging. At its center, Lloyd burns letters in a fire, perhaps including Justine’s own words ("Dear Lloyd... Yours truly, Justine"). Their ambiguous bond mirrors the film’s tension between tradition and reinvention. Born from the director’s resistance to conventional "Portuguese cinema," Fogo Frio becomes a personal reckoning—a collaborative, improvisational work that challenges the solitary auteur myth. Through fire, silence, and stark beauty, it asks: How do we make art on our own terms?

FOGO FRIO

2024

Tummo poster
NR

Tummo is a meditative short film that immerses the viewer in the ancient Tibetan Buddhist practice of inner fire meditation. Through abstract visuals and rhythmic breathing sounds, the film evokes the transformative power of Tummo—a technique that harnesses breath and mental focus to generate profound internal heat and heightened awareness. Stripped of narrative, the film unfolds as a sensory journey, with undulating shapes and vibrant colors acting as metaphors for the rising "inner flame." The hypnotic interplay of light, sound, and movement invites the audience into a trance-like state, mirroring the meditative experience itself. Tummo is not just a film to watch but an experience to surrender to—a momentary escape from distraction into the depths of stillness and inner energy. It is an artistic exploration of the unseen fire within, offering a space for reflection, presence, and transcendence.

Tummo

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Tomorrow Doesn't Exist poster
NR

An experimental exploration of modern life’s emptiness, examining how the spectacle, the death of community, and the rise of individualism have reshaped our world.

Tomorrow Doesn't Exist

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Film credits

Behind the camera

FOGO FRIO poster
NR

Fogo Frio is a contemplative meditation on Portuguese cinema and identity, framed by critic Justine Peres Smith’s haunting narration. Two landscapes—a Portuguese family home and Quebec’s Laurentian wilderness—merge in a dreamlike exploration of memory and artistic belonging. At its center, Lloyd burns letters in a fire, perhaps including Justine’s own words ("Dear Lloyd... Yours truly, Justine"). Their ambiguous bond mirrors the film’s tension between tradition and reinvention. Born from the director’s resistance to conventional "Portuguese cinema," Fogo Frio becomes a personal reckoning—a collaborative, improvisational work that challenges the solitary auteur myth. Through fire, silence, and stark beauty, it asks: How do we make art on our own terms?

FOGO FRIO

2024

FOGO FRIO poster
NR

Fogo Frio is a contemplative meditation on Portuguese cinema and identity, framed by critic Justine Peres Smith’s haunting narration. Two landscapes—a Portuguese family home and Quebec’s Laurentian wilderness—merge in a dreamlike exploration of memory and artistic belonging. At its center, Lloyd burns letters in a fire, perhaps including Justine’s own words ("Dear Lloyd... Yours truly, Justine"). Their ambiguous bond mirrors the film’s tension between tradition and reinvention. Born from the director’s resistance to conventional "Portuguese cinema," Fogo Frio becomes a personal reckoning—a collaborative, improvisational work that challenges the solitary auteur myth. Through fire, silence, and stark beauty, it asks: How do we make art on our own terms?

FOGO FRIO

2024

Tummo poster
NR

Tummo is a meditative short film that immerses the viewer in the ancient Tibetan Buddhist practice of inner fire meditation. Through abstract visuals and rhythmic breathing sounds, the film evokes the transformative power of Tummo—a technique that harnesses breath and mental focus to generate profound internal heat and heightened awareness. Stripped of narrative, the film unfolds as a sensory journey, with undulating shapes and vibrant colors acting as metaphors for the rising "inner flame." The hypnotic interplay of light, sound, and movement invites the audience into a trance-like state, mirroring the meditative experience itself. Tummo is not just a film to watch but an experience to surrender to—a momentary escape from distraction into the depths of stillness and inner energy. It is an artistic exploration of the unseen fire within, offering a space for reflection, presence, and transcendence.

Tummo

—

Tummo poster
NR

Tummo is a meditative short film that immerses the viewer in the ancient Tibetan Buddhist practice of inner fire meditation. Through abstract visuals and rhythmic breathing sounds, the film evokes the transformative power of Tummo—a technique that harnesses breath and mental focus to generate profound internal heat and heightened awareness. Stripped of narrative, the film unfolds as a sensory journey, with undulating shapes and vibrant colors acting as metaphors for the rising "inner flame." The hypnotic interplay of light, sound, and movement invites the audience into a trance-like state, mirroring the meditative experience itself. Tummo is not just a film to watch but an experience to surrender to—a momentary escape from distraction into the depths of stillness and inner energy. It is an artistic exploration of the unseen fire within, offering a space for reflection, presence, and transcendence.

Tummo

—

Tomorrow Doesn't Exist poster
NR

An experimental exploration of modern life’s emptiness, examining how the spectacle, the death of community, and the rise of individualism have reshaped our world.

Tomorrow Doesn't Exist

—

Tomorrow Doesn't Exist poster
NR

An experimental exploration of modern life’s emptiness, examining how the spectacle, the death of community, and the rise of individualism have reshaped our world.

Tomorrow Doesn't Exist

—

Tomorrow Doesn't Exist poster
NR

An experimental exploration of modern life’s emptiness, examining how the spectacle, the death of community, and the rise of individualism have reshaped our world.

Tomorrow Doesn't Exist

—