António Campos

Biography

António Campos (29 May 1922 – 8 March 1999) was one of the pioneer filmmakers of visual anthropology in Portugal. Mainly using pure documentary techniques, he shot ethnographic films and tried docufiction. As well as in fictional films, he used the methods of direct cinema to portray the life of ancient human communities (ethnofiction) of his country. He started making films at the beginning of the sixties, at the same time as John Marshall (US) and Michel Brault (Canada). Without knowing much about Jean Rouch, he followed his steps in an original way. He integrated a troupe of theater amateurs and worked at a state department office in Leiria. He got a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in 1961, where he worked between 1970 and 1976, to study cinema in London. He took part in the 20th Century Film Festival, in Kracow, Poland. He was the delegate in Portugal for the International Federation of Art Film and a member of the International Union of Independent Filmmakers (UNICI). He started making films as an amateur. He shot ethnographic films with 16 mm light cameras and with no scientific purposes, like some of his Portuguese fellows, such as António Reis, Ricardo Cost…

Directed

1. The Invention of Love (1966) — Director
2. A Tremonha de Cristal (1993) — Director
3. Ti Miséria (1979) — Director
4. Cold Land (1992) — Director
5. Histórias Selvagens (1978) — Director
6. Falamos de Rio de Onor (1974) — Director
7. Gente da Praia da Vieira (1976) — Director
8. A Festa (1975) — Director
9. Vilarinho das Furnas (1971) — Director
10. A Almadraba Atuneira (1961) — Director
11. The Lord (1959) — Director
12. Paredes Pintadas da Revolução Portuguesa (1976) — Director
13. Chagall - Breve a Lua, Lua Cheia, Virá Aparecer (1967) — Director
14. Um Tesoiro (1958) — Director
15. Retratos dos das Margens do Rio Lis (1965) — Director
16. Leiria 1960 (1960) — Director

Also appeared in

1. We Talk About António Campos (2009) — Himself (archive footage)