Pedro Costa

Pedro Costa is a Portuguese film director. While studying history at University of Lisbon, Costa switched to film courses at Lisbon Theatre and Film School (Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema) where he was a student of António Reis, Paulo Rocha and Alberto Seixas Santos. After working as an assistant director to several directors such as Jorge Silva Melo, Vítor Gonçalves and João Botelho, he made a first feature film O Sangue (The Blood) in 1989.

He collected the France Culture Award (Foreign Cineaste of the Year) at 2002 Cannes Film Festival for directing the film In Vanda's Room. Colossal Youth was selected for the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and earned the Independent/Experimental prize (Los Angeles Film Critics Association) in 2008. He is considered to be part of "The School of Reis" film family.

António Reis, Portuguese director, was his teacher at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called Pedro Costa "the Samuel Beckett of cinema". He is acclaimed for using his ascetic style to depict the marginalised people in desperate living situations.

Many of his films are set in a district of Lisbon inhabited by socially disadvantaged and shot in a natural and low-key way in documentary format: some are docufictions.

Pedro Costa is known for work in directing across film and television. New Release currently presents 25 verified screen credits connected to this profile.

Selected work includes Sacavém: The Films of Pedro Costa (2019), História do Cinema Português (2001), A Portuguese Farewell (1986), Horse Money (2014), Vitalina Varela (2019), In Vanda's Room (2001), Memories (2007), All Blossoms Again: Pedro Costa, Director (2006). The recorded credits span 1984 to 2026, including 24 movies and 1 TV show.

The filmography below lists available titles, release years and known roles. This profile is updated as additional verified information becomes available.