
Gonçalo Almeida
Gonçalo Almeida is one of the leading names in Portuguese fantasy cinema, known for his work with non-actors and the success of "THURSDAY NIGHT" – a film starring two dogs that was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival in 2018. The film received international press coverage and also won the Best Director for Horror Shorts award at the Fantastic Fest – the largest genre film festival in the United States – and the Best Portuguese Short Film award at MotelX. In 2019, back in Portugal, Gonçalo premiered his first feature film, "KEEP ME COMPANY," in NOS Audiovisuais cinemas, and later joined the Talents Program at the 69th Berlinale. In 2020, he was awarded the NICO prize by the Portuguese Film Academy, which recognizes new talents excelling in Portuguese cinema. In 2022, with "THE GIRL FROM SATURN," Gonçalo received a nomination for Best Fiction Short Film at the Sophia Awards by the Portuguese Film Academy and was awarded, for the second time, Best Director for Shorts at the Fantastic Fest in the United States. In early 2023, his project "O Advento" was selected among 300 candidates for the European long feature film development program LIM (LESS IS MORE). His work was the subject of a retrospective at the 2023 Leiria Film Fest. In early 2024, Gonçalo completed "ATOM & VOID," a sci-fi short film featuring a real spider. Gonçalo is frequently invited to serve on juries at film festivals, including the Feature Film Jury at Motel X 2023. He is pursuing a PhD in Media Arts at UBI, and his work has been featured in publications such as Indiewire and Vogue.
Filmography
[2024] Atom & Void (short)
[2021] The Girl from Saturn (short)
[2019] Keep Me Company
[2017] Thursday Night (short)
[2017] Phantom (short)
[2016] Condrong (short)
[2015] Mooncup (short)
[2015] Hum(short)
[2015] The Quiet Time (short)
[2015] Severed Garden (short)