Camera

Acácio de Almeida

Acácio de Almeida (born 29-06-1938) is a Portuguese cinematographer best known for his work with João César Monteiro, Raúl Ruiz, Alain Tanner, Valeria Sarmiento and Rita Azevedo Gomes.

Known For

Deus Pátria Autoridade

Deus Pátria Autoridade · 1976

Deus Pátria Autoridade

MovieDocumentary

The history of Portugal since the Republican revolution of 1910 to the revolutionary period following the military coup of April 24, 1974, recounted with a marxist perspective, using historic sound and film documents. The title refers to a trilogy of values proclaimed by Salazar, prime minister of Portugal in 1936.

Etoile

MovieFantasyMystery

An American ballerina arrives in Hungary to enroll in a ballet school and it soon becomes apparent that things are not what they seem.

Régime sans pain

Régime sans pain · 1985

Régime sans pain

MovieFantasyMusic

Régime sans pain, influenced by (Ruiz's) friend Jean Baudrillard (and calling) to mind grade-Z SF, grew out of a commission to direct a music video (featuring French cult rock duo of Angèle/Maimone). Ruiz offered a counterproposal that he direct several music videos rather than one; once this deal was made, he shot enough material to interconnect the various videos until he arrived at a feature.

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday Afternoon · 1966

Sunday Afternoon

Reflections on life and death unfold through the eyes of Jorge, the head doctor of the Haematology Department, whose world is plunged into despair when he falls in love with Clarisse, a woman suffering from advanced leukemia.

Fragile as the World

Fragile as the World · 2001

Fragile as the World

MovieDramaRomance

An impossible love. Two young people who love each other. Vera and João can’t find in this life the space, time, or identity to resolve their love story.

Cisne

Vera is a singer in her thirties; she is back in Lisbon for the final performance of her concert tour. The heat and beauty of Lisbon makes one want to be happy. Pablo, the companion she selected from among the many who answered her questionnaire, helps her through the sleepless nights. He has no family, but wishes he had. Vera concerns herself with the mysteries surrounding Pablo's life. Vera is not afraid of the night; she is not afraid of anything.

Maine-Ocean Express

Maine-Ocean Express · 1986

Maine-Ocean Express

"Maine-Ocean" is the name of a train that rides from Paris to Saint-Nazaire (near the ocean). In that train, Dejanira, a Brazilian, has a brush with the two ticket inspectors. Mimi, another traveler and also a lawyer, helps her. The four of them will meet together later and live a few shifted adventures with a strange-speaking sailor (Mimi's client).

A Portuguese Farewell

A Portuguese Farewell · 1986

A Portuguese Farewell

In Africa, during the colonial war, a patrol is lost in the bush and a soldier dies in operation. Twelve years later, in Portugal, the soldier family meets in peace.

Filmography

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Deus Pátria Autoridade

Deus Pátria Autoridade · 1976

Deus Pátria Autoridade

MovieDocumentary

The history of Portugal since the Republican revolution of 1910 to the revolutionary period following the military coup of April 24, 1974, recounted with a marxist perspective, using historic sound and film documents. The title refers to a trilogy of values proclaimed by Salazar, prime minister of Portugal in 1936.

Cinematography

Etoile

MovieFantasyMystery

An American ballerina arrives in Hungary to enroll in a ballet school and it soon becomes apparent that things are not what they seem.

Director of Photography

Régime sans pain

Régime sans pain · 1985

Régime sans pain

MovieFantasyMusic

Régime sans pain, influenced by (Ruiz's) friend Jean Baudrillard (and calling) to mind grade-Z SF, grew out of a commission to direct a music video (featuring French cult rock duo of Angèle/Maimone). Ruiz offered a counterproposal that he direct several music videos rather than one; once this deal was made, he shot enough material to interconnect the various videos until he arrived at a feature.

Director of Photography

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday Afternoon · 1966

Sunday Afternoon

Reflections on life and death unfold through the eyes of Jorge, the head doctor of the Haematology Department, whose world is plunged into despair when he falls in love with Clarisse, a woman suffering from advanced leukemia.

Assistant Camera

Fragile as the World

Fragile as the World · 2001

Fragile as the World

MovieDramaRomance

An impossible love. Two young people who love each other. Vera and João can’t find in this life the space, time, or identity to resolve their love story.

Director of Photography

Cisne

Vera is a singer in her thirties; she is back in Lisbon for the final performance of her concert tour. The heat and beauty of Lisbon makes one want to be happy. Pablo, the companion she selected from among the many who answered her questionnaire, helps her through the sleepless nights. He has no family, but wishes he had. Vera concerns herself with the mysteries surrounding Pablo's life. Vera is not afraid of the night; she is not afraid of anything.

Director of Photography

Maine-Ocean Express

Maine-Ocean Express · 1986

Maine-Ocean Express

"Maine-Ocean" is the name of a train that rides from Paris to Saint-Nazaire (near the ocean). In that train, Dejanira, a Brazilian, has a brush with the two ticket inspectors. Mimi, another traveler and also a lawyer, helps her. The four of them will meet together later and live a few shifted adventures with a strange-speaking sailor (Mimi's client).

Director of Photography

A Portuguese Farewell

A Portuguese Farewell · 1986

A Portuguese Farewell

In Africa, during the colonial war, a patrol is lost in the bush and a soldier dies in operation. Twelve years later, in Portugal, the soldier family meets in peace.

Director of Photography

If I Were a Thief... I'd Steal

If I Were a Thief... I'd Steal · 2013

If I Were a Thief... I'd Steal

1920s. Vitalino, a small farmer from São Vicente sees his father die of the epidemic which decimated the country. Some years later, of all the brothers, Vitalino is the strongest and takes his father’s place in the house. But the village is too small for his aspirations and he decides to head to Brazil, leaving his sisters in charge of the household. In parallel with Vitalino’s story, If I Were a Thief… I’d Steal portrays the world of Paulo Rocha rummaging through his films and ghosts over the years.

Director of Photography

In the White City

In the White City · 1983

In the White City

MovieDramaRomance

Fed up with the sea, Paul, a Swiss mechanic working in the noisy bowels of a merchant ship, lands in Lisbon.

Director of Photography

Passion

Passion · 2012

A woman recovering from a personal tragedy imprisons a man she met at a party, shutting him in a room of a building demolition.

Director of Photography

Secrets

Secrets · 2008

After long decades of exile, a leftist former activist returns to Chile to settle accounts with his conscience, related to the death of a colleague and political hero . The task of Atalibar is to reveal his secret. But his view clashes with the current country, godless, far from the old ideologies and where all his old colleagues have changed.

Director of Photography

Alta Velocidade

Alta Velocidade · 1967

Alta Velocidade

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.

Director of Photography

Vieirarpad

Vieirarpad · 2021

MovieDocumentary

VIEIRARPAD begun with the correspondence between the couple Maria Helena Vieira da Silva and Arpad Szènes, between 1932-1961. The letters and the intimacy of their words are pretext for the exploration of an equally intimate visual journey

Director of Photography

Lives

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

Director of Photography

The Circle

The Circle · 1970

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.

Director of Photography

Justa

In 2017, in Portugal, devastating wildfires destroyed forests and killed children and adults; some died in their villages, others were trapped on a road. Communication failed, and the villages had no shelters. The film’s action does not take place in 2017, but at a later time. It follows a small group of people who lost their dearest ones and are now in the process of learning how to live after everything they have lost.

Director of Photography

The Law of the Land - Alentejo 1976

The Law of the Land - Alentejo 1976 · 1978

The Law of the Land - Alentejo 1976

MovieDocumentary

The agriculture reforming process, after the 1974 revolution, is seen through an analysis of the social structures and class struggles of the Portuguese society.

Director of Photography

The Other Night

The Other Night · 1988

The Other Night

When Éric and Marie go to meet their parents at the harbor for the holidays, the latter are victims of an overnight hit-and-run. Marie hides the truth from Éric, investigates the accident alone, and soon finds the presumed culprit.

Director of Photography

Rending

Rending · 2001

MovieCrimeDrama

A philosophy-obsessed serial rapist stalks a university campus in broad daylight.

Director of Photography

Ana

Centered on an elderly matriarch and her family in the Trás-os-Montes region of Portugal. An exploration of the cycle of life and death, using the main character, Ana, as an emblem of a life lived in harmony with nature and tradition.

Director of Photography

Aspern

MovieDramaRomance

A publisher seeks information on a writer who died long ago.

Director of Photography

Island of Loves

Island of Loves · 1982

Island of Loves

This film depicts the life of the 19th-century Portuguese writer Wenceslau De Moraes by means of nine ancient ballads from China. The writer married a Chinese woman after he left his wife and family to go live in Macao. Later, he moved to Japan where he fell in love with a Japanese woman, staying in Japan for the rest of his life. Mixed in with the career and loves of Moraes is the history of Portugal at home and in its colonies.

Director of Photography

The Mask

The Mask · 1988

A debauched nobleman offers himself to a beautiful woman, but she is repelled by his advances. He dons a mask and tries again, and this time is more successful. But the mask cannot conceal the evil in his soul.

Director of Photography

Manuel on the Island of Wonders

Manuel on the Island of Wonders · 1984

Manuel on the Island of Wonders

SeriesKidsSci-Fi & Fantasy

This three part French TV serial for children (alternate versions exist as a feature, Manoel’s Destinies, and a 4 part Portuguese TV serial, Adventure in Madeira) is the favourite of many devotees of Raúl Ruiz. This is because it ties the enchantment and mystery of Lewis Carroll, Carlo Collodi and the Brothers Grimm to the filmmaker’s experiments with narrative strategies and what he calls the pentaludic model of storytelling (where characters are thrown dice-like into combinations and situations governed by the play of Chance and Destiny).

Director of Photography