António Campos

Directing·May 29, 1922·Leiria, Portugal

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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 Costa or Pedro Costa, this one using small mini DV cameras, some years later. After the Carnation Revolution, he directed some theatrical fictional features in 35 mm, all with a strong anthropologic content. He was one of the representatives of the Portuguese Cinema Novo (or Novo Cinema), inspired by the French New Wave. His film Gente da Praia da Vieira (People of Praia da Vieira), 1976, is, together with Trás-os-Montes, by António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro, and with Mau Tempo, Marés e Mudança (Changing Tides), by Ricardo Costa, one of the first docufictions of Portuguese cinema. Shot on the same year, these films, in the same genre, are preceded by Acto da Primavera (Act of Spring), 1962, by Manoel de Oliveira, and Ala-Arriba!, 1948, by José Leitão de Barros, a contemporary to Robert Flaherty. These films may also be classified as ethnofictions.

Film	Credit
We Talk About António Campos2009 · Himself (archive footage)	Himself (archive footage)
AA Tremonha de Cristal1993 · Director	Director
Cold Land1992 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Ti Miséria1979 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Histórias Selvagens1978 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Gente da Praia da Vieira1976 · Director	Director
Paredes Pintadas da Revolução Portuguesa1976 · Director of Photography, Director	Director of Photography, Director
AA Festa1975 · Director	Director
Falamos de Rio de Onor1974 · Writer, Director, Producer	Writer, Director, Producer
Vilarinho das Furnas1971 · Director, Producer, Writer, Director of Photography	Director, Producer, Writer, Director of Photography
CChagall - Breve a Lua, Lua Cheia, Virá Aparecer1967 · Director	Director
The Invention of Love1966 · Director, Director of Photography, Writer, Producer	Director, Director of Photography, Writer, Producer
RRetratos dos das Margens do Rio Lis1965 · Director	Director
A Almadraba Atuneira1961 · Director, Producer, Writer, Director of Photography	Director, Producer, Writer, Director of Photography
LLeiria 19601960 · Director, Director of Photography	Director, Director of Photography
The Lord1959 · Director, Director of Photography, Writer	Director, Director of Photography, Writer
Um Tesoiro1958 · Director	Director