João Rui Guerra da Mata

Directing·Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique

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João Rui Guerra da Mata was born in Lourenço Marques, Mozambique. He teached Art Direction at the Lisbon Film School from 2004 to 2011. In 1997 he co-starred in the short PARABÉNS!, directed by João Pedro Rodrigues, that won the Special Jury Mention at the 54th Mostra di Venezia. As an Art Director, he worked in several features and shorts, notably the ones directed by João Pedro Rodrigues, whose films he also co-scripted. This collaboration lately evolved to co-direction, namely in the shorts CHINA, CHINA (2007) – 39th Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes; Best Short Film and Audience Award, Belfort Film Festival and ALVORADA VERMELHA (2011) – Best Portuguese Short Film, IndieLisboa Film Festival; international premiere at Locarno Film Festival. O QUE ARDE CURA (2012) is his debut solo film.

Film	Credit
13 Alfinetes2025 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Where Is This Street? or With No Before or After2023 · Actor, Director	Actor, Director
Will-o'-the-Wisp2022 · Writer	Writer
A Room in Town2021 · Director	Director
Where Do You Stand Now, João Pedro Rodrigues?2016 · Actor	Actor
The Ornithologist2016 · Screenplay	Screenplay
Here in Lisbon2015 · Actor	Actor
LL'oiseau de la nuit2015 · Actor	Actor
IEC Long2015 · Director, Screenplay, Director of Photography	Director, Screenplay, Director of Photography
Mahjong2013 · Actor, Screenplay, Director	Actor, Screenplay, Director
The Last Time I Saw Macao2013 · Actor, Screenplay, Director, Director of Photography	Actor, Screenplay, Director, Director of Photography
As the Flames Rose2012 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
A Portuguese Film2011 · Himself	Himself
Red Dawn2011 · Director, Director of Photography, Writer	Director, Director of Photography, Writer
China, China2007 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
O Fantasma2000 · Police 2	Police 2
Happy Birthday!1997 · Francisco	Francisco
AAfonso's SmileWriter	Writer