Fernando Lopes

He surges in his generation, of budding directors rising up through the so-called “cine-club” movement, and acquires his first technical knowledge by working in television.

He graduated from the London Film School, which he attended in 1959-60, with a scholarship from the National Cinema Fund. After his return to Portugal, he pens Belarmino (1964), a film about the life of the pugilist Belarmino Fragoso, a film that is considered one of the key works from the Portuguese New Cinema movement, along with Dom Roberto by Ernesto de Sousa, and Os Verdes Anos (The Green Years) by Paulo Rocha.

In 1965, he spends a training period in Hollywood, where he remains for three months. Upon returning, he films A Bumblebee in the Rain (1971), adapted from the novel by Carlos de Oliveira and starring Laura Soveral; and along with O Delfim (2002), the two films are considered his greatest works. In 2006, he directs two films: 98 Octanes, and To Each Her Own. His most recent film is Twist of Fate. —ossorrisosdodestino.com