André Gil Mata
Biography
André Gil Mata was born in 1978. Having studied mathematics, he has worked mostly in photography, theatre and film and is one of the founders of the Portuguese photography and cinema laboratory Átomo 47. In 2009, his debut short-film WATER ARK won several awards having been shown in several international festivals, as well as his second short-film HOUSE. GRAVEDIGGER, his third short-film, won the Mèlies d'Argent and CAPTIVITY, his first feature-length documentary won the DocAlliance Award at Cannes, in 2013. Gil Mata obtained his master degree in film direction in 2012, at Lisbon Theatre and Film School and finished his PhD at Film. Factory (Sarajevo) in 2016.
Known For & Full Filmography8 Titles
Movie - 2012, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Inspired by popular cult, O COVEIRO is part light part darkness, a bedtime story and almost a nightmare. A child is born and his parents die of fright just to see him. André Gil Mata revisits the traditional Portuguese tale, in a fantastic movie where heads bounce, but you hear a song.
Movie - 2023, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Melgaço, Parada do Monte. The memory of a chance encounter on the border between the real and the imagined, the affection and superstition, has been passed down from generation to generation.
Movie - 2011, 2h 15m • as André
Caught in time, a trio of prehistoric characters lives around a dolmen. One of them, who is hyperactive, tries to stir his mates emotions with inventions and works of art. A strange object made out of bone, which re frames reality, will trigger greed and envy in them. Super 8 allegorical on Portugal, and the collective behavior of its people.
Movie - 2025, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Three men wash ashore in a forgotten cove, where time seems to have stood still. Surrounded by volcanic rocks and tides, they find themselves confined in a place as beautiful as it is inhospitable. As the days go by, a strange presence begins to insinuate itself among them.
Movie - 2014, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Director Júlio Bessa, who suffers from "stage fright" will make an introduction to his latest film at Festival de Cinema Luso Brasileiro in Santa Maria da Feira.
Movie - 2026, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
The River Douro, in Porto, is the area of the Portuguese maritime territory where most suicides by precipitation occur. Gastão dedicates his life to rescuing these bodies, not trying to save them, instead giving them back to their families so they can have a closure.
Movie - 2023, 2h 15m • as Todo o Exército Russo
Ubu, instigated by his wife, murders King Venceslau and usurps the throne of Poland. Intoxicated by power, this grotesque and coward character conducts his reign in an absurd and cruel way, leading his kingdom to ruin. A cinematographic adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s play, a political satire that, cyclically, turns to the reality of world politics.
Movie - 2023, 2h 15m • as Schmar
In an ominous Lisbon courtyard where the last executioner of the kingdom once lived, an accident is waiting to happen. After a patient game of who's observing who, four characters will collide with dire consequences. Inspired by the novel The Damned Yard by Nobel Prize-winning Bosnian writer Ivo Andrić, this is a masterclass in slow cinema, a pure 16mm cinematic pleasure by André Gil Mata.