Portuguese director invited to the Hollywood Academy

Portuguese director Miguel Gomes is among the 534 most recent guests invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that hands out the Oscars in Hollywood announced this Thursday.

In a statement, the Academy – which brings together around 10,500 members worldwide in 19 technical branches – said that the invitations were made to “artists and executives who have distinguished themselves through their contributions to cinema”.

“Through their commitment to filmmaking and the film industry at large, these exceptionally talented individuals have made indelible contributions to our global community,” Academy Executive Chairman Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement.

The list of 534 guests also includes several figures from Brazilian cinema, from actress Fernanda Torres to costume designer Claudia Kopke, directors Daniel Filho and Gabriel Mascaro and producer Maria Carlota Bruno. Also on the guest list is the Spaniard Albert Serra, who has directed several films with Portuguese co-productions.

Miguel Gomes joins a select group of Portuguese people who have been invited in the past , such as casting director Patrícia Vasconcelos, producers Bruno Caetano and Luís Urbano or directors Abi Feijó, João González, Mónica Santos and Regina Pessoa.

Born 53 years ago in Lisbon, Miguel Gomes has taken Portuguese cinema and his portraits of Portugal beyond borders, to international critics and festival juries. Last year, with the film “Grand Tour”, he won the award for best director at the Cannes festival, an award won by a Portuguese filmmaker for the first time.

Miguel Gomes has won several other awards at international festivals , including the critics' award at the Berlin festival for “Tabu” (2012), the award for best director (shared with Maureen Fazendeiro) at the Mar del Plata Festival (Argentina) for “Diários de Otsoga” (2021) and the special jury prize in Guadalajara (Mexico) for “Aquele querido mês de agosto” (2009).

Regarding the next film, produced by Uma Pedra no Sapato, we already know that it is titled “Selvajaria” and is inspired by the book “Sertões”, by the Brazilian writer Euclides da Cunha, which Miguel Gomes considers “one of the best books ever written in Portuguese”.