Pedro Costa (b. Lisboa,1959)

Born in Lisbon, he left his course of studies in History to attend classes taught by the poet and filmmaker António Reis at the Lisbon Film School. His first film 'O Sangue / Blood' had its world premiere at the Mostra Cinematografica di Venezia in 1989.

'Casa de Lava', his second feature, shot on the Island of Fogo in Cabo Verde, was shown in Cannes, 'Un Certain Regard', in 1994.

His other feature films include 'Ossos', 'In Vanda's Room' and 'Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie?', on the work of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub.

Recently he directed 'Sweet Exorcist', a segment of the omnibus feature 'Centro Histórico', with Manoel de Oliveira, Aki Kaurismaki and Victor Erice.

His work has been presented in galleries and museums around the world.

He is one of the invited artists of the Cuban Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2013.

More about the artist: www.pedro-costa.net

http://www.pierrevonkleist.com/casa-de-lava.html

'Casa de Lava' is a 1994 film by Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa.

35 years old at the time, he traveled to the islands of Cape Verde in the AtlanticOcean to shoot this second feature of his, which on completion signaled to the world the presence of an outstanding talent.

During the course of the production preparation, he compiled what he saw, what he read, his many ideas and images into a scrapbook instead of a screenplay. Paintings, movie stills, letters, newspaper articles, scribbles, quotes from novels, postcards, lines of dialogue, snapshots that guided him throughout the shooting of the film and that he continued - and finished - after returning to Lisboa.

This green covered notebook, overflowing with collage and dog-eared from his hands, became an autonomous object, a visual record of Costa's way of thinking.

Reproducing the original book in full color, we've included an exclusive

interview with Pedro Costa by Nuno Crespo and a text by Philippe Azoury (both in portuguese, english and french).