
Bruno Caetano
Production
Biography
Self-taught animator and builder, Bruno Isaac Grade Caetano graduated from the Center for Multimedia Studies and Research at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon with a specialization in Stop Motion. Despite having a strong preference for this technique, his professional career led him to participate in several projects in the most varied of animation techniques as well as other areas of artistic interest. He has worked as an animator, producer and director at several production companies. Bruno Caetano is a founding member of COLA Animation, an ever growing international cooperative of united artists, focused on producing, teaching and promoting animation worldwide. When it comes to his work as a producer, Bruno Caetano has achieved some of the highest nominations and distinctions possible. With an already vast catalog of auteur films with the COLA Animation seal, from talented directors from around the world, some of these films were selected and awarded at festivals such as Cannes, Toronto International Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Annecy, Zagreb Animation Festival, among other renown festivals. In 2022/2023, with "Ice Merchants" by João Gonzalez, he was the first Portuguese animation producer to be nominated for a European Film Award, the second Portuguese animation producer to receive the Annie Award for best short film and, in January 2023, he became the first Portuguese producer to be nominated for an Academy award, the coveted Oscar, of which, since 2023, he is now a member.
Known For

A story of a man with a very dense eyes who sees all the surrounding reality only after seven years. The consequence of the eye defect translates into the mental immaturity of the man, lack of understanding of the present and belated reflections on long-gone facts. The man is never mature enough for his age and constantly lingers on the past.
Slow Light

A spaceprobe called Beresheet, legless birds of paradise, hamster cull and humanity trying to make the world make sense.
In the Beginning

A group of soldiers, lost in the woods, must face the traumas of their past and the terrifying forces stalking them.
The Hunt

Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily.
Ice Merchants

In a city where nature has been forbidden, a small crime by a simple man triggers a chain of unexpected consequences.
The Peculiar Crime of Oddball Mister Jay

Two energies that exchange glances, yield to a passion that vibrates in harmony. Both are transmuted, revealing themselves as witnesses that with a gesture of love it is possible to deserve the world.
The Beating Seed

Bruno Aleixo has an accident the week before Christmas, leaving him in a coma. However, doctors are unanimous: they do not give a physiological reason for this comatose state, so they conclude that it is of a psychological nature. Bruno Aleixo, an assumed hater of the Christmas spirit, simply refuses to wake up. Using the recognized archetype of Charles Dickens' Christmas Tale, sleeping Bruno Aleixo relives, in dreams, several traumatic Christmases of the past, present and future.
O Natal do Bruno Aleixo

An experimental animated documentary in three chapters that explores the connection between the cinematic cut and human relations extracted from home movies. Three chapters exploring the connection between cinematic cutting and human relationships extracted from home movies. A meditation on life, love and loss explored through a montage of home movies of six Scandinavian families, the materiality of paper and the thread that connects them.
A Visualization of A Cut

The fear of being overwhelmed by the outside world can literally make you lose your head.
Ahead

In a fantastical sequence of events, a young man confronts not only his personal fears, but also the adversities of life. A story of learning and finding a path of inspiration.
Sequential

While working opposite schedules, a couple attempts to maintain their connection through fleeting encounters.
Two Ships

In a mysterious forest, a woman is slowly lured into a nostalgic daydream as she observes butterflies.
The Shadow of the Butterflies

Mrs. Piedade is an old mouse who lives in a small village in the mountainous interior of Portugal. Her existence is mainly composed of loneliness and memories, and a hardened routine, guided by the regular beat of the clock and the tea she drinks with her friends, two sisters, who live in the same village. The accumulation of this routine will awaken in Mrs. Piedade the desire to break it. Drawn on to a strong memory that prevents her from acting, she returns to where she was once happy hoping to regain some kind of new happiness.
With Each Passing Day...

A young boy's pimple bursts, leading to a bloody disaster.
Pimple

“Telsche” is a 2D short animation film that explores memory, loss, and love. It is about the journey that one girl takes to remember someone she has long forgotten.
Telsche

Red boards the train. If she could vanish right then and there, she would. Everything is off, unreal. Memories blend together with the landscape. Time and space collapse. A little girl runs towards a creaking house. Wild grass grows in the train. Red wades through and confronts her past.