José Maria Vaz da Silva
Directing
Known For

The tragic story of the many lives of Father Dinis, his dark origins and his pious works, and the different fates of all those who, trapped in a sinister web of love, hate and crime, cross paths with him through years of adventure and misfortune in the convulsed Europe of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. (A longer television version of the film of the same name, released in 2010.)
Mysteries of Lisbon

The plan to build a large shipping canal between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea had been around for a long time. But it took a man with the drive of Ferdinand de Lesseps to make it happen.
L'Homme de Suez

The tragic story of the many lives of Father Dinis, his dark origins and his pious works, and the different fates of all those who, trapped in a sinister web of love, hate and crime, cross paths with him through years of adventure.
Mysteries of Lisbon

Fed up with the sea, Paul, a Swiss mechanic working in the noisy bowels of a merchant ship, lands in Lisbon.
In the White City

Portugal, late 1940's. André must leave the country after running away from prison. In Oporto some friends get him a guide, Lambaça, a smuggler who knows very well the Trás-os-Montes border from Portugal to Spain.
Five Days, Five Nights

When the child Manuel wanders into a garden that is off-limits to him, he meets an unidentified fisherman, and another boy -- the boy is actually himself several years down the road. Manuel experiences three different versions of his encounters in the garden, revealing that fate can have several twists and turns in one's life, depending on decisions that are made early on.
Manoel’s Destinies

Manoel is an aging film director who travels with the film crew through Portugal in search of the origins of Afonso, a famous French actor whose father emigrated from Portugal to France and in process remembers his own youth.
Voyage to the Beginning of the World

A surreal odyssey in which a melancholic maidservant crosses paths with a homicidal little boy, travels to a tiny island of pirates and encounters a man with multiple personalities.
City of Pirates

No description available.
Lobos

Portrait of the last days of the life of Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco.
Day of Despair

Catalyst in the story of crossed paths is a 1957 Ford Fairlane being driven through Portugal’s Alentejo region to a new owner. Film’s overly protracted opening has car’s drivers (Filipe Cochofel, Antonio Pedro Figueiredo) joy riding the night away until the roadster breaks down. Momentum picks up at sunrise with their attempts to fix the car. A retired mechanic-turned-beekeeper with a heart condition (Canto e Castro) does the trick and convinces Figueiredo to take him cross-country on a motorbike to look up an old friend. Cochofel and the mechanic’s alarmed niece (Maysa Marta) follow in pursuit. The old man dies peacefully on the road, but Figueiredo, having wholeheartedly grasped his deliverance mission, keeps going.
Far Away from Here

Helena is doctor in a big hospital. One night she hears a love song through her window and starts living for that song that she hears everynight.
Segredos

Carlos is a famous journalist at the age of 55. His wife, Ada, is the opposite of her husband, a woman with a very active social life, and she is happy and seductive. One day, Carlos accidentally opens a text message on Ada’s cellular telephone. A new world reveals itself before his eyes when he discovers that his wife is seeing another man. With the help of his friend with whom he goes to live, Carlos discovers a universe of virtual lovers and electronic adultery.