João Bénard da Costa

SYNOPSIS

A documentary about João Bénard da Costa (1935-2009): cultural manager, essayist, critic and film historian. Having been an influential intellectual in Portugal, Bénard da Costa was also a Cinema History professor at the Escola de Cinema do Conservatório Nacional (1973-80); coordinator of Cinema Sector at the Fine Arts Service of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (1969-71), a position in which he was extremely important in supporting the work of filmmakers of the so-called "new cinema"; and was the third director of Cinemateca Portuguesa (1991-2009). As Duarte de Almeida, he took part as an actor in films directed by Manoel de Oliveira, João César Monteiro, Raúl Ruiz, Paulo Rocha and Rita Azevedo Gomes, among others. In addition to a central interview with Bénard da Costa, this documentary, produced on the occasion of his 70th birthday, also collects testimonies from several friends, collaborators and family members.