Every project begins with an artist.

Aventesma

Co-creator and director

Mitchell Kriegman is an American writer, producer and director and a three-time Emmy Award winner. He began as a writer and filmmaker for Saturday Night Live and National Lampoon, then created Clarissa Explains It All, Bear in the Big Blue House and The Book of Pooh, and worked as story editor and developer on Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show and Doug. His work spans television, theatre, books and documentary. On Aventesma, he is co-creator and director.

Aventesma

Co-creator and writer

Filipe Homem Fonseca is a Portuguese screenwriter, playwright, novelist, humorist, musician and director, born in Lisbon in 1974. For three decades he has written across television, theatre, radio, film and the page, from the landmark comedy programme Herman Enciclopédia to the novel A Imortal da Graça and several books of poetry. His work moves easily between wry humour and the textures of everyday Portuguese life. On Aventesma, he is co-creator and writer, leading script and narrative development.

Janes

Director

André Braz is a Portuguese film director with more than twenty years of experience across documentary, branded content and commercials. Born in Aveiro and trained in journalism and film direction, he has made campaigns for brands including Apple, Leroy Merlin and Fidelidade, and won a Grand Prix at the Clube de Criativos de Portugal for the documentary Dream Big. His feature documentary Feel the Magic, on basketball star Ticha Penicheiro, premiered at Tribeca Festival Lisboa in 2025. On Janes, he directs the film.

Territórios que Contam

Graphic novel

Nuno Caravela is a Lisbon-born author and illustrator who has worked in children's books since 1992. He studied at IADE and Ar.Co, spent six years as an advertising creative, and for seven years wrote and coordinated Escola Global, a project bringing traditional Portuguese tales into the classroom. His best-known series, O Bando das Cavernas, has passed one million copies sold in Portugal, with titles recommended by the Plano Nacional de Leitura. On Territórios que Contam, he leads the graphic novel.

Territórios que Contam

Children's book, author and curator

Margarida Azevedo is a writer, editor and trainer. She holds a master's degree in Text Editing and a degree in Communication Sciences, and studied Artes da Escrita at postgraduate level at NOVA FCSH. Her work explores the links between writing, music and the performing arts. She has published Orfeu e os seus avôs em busca do Tosão and Grito Umbilical, and her tale A Caixa da Pandora appears in the anthology Conto em Casa. On Territórios que Contam, she is author and curator of the illustrated children's book.

Territórios que Contam

Children's book, illustrator

Marta Calado is a designer and illustrator born in Évora who now lives on the Alentejo coast. A graduate in Communication Design, she has worked as a freelance designer, a children's book illustrator and a mentor to young artists. Nature is her main source of inspiration, and her work brings illustration together with strategic design and branding. On Territórios que Contam, she illustrates the children's book, giving image to the stories the students help to write.

Territórios que Contam

Theatre adaptation

Mafalda Santos was born in Lisbon in 1982. She trained in acting at the Escola Profissional de Teatro de Cascais and graduated in Theatre and Directing from the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema. An actress and director since 2000, she writes for theatre and television, teaches acting, and has published novels including Enquanto o Fim Não Vem and Terra Estreita. On Territórios que Contam, she leads the dramaturgy and direction of the annual stage adaptation.

A Volta do Elefante

Director and producer

David Novack is an American documentary filmmaker, producer and sound designer who lives between New York and Lisbon, where he teaches sound and cinema at Universidade Lusófona. Founder of Odessa Films, he directed Burning the Future: Coal in America, Finding Babel and All Static & Noise, on survivors of the camps in China's Uyghur region, and produced Kimjongilia, which premiered at Sundance in 2009. He began as a sound designer on films including Velvet Goldmine and Kids. On A Volta do Elefante, he is director and producer.

BOSK

Concept and artistic direction

Bruno Doedens, born in 1959, is a Dutch land artist who trained in landscape architecture at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam and won the Prix de Rome for landscape architecture in 1990. Since 2007 he has been artistic director of SLeM, creating temporary landscapes on dikes, dunes, canals and beaches, works measured in hundreds of metres. BOSK Leeuwarden, his walking forest made with Arcadia, shared the Dutch Design Award 2023 in the Habitat category. He leads the concept and artistic direction of BOSK in Évora.

Janes

Performer

Mafalda Arnauth was born in Lisbon in 1974 and came to fado while finishing a degree in veterinary medicine. Her self-titled debut album, released in 1999, brought her Blitz magazine's New Talent award, and with Encantamento she began writing much of her own repertoire. Admired for the freshness of her interpretations, she has performed widely across Europe. She appears in Janes, singing the songs of Alberto Janes.

Janes

Original idea and creative direction

José Quintela is a Lisbon copywriter and creative director with some twenty years in Portuguese advertising, at agencies including Leo Burnett, Bates Red Cell, Young & Rubicam and VMLY&R, where he was creative director. He has created campaigns for brands such as Compal, BMW and Leroy Merlin. Alongside advertising he writes fado lyrics, and storytelling is the thread through all of his work. On Janes, he originated the idea and leads the film's creative direction.

A Volta do Elefante

Producer, Seara Filmes

Frederico Mesquita is a Portuguese filmmaker and producer, born in 1991 and based in Lisbon. Trained in painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts and in cinema at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, he worked as assistant to Gabriel Abrantes on Diamantino, winner of the Cannes Critics' Week Grand Prize, and has managed production on films by Miguel Gomes and Marco Martins. He directed the short films A Barriga de Mariana and Francisco Perdido, and founded Seara Filmes in 2024. On A Volta do Elefante, he is the producer.

Janes

Lyrics consultant

Tiago Torres da Silva is a Lisbon-born writer, poet, lyricist, stage director and producer. He made his debut as a playwright in 1997 at the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, and has since written and directed for theatres in Portugal and Brazil. A prolific fado lyricist, he has written for Celeste Rodrigues, Carminho, Ricardo Ribeiro, Gisela João and Mafalda Arnauth, as well as Brazilian voices such as Maria Bethânia and Ney Matogrosso. On Janes, he is the consultant on lyrics.

Janes

Performer

Jorge Fernando is a Lisbon-born guitarist, composer and singer. He came to fado as a teenager, joined Amália Rodrigues' group while still young and toured the world with her. He is the author of widely sung fados such as Quem Vai ao Fado, Boa Noite Solidão and Chuva, and was made Commander of the Order of Infante D. Henrique in 2016. He appears in Janes, bringing to the screen the songs of Alberto Janes that Amália made famous.

Janes

Performer, unreleased songs

Cláudia Pascoal is a singer and songwriter born in Gondomar in 1993. She trained in fine arts and audiovisual production in Porto, with music never far away. In 2018 she won the Festival da Canção with O Jardim, written by Isaura, and represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. She returned to the national final in 2023 with her own song, Nasci Maria. She lends her voice to Janes, recording one of Alberto Janes' unreleased songs.

Territórios que Contam

Young-adult novel

Sara Rodi was born in Porto in 1978 and grew up in Évora. A graduate in Communication Sciences, she published her first novels, Frio and A Sombra dos Anjos, in 2000, and has since written historical fiction, television scripts and more than thirty books for young readers. She is a co-founder of the civic movement Por Uma Escola Diferente, which works for better schooling. On Territórios que Contam, she is the author of the young-adult novel.

Festival da Paisagem

Writer and director, Noite de Núpcias

Marcantonio Del Carlo is an Italian actor, director and writer who has lived in Portugal since the age of fifteen. He trained at the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema in Lisbon and has worked in theatre since 1989, with companies including the Teatro Experimental de Cascais, the Teatro da Cornucópia and the Teatro Nacional São João, alongside film, television and teaching. For the Festival da Paisagem he wrote and directs Noite de Núpcias, a monologue built from real testimonies.

Janes

Performer

António Zambujo was born in Beja in 1975 and grew up with the cante alentejano before making his name in Lisbon fado. He won the Amália Rodrigues Prize for best male fado singer in 2006 and was made Commander of the Order of Infante D. Henrique in 2015. His album Do Avesso received the José Afonso Prize, and his tribute to Chico Buarque earned a Latin Grammy nomination. He lends his voice to Janes, performing the songs of Alberto Janes.

Janes

Performer, unreleased songs

José Geadas, who performs as Geadas, is a young fado singer, string player and composer from Rio de Moinhos, in Borba, in the Alentejo. He came to fado as a child, winning the Grande Noite do Fado de Lisboa in 2006, and later studied Portuguese guitar at the Museu do Fado. His debut album, Outros Amores, released in 2023, is rooted in traditional fado. He lends his voice to Janes, recording one of Alberto Janes' unreleased songs in the Alentejo.

BOSK

Curator

Sjoerd Bootsma is a Dutch curator and artistic director based in Leeuwarden. He was creative producer and co-artistic leader of Leeuwarden-Fryslân European Capital of Culture 2018, and then artistic director of Arcadia, the cultural programme that presented the BOSK walking forest in 2022. He also co-founded the festivals Explore the North and Welcome to The Village. He brings that European Capital of Culture experience to Évora as curator of BOSK.

Janes

Music consultant

João Filipe is a fado musician and one of the new generation of viola de fado players. Born into a family of fadistas, he began singing fado very young and taught himself classical guitar before making the viola de fado his main instrument. He accompanies leading fado singers on stages in Portugal and abroad, among them Joana Amendoeira, and plays in Lisbon's principal casas de fado. On Janes, he is the consultant on music.