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Bruno de Almeida is a New York based filmmaker. Of Portuguese origins, he was born in Paris in March 1965. He grew up in Lisbon and moved to New York in 1985. He began as a musician playing with Graham Haynes & No Image and other musicians of the downtown scene. He wrote music for choreographers such as Francisco Camacho and Vera Mantero. In the late 80's he moved on to make films. An internship at Film/Video Arts led him to work briefly as a cameramen and editor and in 1990 he opened his own company Arco Films. In 1993 his film THE DEBT won the award for best short at the Cannes Film Festival Critic's Week. The film played in 85 international film festivals and won 8 best film awards. It was released theatrically in Europe before features and broadcast in several countries. His feature debut ON THE RUN starring Michael Imperioli, John Ventimiglia (from the Sopranos) won the award for best film at the Ourense Film Festival, in Spain, in 1999 and was nominated for a Critic's award at the Paris Film Festival and for an Open Palm at the Gotham Awards in New York in 2000. The film was released theatrically and broadcast in Europe and in the US. It had it's cable debut at The Independent Film Channel in 2001 and was released on DVD in 2002 becoming a small cult classic. |
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His second feature THE ART OF AMÁLIA, a documentary about the legendary singer Amália Rodrigues, was released theatrically and had a long run across the US in 2000. The film was broadcast in the US and Europe and was released on DVD in July 2004 by EMI. It went double platinum as the top-selling DVD in Portugal for four consecutive weeks. Bruno has directed 3 other films about AMÁLIA RODRIGUES , a five-hour television series, a concert video live in New York City and a tribute film at Lisbon's Expo'98. His third feature O CANDIDATO VIEIRA a documentary about the satirical portuguese rock star Manuel João Vieira, who ran for presidential candidate in 2001, was released in the summer of 2005 on a double DVD along with a concert video of his band ENA PÁ 2000. Bruno has also directed OTHER PROJECTS that include documentaries, commercials and music videos. From 1999 to 2004 he directed several projects for the Independent Film Channel including BEYOND BORDERS a documentary shot in Mexico about John Sayles and adoption in third world countries. In 2005, Bruno created a film for LIVE EVIL-EVIL LIVE a dance piece by choreographer Francisco Camacho which premiered at the International Dance Festival in Algarve and was shown at Lisbon's Culturgest. In December 2005, he completed his fourth feature THE COLLECTION a compilation of 24 short stories that were developed and created with a group of New York actors and writers over a four year period. This film is available for download at arcofilms.com and it was released on DVD in April 2006. His most recent film THE LOVEBIRDS a feature starring Michael Imperioli, Drena De Niro, John Ventimiglia, Joaquim de Almeida, Ana Padrão, Nick Sandow, Rogério Samora, Dmitry Bogomolov, Fernando Lopes, Marcello Urgeghe, Johnny Frey, Filipe Vargas and Cleia Almeida, won the Jury Prize at Fantastporto Film Festival director's week. The film is currently playing in theaters across Portugal. Bruno his currently in production on a documentary about CAMANÉ the greatest contemporary fado singer. He is also editing HOMEOSTÉTICA 6=0 a documentary about the not-likely legendary art group known as the ultimate post-paradoxological art statement: The Homeostetic Movement. Next, Bruno will continue production on PORTUGAL ALCATIFADO a musical-humoristic piece on Manuel João Vieira. List of film festival awards For information in portuguese please go to the BA Filmes website |