Biography

Mário Patrocínio is a Portuguese writer-director whose films explore identity, memory and belonging through stories that reveal what connects us beyond cultures, borders and time. Working across fiction and documentary, he brings a humanistic perspective to both forms, combining emotional storytelling with a deep curiosity about the human condition.

Born in Lisbon, Patrocínio spent part of his childhood in Japan, where he attended a local public school as its only Western student. At the age of eight, he began filming his family's everyday life with a Hi8 camera and taking photographs so he could one day share those memories with his grandparents back in Portugal. What began as a child's attempt to bridge distance through images, instinctively developing a visual language, would later shape a cinematic voice rooted in memory, identity, and the experience of living between cultures.

He later studied filmmaking in Los Angeles before continuing his training in script analysis with Michael Margotta and directing actors with Jack Waltzer. His career has since taken him across Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

His documentary work gained international recognition with Complexo: Universo Paralelo (2011), Portugal's highest-grossing documentary of the year, followed by I Love Kuduro (2014), an acclaimed portrait of Angola's influential urban music movement. His early work led to his selection for Berlinale Talents in 2017 and European Film Promotion's Producers on the Move in 2020.

He later turned to fiction with the award-winning short films The Tuner of Silences and Before the Moon Rises, and made his feature debut with Maria Vitória, which premiered in Official Competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival and earned nominations for the Tokyo Grand Prix and Best Director.

Alongside his work as a writer-director, Patrocínio has produced internationally acclaimed films including On Falling, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the Silver Shell for Best Director at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, and Color Out of Space, starring Nicolas Cage. Beyond cinema, he has directed internationally recognized campaigns, including a Cannes Lions Grand Prix-winning campaign, with further recognition from the Clio Awards and The One Show.

His next feature as writer-director is My Father's Wives, a multilingual road movie spanning Southern Africa, adapted from José Eduardo Agualusa's acclaimed novel and starring Taís Araújo. He is also writing the feature adaptation of Mia Couto's novel The Tuner of Silences.

For Patrocínio, cinema is a place where people can encounter each other without judgment. Rather than offering answers, his films invite audiences to complete each story through their own memories, experiences, and emotions.
- IMDb mini biography by: Rita da Cruz