Born in Lisbon in 1966. After studying Biology at the Lisbon Sciences University, in 1985 João Pedro Rodrigues attended the Lisbon Film School, in which he graduated in 1989. From 1989 to 1996 he worked as assistant director and editor with well-known names of the portuguese cinema, such as Teresa Villaverde. His short “Parabéns!” (1997) participated at the Cinema Festival of Venice of 1997 and received a special distinction of the Jury. And his feature, “O Fantasma”, of 2000, received the Award for the Best Foreign Feature Film at the Cinema Festival of Belfort in the same year. Recently he directed “Odete”, Special Mention from Cinémas de Recherche in Cannes 2005, Director’s Fortnight .