João Canijo

João Canijo

Birth : 1957-12-10, Porto, Portugal

History

João Canijo (born 10 December, 1957; Porto) is a Portuguese filmmaker. His film Get a Life was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. His 2011 film Blood of My Blood was selected as the Portuguese entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. His 2023 film Bad Living won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. Before his directorial debut, Canijo worked as assistant director for Wim Wenders in The State of Things (1982) and for Werner Schroeter in Der Rosenkönig (1986).

Profile

João Canijo
João Canijo

Movies

Living Bad
Screenplay
A hotel by the northern shore of Portugal welcomes its guests over the weekend. A man is torn between being present for his wife and the space that his mother takes up between the two of them. A mother encourages her daughter’s marriage to enable her own love affair with her son-in-law. Another mother lives through her daughter, preventing her from making her own decisions. Three families at the end of their cycles of acceptance.
Living Bad
Director
A hotel by the northern shore of Portugal welcomes its guests over the weekend. A man is torn between being present for his wife and the space that his mother takes up between the two of them. A mother encourages her daughter’s marriage to enable her own love affair with her son-in-law. Another mother lives through her daughter, preventing her from making her own decisions. Three families at the end of their cycles of acceptance.
Bad Living
Screenplay
In a family-run hotel, by the Portuguese northern shore, lives a group of women from different generations of the same family, whose relationships with each other have grown poisoned by bitterness. They try to survive in the declining hotel, as the unexpected arrival of a granddaughter to this oppressive space stirs trouble, reviving latent hatred and piled-up resentments.
Bad Living
Director
In a family-run hotel, by the Portuguese northern shore, lives a group of women from different generations of the same family, whose relationships with each other have grown poisoned by bitterness. They try to survive in the declining hotel, as the unexpected arrival of a granddaughter to this oppressive space stirs trouble, reviving latent hatred and piled-up resentments.
Fojos
Director
Castro Laboreiro, in the far north of Portugal, is a place whose hills lead to a dead-end street. They call it the end-of-the-world’s pit. Men and wolves live abreast. Wolves leave their lair to freely attack the preys of men locked in their burrows. Both trapped in this huge pitfall called life from where no-one gets out alive.
Diary of Beiras
Director
A journey through the Beiras region. The houses, the cafes, the streets, the people still living in them. What the lands were and are, and the testimonies of those still living there. The day-by-day of some of those people – less and less, and increasingly aged. And alone.
Fátima
Screenplay
The journey of 11 women while they go on a pilgrimage from Bragança to Fatima.
Fátima
Director
The journey of 11 women while they go on a pilgrimage from Bragança to Fatima.
The Day of My Wedding
Director
The film follows the adventures of a bride and her family on the verge of a nervous breakdown on her wedding day.
The Day of My Wedding
The film follows the adventures of a bride and her family on the verge of a nervous breakdown on her wedding day.
Los Barcos
An actress travels to Lisbon representing a film where she has a secondary role, regarding nobody else was available to go. In the Q&A in the Cinematheque she doesn't know how to answer the audience questions.
Portugal: One Day at a Time
Director
A journey that begins in the far north of Portugal, and visits a dozen of villages and places in Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. The houses, the cafés, the streets and the people who still live there. It is the picture of the day-to-day of some of these people, who are ever fewer, and ever more elderly. And lonely. People who live their lives one day at a time.
Here in Lisbon
(segment "Los Barcos")
Welcome to Lisbon: there are mermaids by the Tagus and birds flying over the old city; there are mad scientists and singing fish; lost tourist guides and lost tourists; fado and sad guitars. What a weird city you may think - but no. Lisbon is about being different, sarcastic, welcoming to foreigners even in an economic crisis. Different directors became fascinated by our strangeness. We became fascinated by these directors. The city is never the same in these four episodes, here in Lisbon.
That's Love
Writer
In Caxinas, a fishing neighborhood in Vila do Conde, a city on the north of Portugal, the relationship between the fishermen and their wives is based on vital trust and reciprocal and absolute dependence, in order to assure their families survival.
That's Love
Director
In Caxinas, a fishing neighborhood in Vila do Conde, a city on the north of Portugal, the relationship between the fishermen and their wives is based on vital trust and reciprocal and absolute dependence, in order to assure their families survival.
Raul Brandão was a Great Writer...
Director
This film is an attempt to disclose if Raul Brandão has left any trace, in Nespereira, Gumarães.
Raul Brandão was a Great Writer...
Screenplay
This film is an attempt to disclose if Raul Brandão has left any trace, in Nespereira, Gumarães.
Obligation
Writer
In Caxinas, the relationship between the woman and the fisherman is founded on trust, born of their mutual and complete dependence, which is vital for the survival of the family. The wife and the fisherman trust and depend on each other, one to survive, the other to manage his life.
Obligation
Director
In Caxinas, the relationship between the woman and the fisherman is founded on trust, born of their mutual and complete dependence, which is vital for the survival of the family. The wife and the fisherman trust and depend on each other, one to survive, the other to manage his life.
Blood of My Blood
Writer
A regular family living in the outskirts of Lisbon sees the serenity of their lives shaken beyond any remedy within a week.
Blood of My Blood
Director
A regular family living in the outskirts of Lisbon sees the serenity of their lives shaken beyond any remedy within a week.
The Actor's Work
Sound
Throughout a year's work, a group of ten actors and a film director will work together on the creation of the characters and on the structure of the plot of a new film to come. Long sessions of discussion, rehearsals and endless repetitions serve to develop the most important scenes of that plot until it takes its ultimate form, in the film which results from this work.
The Actor's Work
Director
Throughout a year's work, a group of ten actors and a film director will work together on the creation of the characters and on the structure of the plot of a new film to come. Long sessions of discussion, rehearsals and endless repetitions serve to develop the most important scenes of that plot until it takes its ultimate form, in the film which results from this work.
Lusitanian Illusion
Writer
Images and sounds expose the duality of Portugal during the days of WW2: a peaceful, god-loving, rural country, providing an escape route for over one hundred thousand European refugees to the Americas; and a political and cultural elite that disguised their Nazi inclinations just enough to play its neutral role in international politics.
Lusitanian Illusion
Director
Images and sounds expose the duality of Portugal during the days of WW2: a peaceful, god-loving, rural country, providing an escape route for over one hundred thousand European refugees to the Americas; and a political and cultural elite that disguised their Nazi inclinations just enough to play its neutral role in international politics.
Misbegotten
Writer
Lúcia is misbegotten, unloved and the eternal widow of her own father. A cry of rage in bodily form, she is mad, maltreated and humbled. She wears mourning in remembrance of her mothers crime and betrayal, and gives vent to her inconsolable pain to make sure theres no rest or respite for the killers of her father. She lives in hope of her brothers return so she can fulfil her promise of avenging her fathers blood.
Misbegotten
Director
Lúcia is misbegotten, unloved and the eternal widow of her own father. A cry of rage in bodily form, she is mad, maltreated and humbled. She wears mourning in remembrance of her mothers crime and betrayal, and gives vent to her inconsolable pain to make sure theres no rest or respite for the killers of her father. She lives in hope of her brothers return so she can fulfil her promise of avenging her fathers blood.
Mãe Há Só Uma
Producer
A moment in the life of a grievieng mother with the identity crisis of her teenage daughter. The mother insists on wanting to understand what she only should accept, the daughter can not explain what should be accepted.
Mãe Há Só Uma
Director
A moment in the life of a grievieng mother with the identity crisis of her teenage daughter. The mother insists on wanting to understand what she only should accept, the daughter can not explain what should be accepted.
In the Darkness of the Night
Screenplay
A disturbing film about the Portuguese underworld of prostitution.
In the Darkness of the Night
Director
A disturbing film about the Portuguese underworld of prostitution.
Fugas.pt
Director
A Audição
Director
Get a Life
Writer
During one winter night, a Portuguese teenager, Alvaro, loses his life in a fight between a youth gang and the cops in a suburb of Paris. Cidalia, a 36 year old cleaning woman, his mother, decides to defy the code of silence of the Portuguese community and tries to find the truth. She losses her friends, her job and her family but gains a life.
Get a Life
Director
During one winter night, a Portuguese teenager, Alvaro, loses his life in a fight between a youth gang and the cops in a suburb of Paris. Cidalia, a 36 year old cleaning woman, his mother, decides to defy the code of silence of the Portuguese community and tries to find the truth. She losses her friends, her job and her family but gains a life.
Tarde Demais
Writer
A touching and tragic real life story about a group of Portuguese fishermen who get caught in the middle of a storm in the Tejo river (Lisbon) and struggle to survive.
Black Shoes
Writer
In today's Alentejo, a story of love and death based in a real criminal case.
Black Shoes
Director
In today's Alentejo, a story of love and death based in a real criminal case.
O Convento
Production Manager
The journey of Michael Padovic, an American professor who arrives with his wife, Helene, at a Portuguese convent where he expects to find the documents needed to prove his theory: Shakespeare was born in Spain; not in England.
Lisbon Story
Crook
Lisbon Story is Wim Wenders' homage to Lisbon and films. A sound engineer obtains a mysterious postcard from a friend who at the moment is filming a film in Lisbon. He sets out across Europe to find him and help him.
Lisbon Story
Line Producer
Lisbon Story is Wim Wenders' homage to Lisbon and films. A sound engineer obtains a mysterious postcard from a friend who at the moment is filming a film in Lisbon. He sets out across Europe to find him and help him.
Blind Man's Bluff
Production Manager
A blind beggar is robbed of his chest of money. The theft leads to a dramatic situation in the street where he begs every day.
Crystal Book
Production Manager
This European thriller, set in Sri Lanka, attempts to expound upon the philosophical implications of life, death, and memory. JB, an academic famed for his studies of oriental culture and alcoholic who has never recovered from his wife's suicide, returns to Sri Lanka to translate a book written on glass. It is supposed to contain Buddha's discourse upon memory. While he is there, an attractive nurse, Julia asks him to assist a young boy who wants to locate his father who is now living in a Tamil-occupied area. The Tamil terrorists will kill any trespassers. Compounding JB's conflict in deciding to go is that his former home where he lived with his wife is in that area. Unbeknownst to him, the boy is really a Tamil spy.
Lovely Child
Writer
Maria is a sweet child. She hasn’t father and doesn’t like her mother. She has a boyfriend, A bandit who would like to change his class.
Lovely Child
Director
Maria is a sweet child. She hasn’t father and doesn’t like her mother. She has a boyfriend, A bandit who would like to change his class.
Step by Step
Nogueira, a man in his fifties, is a relic of times long past. While the youngsters at the school where he works as a caretaker still think the world is their oyster, Nogueira knows that, for him, most doors have long closed.
Crimes do Coração
Writer
Three Less Me
Associate Producer
A young woman, working as sales-girl at a shopping center's music shop, wants someone with whom to share her secrets. A distant mother separating from her father, an aunt who emigrated to France, and her pre-adolescent sister, can't do - neither the boyfriend. Such a confident arrives unexpectedly - but then there are three of them, one too much. One leaves, but then another young man arrives, and there are three again. One must go. A sad young adult love story, told in the first person, singular - and ultimately alone, under the rain.
Three Less Me
Writer
A young woman, working as sales-girl at a shopping center's music shop, wants someone with whom to share her secrets. A distant mother separating from her father, an aunt who emigrated to France, and her pre-adolescent sister, can't do - neither the boyfriend. Such a confident arrives unexpectedly - but then there are three of them, one too much. One leaves, but then another young man arrives, and there are three again. One must go. A sad young adult love story, told in the first person, singular - and ultimately alone, under the rain.
Three Less Me
Director
A young woman, working as sales-girl at a shopping center's music shop, wants someone with whom to share her secrets. A distant mother separating from her father, an aunt who emigrated to France, and her pre-adolescent sister, can't do - neither the boyfriend. Such a confident arrives unexpectedly - but then there are three of them, one too much. One leaves, but then another young man arrives, and there are three again. One must go. A sad young adult love story, told in the first person, singular - and ultimately alone, under the rain.
The Mountains of the Moon
Assistant Director
This visually striking drama is taken from the classic Japanese novel Tales Of Genji by Marasaki Shikibu. Set in modern Portugal, Joao (Luis Miguel Cintra) is a left-wing political leader and ladies man with a bright future. His ex-wife Isabel (Manuela de Freitas) both loves and hates him as Joao plays on her wavering emotional state. He is sent to Italy to retrieve wayward family member Antonia (Caroline Chaniolleau), the beautiful young woman with a terrorist boyfriend. Joao is forced to recognize his feelings as the political and amorous climate changes around him.
The Rose King
Assistant Director
A mentally unstable woman and her son move to a sprawling mansion in Portugal to grow roses.
Ninguém Duas Vezes
Screenplay
Director Jorge Silva Melo has developed a viable, though highly intellectual mystery story about the world of art and culture and murder in this somewhat theatrical presentation. When German artist Bernd Hoffmann (Michael König) arrives in Lisbon to oversee the installation of his paintings in a joint exhibition with another Berlin artist, Hanna Brauer (Charlotte Schwab), Hanna never shows up. Hoffmann is puzzled because he is certain he saw a video sequence with Hanna at the exhibition, and he begins to look for her. Another Lisbon cultural center, a theater, is also having problems that may or may not be related -- and the mystery deepens when Hanna is found dead, either by her own hand, or murdered.
Half in Love
Producer
Half in Love
Editor
Half in Love
Screenplay
Half in Love
Director
In the White City
Second Assistant Director
Fed up with the sea, Paul, a Swiss mechanic working in the noisy bowels of a merchant ship, lands in Lisbon.
The State of Things
Assistant Director
On location in Portugal, a film crew runs out of film while making their own version of Roger Corman's The Day the World Ended (1956) . The producer is nowhere to be found and director Munro attempts to find him in hopes of being able to finish the film.
Fim de Estação
Assistant Director
Francisca
Assistant Director
The life of a young man, son of an English officer who lets himself become a prisoner of love resulting in fatalism and disgrace.