João Gonzalez

Biography

João Gonzalez (Porto, 1996) is a Portuguese director, animator, illustrator and musician with classical training in piano. He took a degree in Multimedia at ESMAD in Porto, where he graduated in 2017, specialising in the field of Animation and continuing to study piano independently. It was there that, as his final project, he made his first short film, "The Voyager", which features a live piano performance whenever possible, at the same time as the screening of the film, by the director/ composer himself. With a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in 2018 he entered the Masters in Animation at the Royal College of Art in London, where he made "Nestor" as his first year film, and “Ice Merchants” as his graduation film, that he completed afterwards with funding from ICA (Portuguese Cinema Institute). In 2022 he premiered his first funded film “Ice Merchants” in Cannes Film Festival, winning Best Short Film in Competition from the Semaine de La Critique Jury, which would later become the first Portuguese film to be nominated for an Oscar®, and the second to win the Annie Award. "Ice Merchants" is currently the most awarded Portuguese film in history, with more than 130 international awards (10 of which were Oscar Qualifying), and more than 350 official selections at festivals around the world. João has a great interest in combining his musical background with his artistic practice in animated cinema, always playing the role of composer and occasional instrumentalist in all the films he makes.

Alto Patrocínio

Apoio

Membro fundador