D I R E C T O R  J O Å O  P E D R O  R O D R I G U E S

is a Portuguese film director whose activity started in 1997. He is considered to be part of

The School of Reis film family.Having studied at the School of Theatre and Cinema of Portugal, João Pedro Rodrigues started his career as an assistant director and editor in several features, directed, for example, by Alberto Seixas Santos and Teresa Villaverde, among others. In 1997 João Pedro Rodrigues directs his first film. O Fantasma (Phantom) (2000), his first feature-length, is a film dealing with affections in homosexuality, aimed at catering the demands of a growing influence of gays and gay culture within the Portuguese artistic circles. Besides the minor controversy it generated in Portugal, the film was shown in Spain, Italy, France, Brazil and USA with modest results. Two Drifters (2005), his second feature film, has obtained relative international acclaim and was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. His new film The Last Time I Saw Macau opened the film festival DocLisboa this October.

T O  D I E  L I K E  A  M A N  /  Director - João Pedro Rodrigues

Producer - Mara Joao Sigalho & Judith Nora /  Starring - Fernando Santos, Chandra Malatitch, Miguel Loureiro, Jenny Larue, Fernando Gomes

Language - Portuguese w / German Subtitles  /  Length - 133 min / 

German Distributor - Edition Salzgeber

Prizes

Best Feature Film, Queer Film Festival Mezipatra

Best Feature Film SPA/RTP, Portugal

Best Feature Film, Cinema of the Future Award, Buenose Aires International Independent Film Festival, Argentina

Selected as the Portuguese entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards

"One of the most daring new talents to emerge in the past decade”

- Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

“ A wry strangely enchanted tragicomedy”

- Dennis Lim, Cinema Scope

Selected Festival History

Cannes Film Festival Official Selection, Un Certain Regard

Toronto Film Festival Official Selection

New York Film Festival Official Selection

Gothenburg International Film Festival

Munich Film Festival “Filmfest Muenchen”

BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

S Y N O P S I S

“To Die Like a Man,” a ruminative exploration of gender identity, desire and aging, begins with a close-up of a young man’s face being daubed with camouflage paint by a fellow soldier in preparation for a training mission. For the rest of this melancholic film by the Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues that image lingers as a mental double exposure with the visage of the movie’s protagonist, Tonia (Fernando Santos), a fading drag queen in 1980s Lisbon. The war paint and makeup worn by Tonia, who appears in various stages of drag, are both disguises.

- Stephen Holden New York Times

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