João Meirinhos

FILMES SOMBRA
Camera Operator, Director, Editor, Film/theatre Journalist, Filmmaker, Photographer (Still), Researcher, Screenwriter, Translator, Videographer and Cinematographer

Lisbon, Portugal

Member Since:
November 2015

Last online:
> 2 weeks ago

Invites sent:
214

About João

Experimental ethnographer based on the road.

Has worked with socially engaging projects since 2008 in Bologna, Barcelona Tallinn and Hong Kong. Solar Powered Cinema expeditions with Cinema du Desert in West Africa and Cinema du Desert. Anthropological fieldworks in Trás-os-Montes and the Peruvian Amazon

BA in Social Sciences with FCSH - Universidade Nova de Lisboa (2007)
MA in Visual Anthropology with GCVA - University of Manchester (2013)

Interests vary tremendously around poetry, graffiti, surrealism, science fiction, anarchism, neuroscience, theology, quantum physics, lucid dreaming, conspiracy theories, zen mediation, avant-garde, Nietzsche, dumpster diving, jazz, IDM, zodiac, I Ching, talking to random strangers, civil disobedience, synchromysticism, cyberpunk, traditional Chinese medicine, theatre of the oppressed, psychomagic, off-the-grid sustainability, guerrilla gardening, brain mapping, hypnosis, activism, art-therapy, street performances, people from the past, the present and the future...

Unique traits: João is an ethnographic filmmaker and a researcher. He's been working for various socially engaging organisations focusing on social justice and environmental awareness since 2007 – using audiovisual tools to trigger cultural exchange and mediate dialogue between people. Since 2011 he developed a solar powered itinerant cinema project sponsored by Italian NGO Bambini Nel Deserto. With 'Cinema du Desert' he has had the possibility to travel and work in West Africa and Central Asia. An MA in Visual Anthropology with the University of Manchester led him to undertake fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon that culminated in the feature documentary ‘The Mirror of the Spirit’ (the first part 'Afluentes' was very well received in ethnographic festivals world wide). Ever since João has been based between UK, Hong Kong and Lisbon as a audiovisual freelancer.

Gender:
Male

Ethnicity:
Mediterranean

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Certifications

Photos

Credits

The Mirror of the Spirit (2014)
Film (Documentary) Director Ayahuasca is a psychedelic brew which has been used for divinatory and healing purposes since, at least, the 16th century. There are now more Westerners than ever traveling to South America in search of this shamanic experience. These are known as 'spiritual tourists' 'The Mirror of the Spirit' primarily follows the life of Don Ignacio, an old shaman from Puerto Maldonado, Sergio, an accidental tourist and Osman, a recovering drug addict seeking healing that later becomes an ayahuasquero himself. They are like tributaries of the same river converging towards this ancient medicine for different personal reasons. Written by João Meirinhos
Olhos Pretos, Cabelo Azul (2012)
Film (Short, Drama, Romance and Thriller) Director Excess. Split personality. The exaggerations of the modernity surround and mediate every second of each day. The private mind is now a screen everybody can tune in at will. How people see you is not who you are. Desired by the world since birth she hides deprivation and the sweet sensation of random self mutilation. Relationship is a mask. Does everybody know what she hides inside? Carnivorous blue skin and sorrow mixed with a childish fairy tale feeling of meeting the perfect gentleman that will finally calm down this uncontrollable urge of wanting always more and more. This movie is a metaphor for a quest. When the other half leaves the demons flush back to surface. Written by Anonymous

Awards

Afluentes was listed for Channel 4 and One World Media’s UK Best Documentary Student Award
(2013)
2nd Prize Winner for the Coop'Art - ICA the United Nations Year of Co- Operatives competition w
(2012)