João Viana graduated in law at the university of Coimbra and studied cinema in Porto (1988/1994). He worked in the areas of production, sound, story-board, direction e script-writing. In 2007 he wrote the script Olhos Vermelhos for film-director Paulo Rocha, obtaining the first prize in the contest for feature films of the ICA. He worked with film director like Oliveira, Biette, César Monteiro, Schroeter, José Alvaro, Seixas Santos and technicians like Bonfanti and Joaquim Pinto… He was one of the authors (2005/2007) of the Dicionario de cinema Iberoamericano, in 10 volumes, published by the SGAE, Madrid, and edited by Bénard da Costa of the Cinemateca Portuguesa. He started to direct his own films, with Iana, in 2004 with the film A Piscina (in competition at the Venice Film Festival) “the Portuguese fictional short film that won the most awards ever” (Central de Informação).