Luís Miguel Cintra
Date of birth: 1949-04-29
Place of birth: Madrid, Spain
Known for: Acting
Also known as:
Biography
An iconic actor and stage director in Portugal, Luís Miguel Cintra was born in Madrid, in 1949. His connection to theater began in 1968, at the Faculty of Letters Theater Group, when he was studying Romance Philology at the University of Lisbon. From 1970 to 1972, he attended the Acting Technical Course, in the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, thanks to a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. When he returned to Portugal, he founded, along with Jorge Silva Melo, the Teatro da Cornucópia Company, in 1973, where he directed plays by some of the great names in theater, including Aeschylus, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Brecht, Beckett, Strindberg, and many others, almost always participating as an actor in the plays he directed. At the same time, until the 80s, he was a theater critic for O Tempo e o Modo magazine and he managed the Seara Nova Theater Collection, from Estampa publishing house, and the Theater Collection, from Ulmeiro publishing house. As a reader, Luís Miguel Cintra recorded complete readings of Viagens na Minha Terra, by Almeida Garrett and Amor de Perdição, by Camilo Castelo Branco, as well as poems by Pessoa, Sophia de Mello Breyner, Camões, Antero de Quental and Ruy Belo. In 1987, Cintra made his debut as an opera stage director, with L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, by Ravel and Dido and Aeneas, by Purcell, at the Teatro Nacional de S. Carlos. In the following years, he directed operas by Mozart, Haydn, Cherubini, among others. He worked with the Teatro Nacional de S. Carlos Choir and the Gulbenkian Choir, as a reader, in recitals by authors such as Schubert, Liszt, Sati and Poulenc. In 1984, he entered the Venice Biennial Theater Festival with his group and in 1988 he directed the show La Mort du Prince et Autres Fragments, by Fernando Pessoa, for the Avignon Festival. Later, he kept on presenting plays in Italy, France, Spain and. Belgium In addition to the theater, Luís Miguel Cintra began his career in cinema early, making his debut in a short film by João César Monteiro. From that point until now, he worked in over 70 films, with directors like the aforementioned João César Monteiro, Paulo Rocha, Manoel de Oliveira, Joaquim Pinto, João Botelho, Teresa Villaverde, Pedro Costa and the American John Malkovich. His many awards include two Bordalo da Casa da Imprensa Awards for Best Acting in Film (1995) and Best Acting in Theater (1997), two Globos de Ouro for Theater Personality of the Year (1999) and Best Theater Actor (2003), the Coimbra University Award and the Pessoa Prize, both in 2005. The LEFFEST will pay tribute to Luís Miguel Cintra’s work as an actor, through a selection of films he starred in; and as a stage director, showing recordings of some of the plays, followed by discussions with the audience and several actors he worked with.
Movie Credits
Word and Utopia
2000-11-17
The story of Father Antonio Vieira, a 17th-century Portuguese priest who lived in Brazil and worked
My Case
1986-09-25
Manoel de Oliveira plays his film in three stages: the first part - a play, the second can be roughl
Recollections of the Yellow House
1989-10-12
Lisbon, 1989. A middle-aged poor man, tormented by an illness, lives in a cheap room in a family boa
No, or the Vain Glory of Command
1990-10-12
Episodes from throughout the entire military history of Portugal are told through flashbacks as a co
The Divine Comedy
1991-10-11
In a mental institution the patients see themselves as people like Jesus, Lázaro, Marta, Maria, Adão
Gebo and the Shadow
2012-09-10
Despite his age and general weariness, Gebo keeps on working as an accountant to provide for his fam
Romance de Vila do Conde
2008-08-28
Manoel de Oliveira's homage to Vila do Conde, with a poem by José Régio. It was shot in 1965, but on
The Satin Slipper
1986-01-08
During the century of the Spanish Gold, Doña Prouhèze, wife of a nobleman, deeply loves Don Rodrigo,
Second Hand
2013-06-19
Jorge is a loner and a writer of popular books. At night, he looks through other people's windows an
Here on Earth
1993-09-09
Miguel (Luis Miguel Cintra) is lucky that his income will only level off if he neglects his business
Demain?
2011-10-16
The short life of the Uruguayan poet Delmira Agustini is colourfully portrayed, not as a conventiona
The Days When I Don’t Exist
2003-10-08
A story that mixes fantasy, philosophy and everyday reality. The problem with Antoine Martin is that
Tall Stories
1988-03-11
12-year-old Miguel is punished because he has not done his homework properly: he must stay at his au
Blind Man's Bluff
1994-11-18
A blind beggar is robbed of his chest of money. The theft leads to a dramatic situation in the stree
Peixe-Lua
2000-09-29
The story of a family of bull fighters.
Rending
2001-11-30
A philosophy-obsessed serial rapist stalks a university campus in broad daylight.
Truth or Dare?
2023-09-12
Theatre is life, as movement is life. In "Truth or Dare?", Sofia Marques sets off in search of her f
If I Were a Thief... I'd Steal
2013-09-10
1920s. Vitalino, a small farmer from São Vicente sees his father die of the epidemic which decimated
The New Testament of Jesus Christ According to John
2013-11-13
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN read by Luis Miguel Cintra, one of the most prominent Portuguese actors
A Pousada das Chagas
1972-02-25
A representation of fiction and documentary about the museum of Óbidos, Portugal.
Blood
1989-12-07
Nino, tough but sickly, and his older brother Vicente live in the country with their father. After t
Day of Despair
1992-10-30
Portrait of the last days of the life of Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco.
Poor George
1993-02-26
One night Jorge will meet with a Japanese industrialist, who will allow him to abandon his teaching
Love Lights
2022-08-03
The evocation of light in the cinema leads the Character of the Man of Light to ponder over it, over
Around Rocha’s Table
2021-08-08
'A Távola de Rocha' enables us to enter Paulo Rocha’s universe, to gather memories and find, within
The Old Man of Belem
2014-12-11
Don Quixote, Luís de Camões, Camilo Castelo Branco and Teixeira de Pascoaes meet in an eternal garde
Where the Sun Beats
1989-09-10
Laura lives in the country with her considerably older husband. When Nuno, her brother who study in
The Fifth Empire
2004-09-09
Manoel de Oliveira directs José Régio's historical epic of religious and political power struggles.
Transatlantique
1997-09-03
In this French-Portuguese film -- directed by Jacques Rivette's screenplay collaborator Christine La
Alcibíades
1992-01-01
A musical fable inspired by Plato’s Symposium. In a shameless speech, Alcibiades, a prominent young
The Convent
1995-09-06
The journey of Michael Padovic, an American professor who arrives with his wife, Helene, at a Portug
O Filme Feliz :)
2023-07-15
Gonçalo and his friends set off on a mission to his deceased grandfather’s house, in the north of Po
Magic Mirror
2006-03-09
Luciano, fresh out of jail, was taken by his brother, Flórido, to serve in the home of wealthy Alfre
The Dancer Upstairs
2002-09-20
A police detective in a South American country is dedicated to hunting down a revolutionary guerilla
Arrabalde
2024-09-26
Two friends cannot find their way around the city of Lisbon. It is a film, which could be a poem, th
The Sword and the Rose
2010-09-09
Manuel bids farewell to his routine and boards a 15th century vessel under pirate law. Treason on bo
The Spousals of God
1999-10-15
After receiving a visit from a messenger of God, João de Deus wins his buddy's girlfriend through a
Correspondences
2016-08-04
Jorge de Sena was forced to leave his country. First he moved to Brazil, and later to the USA. He ne
Carlos de Oliveira: Upon the Left Side
2007-01-01
Carlos Oliveira's literary universe is re-enacted in a studio using the writer’s personal objects an
Lisboa Cultural
1984-09-28
Seventeen experts on history and arts deliver brief lessons on their favorite subjects, considered t
Días color naranja
2016-11-10
Ephemeral loves, days of summer freedom and the drift across Europe
One of Us Cannot Be Wrong
2007-02-28
The Devil talks only through an image and tell his stories to an imprisoned writer.
Abraham's Valley
1993-09-01
Ema is a very attractive but innocent girl, so pretty that cars crash in her presence. In her youth
The world that was (and that is)
2011-01-01
The flash of socialism that once lit Spain.
Casa de Lava
1995-02-10
The film tells a story of Mariana, a nurse who leaves Lisbon to accompany an immigrant worker in a c
Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl
2009-04-30
On a train to Algarve, a young man recounts to a fellow passenger his past relationship with an ecce
Christopher Columbus, The Enigma
2007-09-06
A true story of a doctor and his wife who went on a journey in order to prove that discoverer Christ
A Talking Picture
2003-08-31
A meditation on civilization. July, 2001: friends wave as a cruise ship departs Lisbon for Mediterra
The Letter
1999-09-22
A well-bred, lovely, spiritual, sad young woman marries an attentive physician who loves her. She fe
The Uncertainty Principle
2002-05-17
Having lost her place among the social elite, a widow remarries and starts a family.
April Captains
2000-04-21
Story of the 1974 coup that overthrew the right-wing Portuguese dictatorship--which continued the fa
Silvestre
1982-05-06
A bewitching combinatory adaptation of the Bluebeard tale and a 15th century Portuguese fable of a d
The Strange Case of Angelica
2010-12-29
A photographer, Isaac is asked by hotel owners to take portraits of their recently deceased daughter
The Heart's Root
2000-10-18
Set in the Lisbon during the festivities of Saint Anthony, the patron saint of lovers and the old to
Island of Loves
1982-06-08
This film depicts the life of the 19th-century Portuguese writer Wenceslau De Moraes by means of nin
Inquietude
1998-05-19
An anthology film drama featuring a poetic mirror structure based on existential identity. In "The I
The Cannibals
1988-11-10
This odd film is a major representative of an even odder film genre: direct-to-celluloid opera. It w
Two Brothers, My Sister
1994-11-04
This dark and intense drama follows the slow and painful destruction of a young, passive woman as sh
The Mountains of the Moon
1987-09-01
This visually striking drama is taken from the classic Japanese novel Tales Of Genji by Marasaki Shi
Rage
2018-10-31
Alentejo, Portugal, 1950. In a desolate region, where the wind seems to speak, where misery and hung
He Goes Long Barefoot That Waits For Dead Men's Shoes
1970-01-01
The tribulations of two friends who, in despair, start begging from door-to-door, and are given a bu
From Now On
2008-01-01
Dora divides her time between her work as a beautician, her policeman husband António, and her invol
Vertiges
1985-04-09
In a specialized, hermetic drama about love won and lost, not necessarily by the same individuals, n
A Propósito da Bandeira Nacional
1988-12-09
An artistic and poetic documentary about the meaning of the Portuguese flag.
The Last Dive
1992-09-18
Eloi, a paunchy middle-aged man, finds Samuel, a young sad sack, about to kill himself by plunging i
Fragments of an Alms-Film
1972-01-01
Maria works in a German umbrella factory as the foreman of the production sector. João Lucas has giv
Villa Mauresque
1993-07-07
Vincent, a young Swiss, is upset by his meeting with the city of Lisbon. He will meet two persons: a
Gestures and Fragments
1983-02-22
"Essay on the Military and the Power", a phrase that also belongs to the title of "Gestures & Fragme
Erros Meus
2000-07-06
Ninguém Duas Vezes
1985-04-24
Director Jorge Silva Melo has developed a viable, though highly intellectual mystery story about the
Nem Pássaro Nem Peixe
1978-09-01
A woman translates the front page of H.P. Lovecraft's book “The Silver Key”. Her husband, a journali
Entremês Famoso Sobre a Pesca no Rio Minho
1974-01-01
Manuel Casimiro - Pintar a Ideia
2018-12-20
Anteroom
2018-10-24
Using video assist recorded images, Antecâmara is about the “act” of shooting, the physical reality
Zéfiro
1993-08-01
Zephyrus is a film-voyage, a fresco about Southern Portugal. A movie dealing metaphorically with the
Illusion
2014-10-01
Luis Miguel Cintra, renowned actor, stage director and director of the Portuguese theatre company Te
O Outro Teatro ou As Coisas Pertencem a Quem as Torna Melhores
1977-10-01
O Outro Teatro proposes a look at the independent theater manifestations that came in the wake of th
E Não se Pode Exterminá-lo?
1979-01-01
The film of a performance of a selection of cabaret comedy sketches by Karl Valentin, with Jorge Sil
The Jester
1987-10-31
Set four years after the Portuguese revolution and the simultaneous loss of the Portuguese empire in
Snow White
2000-10-11
Monteiro moved far away from the visual opulence defined by his earlier films with his inspired adap
War
2020-10-22
The recollections of a Portuguese teacher in the present will make us follow his father, Manuel, for
O Poeta Doido, o Vitral e a Santa Morta
2008-09-21
Documentary by Manoel de Oliveira filmed in 1965 and exhibited in 2008 in the Venice Film Festival.
Signals of Life
1984-04-13
An approach to the life and work of Jorge de Sena, relying on the testimonies of Mécia de Sena (auth
A Present Light
2021-03-01
On a rainy night, a sad man leaves his home to deliver a letter to someone who recently left him. At
Pathos
2021-12-01
Once upon a time, the last days of 2028. This world’s disarray, no more no less than ever. Accommoda
Pathos Ethos Logos
2021-08-09
The earth, life and death, indifference and affection, abandonment, faith. Words and silence, light
Biette
2013-06-26
Documentary about the the film critic and filmmaker Jean-Claude Biette.
We Are on Air
2024-01-25
Thirty-something Vítor still lives with his mother, Fátima, in his grandmother Júlia’s apartment. Fá
The Enclosure of Time
2013-01-24
Théophile spends his holidays in Italy, in the Marche hills, and enjoys the freedom he finds at his
The Life of Mirrors
2025-07-13
The Life of Mirrors is one of the sections of the exhibition Luis Miguel Cintra - Small Theatre of t
The Wolf of the West Coast
2002-08-27
James Faulkner plays Lew Millar, a renowned private eye who is hired by a gangster to be his bodygua
Memoirs of Teatro da Cornucópia
2025-10-18
A renowned symbol of Portuguese interventionist theatre, Cornucópia emerged from the darkness of fas
A Morte do Príncipe
Pas Perdus
2008-01-01