Catarina Alves Costa was born in Oporto Portugal on the 8th of April 1967. She has a BA in Social Anthropology by the Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa (Lisbon, Portugal) since 1990. In 1992 she gets the MA in Visual Anthropology by the Granada Centre University of Manchester (U.K.).
From 1995 to 2000 she works in the National Ethnological Museum with Film Archives (mostly from Africa and Timor) doing research and production of documentary films for exhibitions. From February to September 2000 she lives in the island of S. Vicente in Cape Verde working in a documentary film festival and directing advertisement.
Since 1997 she works as a teacher in Visual Anthropology in Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal). She is also co-founder of the production company Laranja Azul where she works as a Producer/Director of Creative Documentaries.
On June 2002 she wons the award of Best Production for the film Desassossego (Restless) by Catarina Mourão in Doc Lisboa (Lisbon's International Documentary Festival).

[Filmography]

Regresso à Terra, Back to the homeland | 35', Hi8 | The Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, Manchester 1992
Best student film at the Gottingen International Ethnographic Film Festival. Germany, May 1994

A Grande Noite do Fado, The Great Fado Night | 60', S-VHS | 1993
Ora Rindo, ora chorando, Crying and Laughing | 30', S-VHS | 1993
Two documentaries about fado music in Lisbon, for an exhibition in the Ethnological Museum of Lisbon named Fado, Voices and Shadows held from July 1994. This exhibition was also held in the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Senhora Aparecida, Our lady Aparecida | 55', Betacam | SP Filmes, 1994
Honorous Mention at Festival Internacional de Documentário, Loures, Portugal, November 1995
The First Prize at VII Rassegna Internazionale di Documentari Etnografici, em Nuoro, Italy, October 1996
The Award of Excelency from the Society for Visual Anthropology at the American Antropological Association Film Festival, San Francisco, November 1996
Prize European Massimo Troisi: best Film in Culture and Tradition from Portugal, November 2000
The film is distributed by the Documentary Educational Resources (DER)

Swagatam (Bemvindos), Swagatam (Welcome) | 55', Betacam | SP Filmes, 1998
Planéte award in the Bilan du Film Ethnographique, at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, March 1999

Mais Alma, More Soul | 56', Betacam Digital | Laranja Azul, 2001
Films de Femmes, Creteil, March 2002
Festival Internacional de Cabo Verde, April 2002
Gottingen International Ethnographic Film Festival, May 2002
Florence, ICAES Session on Visual Anthropology, July 2003

O Arquitecto e a Cidade Velha, The Architect and the Old City | 72', Betacam Digital | Laranja Azul e Jour J Productions, 2004
Audience's award in Caminhos Cinema Português, Coimbra Portugal April 2004
Nordic Anthropological Film Festival, Estonia, May 2004
Gottingen Int. Film Festival, May 2004
Visual Cultures, Joannsu, Finlandia, October 2004.

O Sítio de Castelo Velho | 56', Betacam Digital | Laranja Azul, 2005