DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY - Alexandre Alagôa

Alexandre Alagôa (1994) is a portuguese experimental filmmaker and video-artist based in Luxembourg. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Multimedia Arts (2015), a Master’s Degree in Audiovisuals (2018) with a thesis on Structural Film, and a Post Graduation in Sound Art (2019) from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon. From 2017 to 2018, he works at the Multimedia Art Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon as a Technician and Assistant, supporting the Audiovisual students in the development and presentation of film, video and installations. Drawing on conceptual art, the Fluxus movement, Op Art, and the Structural Film tradition, his practice intertwines scientific studies of physiology and psychology with the raw plasticity of moving images, often shattering the senses of vision and hearing into new sensible, obscure realms. By emphasizing the formal elements of both analog and digital film (film grain, flicker effects, the plain surface of the celluloid and the canvas, the use of rhythm and repetition, the manipulation of the still-frame, and camera movement) in a constant dialogue with optical phenomena (after-images, phosphenes, purkinje trees), Alagôa’s films destabilize and reorganize the core mechanics of perception. In parallel, Alagôa’s music work invokes the early stages of acousmatic and concrete music only to find hidden aural qualities in everyday life moments. Following a strong influence from the idea of “reduced listening” by Pierre Schaeffer, Alagôa crafts both cinematic landscapes and humorous experimental compositions by mixing recordings of mundane daily routines with digital instruments, sample players and heavy processes of granular synthesis. Alagôa’s films and audiovisual pieces have been present in international festivals and exhibitions, such as the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (2026), GIFF: Guanajuato International Film Festival (2026), OFF: Odense Film Festival (2026), Indielisboa (2026, 2023), Luxembourg Film Festival (2024), Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (2022), Go Short Nijmegen (2022), Festival Tous Courts (2023, 2021) Vienna Shorts (2022, 2021), Monstra - Lisbon Animation Festival (2022), Videoformes (2022), the Filmmakers’ Cooperative (2024), and many more.