Rita Azevedo Gomes was born in Lisbon in 1952. She studied at the
Lisbon School of Fine Arts, after which she spent a year teaching visual education in
São Bartolomeu de Messines. Upon returning to Lisbon, she became involved in the arts, working across multiple fields from visual to graphic arts as well as opera, theatre, and cinema. In the field of graphic arts, she produced notable film related work for the
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Portuguese Cinematheque. She served as artistic director, set designer, and costume designer for theatre productions such as
Antigone and
The Seagull. In cinema, she worked as a costume designer, assistant director, and still photographer for directors such as
Werner Schroeter,
Manoel de Oliveira, and
Valeria Sarmiento. In 1990, Azevedo Gomes made her directorial debut with
O Som da Terra a Tremer. She went on to direct several critically acclaimed features including
Fragile as the World (2001), ''
A Woman's Revenge (2012), Correspondências
(2016), and most recently, F***k the Polis'' (2025). Her films have been screened internationally and are recognized for their experimental structures, and theatrical compositions. Much of her work is based on literature, adapting authors like
Robert Musil,
Agustina Bessa-Luís, and
Maria Gabriela Llansol. == Filmography ==