She was first trained as an actress, and soon became a Stage Director at the age of 20. Then she directed a documentary in Cape Verde, Som & Morabeza (2007), and another one in Angola, Born in Luanda (2010), before tackling short fiction films in Portugal that were selected in international film festivals around the world, like Cannes Critics’ Week, Clermont-Ferrand, Coimbra or Valencia’s Cinema Jove: Sol branco (2014), Campo de víboras (2016), Invisível Herói (2019) and Tchau- Tchau (2020). Cristèle’s first feature film, Alma Viva (2022), premiered at the Cannes Critics’ Week, and was developed at the Fémis cinema school in Paris as well as in several residencies such as Angers Ateliers, Contis (Grant winner) and Claude Miller’s.
Seminci - Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid
