Paulo Rocha was born on December 22, 1935 in Porto, Portugal. He was a director and producer, known for A Ilha dos Amores (1982), O Rio do Ouro (1998) and A Raiz do Coração(2000). He died on December 29, 2012 in Porto.

Abandoned Lisbon Law School to dedicate himself to the movies, and founded Cine-Clube de Lisboa (CCC) with Nuno de Bragança, João Bénard da Costa, Pedro Tamen and Alberto Vaz da Silva. In 1962, concluded his studies at IDHEC, Paris, France, but he says he learned more watching time and again Jean Renoir and 'Kenzo Mizoguchi' films than in academic film studies