André Gil Mata was born in 1978. Having studied mathematics, he has worked mostly in photography, theatre and film and is one of the founders of the Portuguese photography and cinema laboratory Átomo 47. In 2009, his debut short-film WATER ARK won several awards having been shown in several international festivals, as well as his second short-film HOUSE. GRAVEDIGGER, his third short-film, won the Mèlies d'Argent and CAPTIVITY, his first feature-length documentary won the DocAlliance Award at Cannes, in 2013. Gil Mata obtained his master degree in film direction in 2012, at Lisbon Theatre and Film School and finished his PhD at Film. Factory (Sarajevo) in 2016.