Trajectory

Francisco Vidal is an actor and filmmaker based in Rio de Janeiro.

A Film graduate from ESPM, he entered the audiovisual field not first in front of the camera, but from within the very fabric of film: through translation, post-production, editing, and listening to the process.

In 2023, he worked with Paula Gaitán on the post-production of O Canto das Amapolas, winner of the Mostra Olhos Livres at the Tiradentes Film Festival. The experience opened a decisive passage in his trajectory: beyond bringing him closer to the concrete making of a film, it put Francisco in contact with a constellation of artists who would come to mark his path, such as Clara Choveaux, Negro Leo, and Gregório Gananian.

From that encounter onward, he also worked on the post-production of Aquele que Viu o Abismo, directed by Gregório Gananian and Negro Leo, winner of the Mostra Olhos Livres at the 2024 Tiradentes Film Festival. Living alongside that process deepened his relationship with cinema as collective construction — an art made of time, thought, editing, presence, listening, and trust.

In early 2024, this proximity unfolded into a new stage. Francisco was invited by Gregório Gananian to join his new feature, O Inspetor Geral, on two simultaneous fronts: as an assistant in pre-production and as an actor in the cast. Before reaching the set, he followed the film's preparation from the inside — its creative logic, its world-building, and the working rhythm of its director. Shot in the state of São Paulo in the first half of 2024, O Inspetor Geral is a free adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's play, transposed to contemporary Brazil.

In the second half of 2024, Francisco shot O Mundo dos Mortos in Rio de Janeiro, directed by Pedro Tavares and produced by 7 a 1 Filmes and Cavideo. Creator of the ECRÃ Festival, Pedro Tavares develops a body of research connected to the expanded image, to less conventional forms of narrative, and to the territories of audiovisual invention. In O Mundo dos Mortos, humans, angels, and demons cross an abandoned Earth on the second day after the death of Christ, while the wait for the Messiah's return turns existence into a field of awe, suspension, and exorcism. The feature screened at the Mostra Olhos Livres of the 2025 Tiradentes Film Festival.

From 2025 onward, Francisco intensified his training as an actor. Between March and December 2025, he maintained a continuous course of study at CAL — Casa das Artes de Laranjeiras, moving through courses, laboratories, and modules devoted to screen acting, repertoire, scenic presence, listening, and character construction. The axis of this path was the two modules of O Teatro do Não Eu (The Theater of the Not-I), with Rafael Infante — a process that extended through December and deepened his research into presence, alterity, displacement of the self, and availability to what the scene demands. In parallel, he broadened his training in screen acting and his relationship to the set in courses with Ricardo Cônti, Heitor Martinez, Gustavo Pace, and Andrea Avancini.

In the second half of 2025, he continued his collaboration with Gregório Gananian on Música de Invenção, a fiction feature directed by Gregório, produced by Zaum and Anacoluto, with production by Marisa Merlo, Gregório Gananian, and Clara Choveaux. Co-starring Francisco Vidal and Clara Choveaux, the film reaffirms a trajectory built on the closeness between creation, artistic trust, and presence on screen.

In December 2025, he took part in Atuando para o Audiovisual (Acting for the Screen), with Walter Lima Jr.

In 2026, he carried his training and practice before the camera forward: in January, he completed the workshop Desenvolvimento de Cenas, Personagens e Repertório (Developing Scenes, Characters, and Repertoire), once again with Rafael Infante; between January and March, he joined Patrick Sampaio's LABO for the course Gravar, Assistir, Regravar (Record, Watch, Re-record), devoted to continuous practice before the camera, to reviewing one's own material, and to the progressive precision of screen acting; in April, he returned to the Carpintaria do Ator (The Actor's Carpentry), with Joana Medeiros — a process he had first undertaken in October 2024 — and, between April and July, completed two Lee Strasberg Method workshops, taught by actress Julia Burnier, in São Paulo.

Currently, Francisco continues to collaborate with Gregório Gananian as assistant director, extending a partnership that runs through post-production, pre-production, the set, acting, and the creative accompaniment of projects. This collaboration distills a central part of his path: being close to cinematic creation not only as a performer, but as someone who follows the film through its concrete construction.