Pedro Hestnes Ferreira was born in Lisbon in 1962, the son of architect Raúl Hestnes Ferreira and the grandson of writer José Gomes Ferreira. He lived between Lisbon, Porto, Paris and Évora, where he studied drama, architecture and art. In the first half of the 1980s, he worked in the theatre with Mário Barradas, at the Évora Cultural Centre. Then, he started working in film, attaining roles in several relevant Portuguese films from the latter part of that decade, such as O desejado, Três Menos Eu, Agosto, O Sangue, A Idade Maior, Xavier and Três Palmeiras. His last film was Em Segunda Mão, by Catarina Ruivo, which was still in the editing stage when Pedro Hestnes died and was only released in 2013. In 2014, Pedro Hestnes won, posthumously, the Golden Globe for Best Actor, for the role he had played in his last film.

Pedro Costa was born in Lisbon in 1959. He dropped his studies in history to attend classes delivered by the poet and director António Reis at the Portuguese Film School. His first feature film, O Sangue, was premiered at the Mostra di Venezia in 1989. Casa de Lava, his second feature, shot in Cape-Verde, was exhibited at Cannes. His filmography includes Ossos, No Quarto da Vanda and Juventude em Marcha, which together compose his Fontaínhas trilogy. He also directed Onde Jaz O Teu Sorriso?, following the work of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub, and Ne Change Rien, featuring the actress Jeanne Balibar. Costa has also directed a part of the collective feature Centro Histórico, together with Manoel de Oliveira, Aki Kaurismäki and Víctor Erice. His 2014 film Cavalo Dinheiro received the Golden Leopard for Best Film at the Locarno Film Festival in that same year, also enjoying a remarkable international career. In 2019, Vitalina Varela was rewarded with the Golden Leopard for Best Film and the Best Actress Award at the Locarno Festival.