Eduardo Luis Santos Correia Guedes (21 April 1941 – 29 August 2000)[1][2] was a Portuguese film-maker involved with the independent British film collective Cinema Action.
Guedes was born in Lisbon, the son of a judge, and initially studied chemical engineering at the University of Lisbon, but after refusing to take part in the Portuguese colonial wars, he left in 1961 to study film-making at the London International Film School.[3] After graduating in 1964, he worked as a tutor at the school.[1]
In 1965 he went to Brazil and made three documentaries (one, Rio Araguaia, was later networked by the BBC and French television). Returning to London, he freelanced as a film editor from 1968 to 1971, working with theatre director Peter Brook and Thames Television's Jeremy Isaacs,[1] and was credited as editor of Maurice Hatton's 1970 film Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition.[4]
In 1971, Guedes joined Cinema Action. This was a key component in the organisation of the Independent Film-makers Association which campaigned, among other things, for airtime for independents on the UK Channel 4 network. In 1981, Guedes shot and edited a documentary, So That You Can Live, which opened Channel 4's independent film slot.[1]
Cinema Action's first feature, Rocinante (1986) starred John Hurt and Ian Dury, was written and directed by Eduardo and his wife Ann Guedes, and produced by Gustav Lamche. A second feature, Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale (1990) starred Dury and Tom Waits.[1]
While fighting the cancer that would eventually cause his death, Guedes made two more features in Portugal: Pax (1994), starring Amanda Plummer and Isabel Ruth, and Knives And Angels (2000).[1]