Sara Nunes was born in 1985 in Lisbon. She obtained her Master’s degree in Architecture in 2009 from the Escola Superior Artística do Porto and the Universität Kassel (Germany). She worked for two years in Madrid as an architect (2011–2012) at Ensamble Studio. While in Madrid, she discovered her passion for cinema and, in 2013, returned to Portugal, where she founded a film production company dedicated to architecture: Building Pictures. Until 2021, she directed more than 300 short films.
In 2022, she premiered WoodStories, distinguished with awards and international selections, and the following year released Back to the City, about the rehabilitation of the Bolhão Market, also presented at festivals outside Portugal.
In May 2024, she received the Architecture Innovation Award at the Serralves Museum Auditorium, part of the Forma Awards.
In 2025, she released the film The First Siza, which had its pre-premiere at the Serralves Museum in the presence of Álvaro Siza. The documentary, portraying the architect’s first project and his reunion with his first client sixty years later, won the Best Film Award at the Cinema Urbana Festival in Brasília. It was also selected for film festivals in Turkey, Italy, Spain, and Sweden. Beyond the festival circuit, it was screened at leading cultural institutions such as the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Galician Center for Contemporary Art in Santiago de Compostela and the Barbican Centre in London.
Sara Nunes is currently working on major film projects, including the documentary In the Age of Cities, which offers a vision of the future of cities, featuring architects, artists, and designers such as Ana Aragão, Gilles Retsin, Guta Moura Guedes, Iñaqui Carnicero, Mario Cucinella, and OODA. She is also developing the film The Flying Photographer, about architecture photographer Fernando Guerra, and has recently started the development of a documentary on Eduardo Souto de Moura.
