Paulo Rocha is from Oporto in northern Portugal.
Abandoned Lisbon Law School to dedicate himself to the movies, and founded Cine-Clube de Lisboa (CCC) with Nuno de Bragana, Joo Bnard da Costa , Pedro Tamen and Alberto Vaz da Silva. In 1962, concluded his studies at IDHEC, Paris, France, but he says he learned more watching time and again Jean Renoir and Kenzo Mizoguchi films than in academic film studies.
