O FANTASMA, the debut film of João Pedro Rodrigues, the auteur of THE ORNITHOLOGIST, TO DIE LIKE A MAN, and TWO DRIFTERS was hailed as one of the top 10 films of the year. O FANTASMA was praised as an "audacious and compelling, dark and erotic cautionary tale about a marginalized young man (Ricardo Meneses), a trash collector living and working in the seedy north of Lisbon, exploring his sexuality. Rodrigues and Meneses, in a rigorous, risky portrayal, chart the young man's odyssey, with it's potential for self-discovery as well as self-obliteration, with psychological insight and visual power. O FANTASMA is boldly, confidently orchestrated, aesthetically and sexually, and it's impact is deeply and rightly disturbing." -Kevin Thomas, LOS ANGELES TIMES