Music Video, Commercial and AI Director in Lisbon

Lisbon at a glance

Lisbon runs its own municipal film office, the Lisboa Film Commission, which handles more than 700 shoot applications a year, everything from student shorts to TV drama, features and commercials for big brands. Above it sits the Portugal Film Commission, part of the national film and audiovisual institute (ICA), which works with the regional commissions, the diplomatic network and the industry to keep filming in the country straightforward.

music videos in Lisbon

Fado, the city's own urban song, was added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2011 and is still sung in the older neighbourhoods, traditionally with a twelve-string Portuguese guitar alongside an acoustic guitar. The newer export is batida, a fast club sound built by first- and second-generation Angolan and Cape Verdean families in Lisbon's outlying housing projects and pushed worldwide by the Príncipe label (DJ Marfox, Nídia, DJ Nervoso), which also runs a monthly night at Musicbox. Every July, NOS Alive takes over the riverside Passeio Marítimo de Algés in neighbouring Oeiras.

commercials in Lisbon

The national commission points to local crews with plenty of international film, TV and advertising experience, most of them fluent in English, with Spanish and French also widely spoken. The reasons it gives for choosing Portugal are practical ones: almost 300 days of sunshine a year, a big spread of scenery within short drives, and an affordable cost of living. The city commission says it gives a brand commercial the same help it gives a feature or a series.

locations and light

Lisbon is known as the city of seven hills, so the Tagus riverfront, the monumental districts and a long list of viewpoints sit close together, and the city commission notes that Atlantic beaches and mountain locations can both be reached in a single day. The commission describes the light as unique, and the coast at Cascais is about 45 minutes from Lisbon airport.

working in Lisbon

Street and public-space shoots go through the Lisboa Film Commission, the City Council's film office, which was set up to turn permits around within three working days through a single manager, with fees paid online. Beaches and the riverside can also involve the port captaincy, the environment agency or the port authority, drones need clearance from the civil aviation authority (ANAC), and protected areas fall under the nature and forest conservation institute (ICNF).

Film office: Lisboa Film Commission.

Portugal's cash rebate returns 25 to 30 percent of eligible spend on cinema, TV and streaming fiction, animation and documentary, with minimums of €500,000 for fiction and €200,000 for documentary, and advertising and music videos are not among the eligible works.

Time zone: Western European Time (UTC+0, UTC+1 in summer).

Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS) is the gateway, and Air Canada's published schedule shows direct flights from Toronto year round, daily in the busier months.

AI-led and hybrid pieces can be developed remotely, with a live shoot in Lisbon only where the idea needs one.