After studying law at the Catholic University in Porto, he earned a degree from the Lisbon School of Theater and Cinema (ESTC) in 1998 with his graduation project, the documentary Arte Pública. Da Silva made two other documentaries before directing his first full-length feature film, Body Rice, in 2006. Swans is his second full-length feature film. Hugo Vieira da Silva currently lives and works in Vienna and Berlin.
