Marco Martins was born in Lisbon in 1972. His overarching body of work spans several fields, from cinema to visual arts and drama. A graduate of the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, also attending Tisch School of Arts and HFF Munich – University of Film and Television, his films have been presented at major international festivals. 

The feature film Alice won him the Directors’ Fortnight Best Picture Award at Cannes in 2005. 

In 2006, he directed Um Ano Mais Longo [A Longer Year], a short film co-authored with Tonino Guerra and selected for the Venice International Film Festival. 

S. Jorge [Saint George] was once again a contender at the Venice Film Festival, awarding actor Nuno Lopes a Golden Lion (Horizons Award). Just as previously with Alice, Saint George was one of the Academy Award nominees for Best Foreign Language Film and, among others, the Goya Award.

After its premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival, Marco's most recent feature film, Great Yarmouth- Provisional Figures, a Portuguese-French-British co-production based on the play Provisional Figures, continues to be shown nationally and internationally on the cinema circuit.

In 2024 Sophia Awards also crowned Great Yarmouth with four awards for Beatriz Batarda (Best Leading Actress), Romeu Runa (Best Supporting Actor), João Ribeiro (Best Cinematography) and Miguel Martins and Rafael Cardoso (Best Sound).