Maria Esperança "Pocas" Pascoal, was born on 11 November 1963[1]: 138 in Luanda, Angola, where she grew up until the age of 16 before leaving the civil war to Lisbon, Portugal with her sister.
[3] In France, Pascoal studied at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinema Francais (CLCF) and graduated in film editing.
[4] Currently Pascoal lives between Paris and Lisbon, where she is working on her next feature film that will tell the love story between a South African soldier and an Angolan.
In 1998, she directed her first short fiction film in India "For us" and two documentaries: Childhood Memories (2000) and There is always somebody who loves you (2004).
[6] Her work has been featured in over 20 festivals worldwide since she began her career as a film maker.