©Filipe Ferreira
Cleo Diára (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist working across theatre, film, and performance. Born in Praia, Cape Verde, in 1987, she moved to Lisbon during her childhood. Trained at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, she has collaborated with some of Portugal's leading theatre directors — including Mónica Calle, Mário Coelho, and Rogério Carvalho — and appeared in numerous national and international film productions such as Diamantino (Gabriel Abrantes & Daniel Schmidt) and Nha Mila (Denise Fernandes).
In 2020, she co-founded the collective Aurora Negra together with actresses Isabel Zuaa and Nádia Yracema, creating theatre work that has toured across Portugal and abroad. The collective has since premiered two further productions: Cosmos (2022) and Missão da Missão (2023).
In 2025, Cleo Diára received the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard) for O Riso e a Faca, directed by Pedro Pinho – a historic first for a Portuguese production and for the representation of Portuguese-speaking African countries.
This residency frames within an annual exchange programme with Alkantara, Lisbon. Both Moussem and Alkantara operate from diverse cities with strong diasporic communities and have a keen eye for the relationship between art and society. Through this exchange, we hope to support the development of new narratives by artists who reflect these dynamics in our cities. Past residents include Youness Khoukhou (2023), Marco Mendonça (2023), Alix Konadu (2024), Diego Bragà (2024) and Inés Sybille Vooduness (2025).
