João Alves has worked in animation since 2006, beginning as an animator on Revolta dos Pastéis de Nata and Ilha das Cores. In 2010, he directed Bats in the Belfry, which premiered at MOTELx and won Best Portuguese Horror Short Film. He later studied animation at the University of Texas at Austin and co-directed a trailer for The Extraordinary Adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizzaboy II. A member of COLA since 2017, João has written the feature script Mindscape, co-directed the feature O Natal do Bruno Aleixo and is developing the feature film adaptation of O Baile (graphic novel).