Jorge Brum do Canto (February 10, 1910–February 7, 1994,) was a Portuguese film director.
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Jorge Brum do Canto was born in Lisbon from a family with aristocratic Flemish and English roots. In Lisbon he attended high school and later entered in the University of Lisbon, Faculty of Law but did not finish his degree. Brum do Canto began publishing texts about cinema, and in 1925 took his first role in cinema, a part in the film O Desconhecido, by Rino Lupo). In 1927 he started writing for the newspaper O Século until 1929. Meanwhile, he headed and/or collaborated in several cinema magazines, which were growing at the time (Cinéfilo, Kino, Imagem).
Fascinated by the French vanguard, he followed that line as a director in his first film A Dança dos Paroxismos, shot in the last days of 1929. The film, produced by the Mello, Castello Branco, Lda. firm, was shown in November 1930, being presented again on October 27, 1984 in the Cinemateca Portuguesa, which has its negative and the only existing copies. Two years later, he tried to make a new film, produced by himself, Paisagem, but it was never completed due to financial reasons. Until 1935, he shot some more minor documentaries, but his professionalization occurred only later in the same year, when he assisted the director of As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor, Leitão de Barros. In 1936, he was general assistant in the film O Trevo de Quatro Folhas, by Chianca de Garcia.
In 1936–37, in the middle of some unstable productions, Brum do Canto directed his first feature-film, A Canção da Terra, which was well received when premiered. By this time, Brum do Canto's career became prolific and until the first years of the 50's he had shot six more feature-films. From 1953 to 1959 he interrupted his cinematic works and even left his home in Lisbon, establishing himself in the Porto Santo island (Madeira), where he owned large properties, dedicating his time to agriculture and sport fishing. His return to cinema happened in the next decade with three films. In 1973, the Portuguese audience discovered him as an actor, in theatrical plays broadcasted by RTP. He acted, very successfully, in Paddy Chayefsky's O Grande Negócio and Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men, both directed by Artur Ramos. Still as an actor, Brum do Canto returned to RTP in 1975 in the TV Series Angústia para o Jantar, by Jaime Silva.
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