São Paulo (Brasil), 1942

By Afrânio Mendes Catani

Filmmaker whose work is closely connected to the city of São Paulo, Brazil. He made the short documentary films Campos Elíseos (1973) and Edifício Martinelli (1975). He established himself in the advertising career and, in 1986, released his first feature films, the documentary Quebrando a cara and the drama Jogo duro. The former was a record of the family of boxer Éder Jofre and the neighborhood where he lived, in the outskirts; the latter was set in the middle-class neighborhood of Pacaembu. From his first fictional feature, he mixed elements of the middle class, the elite, and the common people. He set Festa (1988) in a mansion. Sábado (1994) was set in a building in the old downtown. Boleiros, era uma vez no futebol… (1998) involved the Brazilians’ favorite sport, and O príncipe (2002) was filmed in various neighborhoods of São Paulo. He directed the mid-length documentaries Variações sobre um quarteto de cordas (2004), focusing on the career of maestro Johannes Oeslener, and Pizza (2005), an investigation into the consumption habits of the almost “Paulista” dish. He produced the feature documentaries À margem da imagem (2003) and Mensageiras da luz (2004), both by Evaldo Mocarzel. In 2006, he directed Boleiros 2 – vencedores e vencidos and in 2012 the feature Cara ou coroa.