Brazilian Directors Who Became International Directors
Some Brazilian directors decided to risk making career in foreign lands. Which of these directors had the best result away from home?
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- Producer
Vicente has directed eight TV series, served as showrunner on three, including Netflix's "Senna", which he also directed, and directed ten features, with actors such as Wagner Moura, Viggo Mortensen, Giancarlo Giannini, Harvey Keitel, Emily Mortimer and Tsuyoshi Ihara. His work includes action, thrillers, dark comedies and character dramas. His features have been shown in the most important festivals in the world, including Toronto, San Sebastian, Rotterdam, MoMA/NY, Chicago, Miami and many more. Vicente lives in LA. He speaks fluent English, Portuguese, Spanish and French.- Director
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Hector Babenco was born on 7 February 1946 in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a director and writer, known for Carandiru (2003), Pixote (1980) and Foolish Heart (1998). He was married to Bárbara Paz, Xuxa Lopes and Raquel Arnaud. He died on 13 July 2016 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.- Director
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Bruno Barreto was born on 16 March 1955 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a director and producer, known for Reaching for the Moon (2013), Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976) and Four Days in September (1997). He was previously married to Amy Irving.- Director
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Heitor Dhalia was born on 18 January 1970 in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. He is a director and producer, known for O Cheiro do Ralo (2006), Nina (2004) and Bald Mountain (2013).- Actor
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Marcio Garcia was born on 17 April 1970 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is an actor and producer, known for Predileção (2009), Celebrity (2003) and Chain Reaction (2021). He has been married to Andréa Santa Rosa since 22 February 2003. They have four children.- Director
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Fernando Meirelles was born in a middle class family in São Paulo City, Brazil.
He studied architecture at the university of São Paulo. At the same time he developed an interest in filmmaking. With a group of friends he started producing experimental videos and video art. They won a huge number of awards in Brazilian video festivals. After that, the group formed a small independent company called Olhar Eletrônico.
After working in independent television during nine years, in the eighties, Meirelles gravitated towards publicity and commercials. He also became the director of a very popular 180 episodes of a children's television show called Ra Tim Bum.
In the early 90s, together with Paulo Morelli and Andrea Barata Ribeiro, he opened the O2 Filmes production company which became the biggest production company in Brasil working from development until distribution, including complete post-production facilities.
His first feature,in 1998, was the family film "Menino Maluquinho 2: A Aventura". His next feature, "Domésticas" (2001), exposed the invisible world of five Brazilian maids in São Paulo and their secret dreams and desires.
In 1997 he read the Brazilian best-seller "Cidade de Deus/City of God", written by Paulo Lins, and decided to turn it into a movie despite an the intimidating story that involves more than 350 characters. Once the the screenplay, written by Bráulio Mantovani, was ready, Meirelles gathered a crew mixed with professional technicians and inexperienced actors chosen between the youngsters living in the favelas surrounding Rio de Janeiro.
The film was a huge success in Brazil and began to attract attention around the world, after it screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002. "Cidade de Deus/City of God" (2003) has won nore than 50 awards from film festivals and societies all over the world, as well as four 2004 Oscar nominations, including a Best Director for Fernando Meirelles.
Since 2002 , Meirelles has split his time between international feature and TV series in Brazil. The Constant Gardner (2005,) had four Academy nominations plus four Golden Globes. Blindness (2008) opened Cannes. 360 (2011) opened the LFF. In the same period he directed several series for TV Globo and HBO in Brazil.
In addition to cinema, Meirelles directed Bizet's opera , Pearl Fishers, and was one of the directors of the 2016 Olympic opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.
In 2019 Meirelles finished The Two Popes, for Netflix, and start filming a scientific documentary on the soil.
Apart from cinema, Meirelles is also a farmer. He plants sugar cane, coffee, palm heart, avocado, and mahogany. He is developing ways to produce organically n large scale. Agroforest is his bet.
In the next few years, his plan is to be involved in projects related to the environmental crisis and climate emergency. Meirelles is not optimistic about the future of our species and, in a shorter period, neither in the future of his grandchildren, which is very sad. --- Producer
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He is best known for directing the Brazilian critical and financial successes Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within and the 2014 remake of RoboCop. He has won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Elite Squad in 2008. He is also the producer and director of the Netflix original series Narcos, starring frequent collaborator Wagner Moura.- Director
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Afonso Poyart was born in 1979 in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil. He is a director and writer, known for Two Rabbits (2012), Mais Forte que o Mundo: A História de José Aldo (2016) and Solace (2015).- Writer
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Carlos Saldanha is a Brazilian director of animated films. He was the director of Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) and Rio (2011), and the co-director of Ice Age (2002) and Robots (2005).
Saldanha was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He left his hometown in 1991 to follow his artistic instinct and passion for animation. With a background in computer science and a natural artistic sensibility, he found New York City the perfect locale to merge these skills and become an animator. He attended the MFA program at New York's School of Visual Arts, where he graduated with honors in 1993, after completing two animated shorts, The Adventures of Korky, the Corkscrew (1992) and Time For Love (1993). The shorts have been screened at animation festivals around the world. At SVA, Saldanha met Chris Wedge, one of the co-founders of Blue Sky Studios, who invited him to join their growing team of artists.
He also worked as animator on Wedge's short film Bunny (1998).- Director
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Walter Salles was born on 12 April 1956 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a director and producer, known for Central Station (1998), The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) and Terra Estrangeira (1995). He is married to Maria Klabin. They have one child.- Director
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Andrucha Waddington (born January 20,1970) is a Brazilian film director, producer, and screenwriter.
His several film credits include "Me You Them" (2000), Mention spéciale of Un Certain Regard in Cannes, an Official Selection of Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals, Brazil's official entry to the Oscars Best Foreign Language Film - and winner, Best Film, at Karlovy Vary, Havana and Cartagena Film festivals; "The House of Sand" (2005) Berlin, Toronto and Sundance film festivals official selection, winner of the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Script and Alfred Sloan awards; and the Brazil/Spain co-production "Lope" (2010), a Venice and Toronto official selection and winner of two Goya Awards.
Moreover, he directed and produced the TV Globo/ Conspiração drama series "Under Pressure" (2017-2018-2019), which got rave reviews and skyrocket ratings. He also directed and produced the Brazilian blockbuster "Party Crashers" (2012), the biopic "Chacrinha - O Velho Guerreiro" (2018), the thriller "O Juizo" (2019) and theatrical film documentaries as "Gilberto Gil - Viva São João" (2002), "Maria Bethania-Pedrinha de Aruanda" (2007) and "André Midani - from vinyl to download" ( 2015).
He was also creative director of the iconic Rio 2016 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
Andrucha Waddington has been a partner at Conspiração Filmes since 1995.