Fernando Meirelles

Fernando Meirelles (2012)

Fernando Meirelles (born November 9, 1955 in São Paulo ) is a Brazilian film director .

biography

As a director who claims to hate violent films, Fernando Meirelles has an eye for the “aesthetics of violence”. He proved this in the literary film City of God (2002) based on the novel by Paulo Lins , for which he received a nomination for best director at the Oscars .

After completing his architecture studies, Meirelles began his film career by shooting experimental short films , for which he received numerous awards at Brazilian film festivals . Together with some friends he founded the "Olhar Electrônico", a small production company for independent films . He also worked for commercial television stations in Brazil. He had great success as the director of a children's program that was very popular in Brazil. Through his friend Bráulio Mantovani he came up with a script for City of God , which was to be his first film for international cinema. Meirelles cast 350 roles, mainly with amateur actors from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro . The film was a huge success in Brazil and won awards at numerous international festivals. With The Eternal Gardener from 2005, based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré with Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz in the leading roles, he remained loyal to auteur cinema . The work was nominated several times for the Oscar , the Golden Globe Award and the British film award BAFTA in 2006, but only leading actress Rachel Weisz received the film awards.

In 2008 Meirelles opened the 61st Cannes Film Festival with the competition entry The City of the Blind, and competed for the Palme d' Or for the first time . The drama with Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo in the leading roles is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by José Saramago , but received no award in Cannes.

Filmography (selection)

Fernando Meirelles (2012)

1998: The Little Pain: The Magical Adventure (Menino Maluquinho 2: A Aventura)
2001: Domésticas - maids (Domésticas)
2002: Golden Gate (Palace II) (short film)
2002: City of God ( Cidade de Deus , feature film)
2002: City of Men ( Cidade dos Homens , series)
2005: The Constant Gardener (The Constant Gardener)
2008: The City of the Blind (Blindness)
2011: 360
2019: The two popes (The Two Popes)

Awards

Oscar

2004 : Nominated as best director for City of God

British Academy Film Award

2003: Nominated for Best Non-English Language Film for City of God
2006 : Nominated for Best British Film and Best Director for The Eternal Gardener