Hector Babenco

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Héctor Babenco (2003)

Héctor Eduardo Babenco (born February 7, 1946 in Mar del Plata , Argentina , † July 13, 2016 in São Paulo , Brazil ) was an Argentine-Brazilian film director .

Life

Héctor Babenco was born in Buenos Aires as the son of Jewish emigrants of Ukrainian and Polish origin . At the age of 18, he began to be interested in beat authors and existential philosophy . He trundled through Africa , Europe and North America for seven years and worked as an extra in Spanish and Italian spaghetti westerns .

Finally he came to Brazil in 1969 , where he was fascinated by the new Brazilian cinema (“ cinema novo ”). Although he knew how dangerous this could be under the military dictatorship that had ruled since 1964 , he decided to become a filmmaker. The sharp censure the junta had driven many Brazilian directors into exile. Babenco stayed and learned the film trade by making short and documentary films, including O Fabuloso Fittipaldi (via Emerson Fittipaldi ) and commercials . In 1975 he made his first movie with O Rei da Noite ("King of the Night") . In 1978 he filmed the novel Lúcio Flávio , published two years earlier, about the bank robber of the same name in Rio de Janeiro and the rampage of the death squads. He then faced violent attacks (he was playing down crimes and glorifying criminals into heroes, it was said) and even death threats. Despite the controversy , the film achieved the fourth best grossing result in the Brazilian film industry of all time and helped “ português brasileiro ” as the language of “cinema novo” to a renaissance .

Babenco became internationally known in 1981 through the film Asphalt-Haie with Fernando Ramos Da Silva and Marília Pêra , in which he showed the dreary and hopeless life of Brazilian street children. The film is de facto more of a documentary than a feature film, as its protagonists are actually homeless children. The main actor, Fernando Ramos Da Silva, was shot dead by police in São Paulo in 1987 at the age of 19 .

Asphalt-Haie was Babenco's ticket to Hollywood . His first film there, Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), was a complete success. Leading actor William Hurt won an Oscar and Babenco was nominated for Best Director . Although he continued to make films in the United States, including Spurge (1987) with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, he was increasingly troubled by the arrogant arrogance of some Hollywood producers.

His desire for artistic freedom eventually led him back to Brazil. There he shot, among other things. 2003 Carandiru , a film about the notorious prison in the district of the same name in the north of São Paulo, the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo . There the police killed 111 prisoners when they put down a prisoner uprising in 1992 (" Carandiru massacre "). In 2007 he made O Passado ("The Past") based on the novel of the same name by Alan Pauls .

Héctor Babenco was last married to the Brazilian actress Bárbara Paz.

Juror at film festival

Héctor Babenco was a member of the jury at film festivals several times, including in:

Filmography

Director

  • 1973: O Fabuloso Fittipaldi
  • 1975: O Rei da Noite
  • 1997: Lúcio Flávio, o Passageiro da Agonia
  • 1980: Asphalt Sharks (Pixote, a lei do mais fraco)
  • 1984: A Terra é Redonda Como uma Laranja
  • 1985: Kiss of the Spider Woman (Beijo da al mulher aranha)
  • 1987: Spurge (Ironweed)
  • 1991: At play in the fields of the Lord
  • 1996: Corazón iluminado
  • 2003: Carandiru
  • 2006: Carandiru, Outras Histórias (2 episodes)
  • 2007: El Pasado

producer

  • 1987: Bésame mucho

actor

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Kilb : The cinema, a dream. Film director Babenco has died . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 16, 2016, p. 14.
  2. ↑ Film director Héctor Babenco is dead . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 15, 2016, p. 11.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Babenco, Héctor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Babenco, Héctor Eduardo (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Argentinian-Brazilian film director
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Mar del Plata , Argentina
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 2016
Place of death São Paulo , Brazil