Nelson Pereira dos Santos

A Luz do Tom (2013)

Documentary about the life of Tom Jobim, from the perspective of three women of his life: his sister, Helena Jobim, his first wife, Thereza, and his second wife, Ana. ...

The Music According to Tom Jobim (2012)

Half a century ago, Brazilian composer and musician Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim (1927-1994) introduced bossa nova to a worldwide audience with "The Girl from Ipanema." This relaxed, cool, sensuous music blended jazz and samba. After recording an album of so ...

Português - A Língua do Brasil (2007)

16 members from the Brazilian Academy of Letters share their views on the current situation of the portuguese language. ...

Brasília 18% (2006)

A star medical examiner is called to Brasília, the administrative capital of Brazil, to confirm the identity of a beautiful, young congressional aide's dead body. But his scientific rigor soon leads him to details of a multi-layered political scandal. ...

Raízes do Brasil (2004)

Documentary in two parts about Brazilian writer, journalist and sociologist Sérgio Buarque de Holanda. The first part describes how the author used to pass his days with family and friends, while the second offers a historical panorama of the times, inclu ...

Meu Compadre, Zé Ketti (2001)

Short musical film paying a tribute to samba composer Zé Ketti, one of the greatest popular artists of Brazilian music. In a jam session, in the late composer's house in Inhaúma, a neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, a group of friends get together to play h ...

Casa Grande & Senzala (2001)

Cinema of Tears (1995)

An aging Brazilian actor teams up with a film student on a trip to Mexico, in order to find out an unknown movie his mother allegedly watched before she committed suicide. ...

The Third Bank of the River (1994)

After an extended period directing original screenplays, dos Santos returned to the creative engagement with literature that was the wellspring of his early masterpieces, offering a combinatory adaptation of five stories by the renowned Brazilian novelist ...

Sonhei com Você (1988)

Milionário and José Rico are robbed of their money and their fans' enthusiasm. But a female truck driver is out to help them. ...

Jubiabá (1987)

Jubiabá is a French-Brazilian film based on the homonymous novel by Jorge Amado. The film tells the story of the interracial love between the daughter of a rich Commander and Antonio Balduíno, a rascal, fighter and famous lover from Salvador. ...

Memories of Prison (1984)

In the 1930s, novelist and politician Graciliano Ramos is accused of being a communist sympathizer. He is then arrested and sent to the Ilha Grande prison, where he experiences the disturbing treatment reserved for common prisoners. ...

O côco do Macalé (1982)

Go Ahead, Brazil! (1982)

Mid-1970s. When the military regime's "economic miracle" and the victory of the Brazilian football team on the World Cup serve as a distraction for the persecution of opposition leaders by the political police of the dictatorship. Under this context, Jofre ...

A Missa do Galo (1982)

It's Christmas Eve and an aunt and her nephew have to deal with their platonic relationship. ...

Insônia (1982)

A three-episode anthology film based on short stories by Brazilian writer Graciliano Ramos. ...

The Highway of Life (1980)

The rise of real life country singers Milionário e José Rico from their humble beginnings until musical success. ...

Um Ladrão (1980)

A young man learns to how to be a thief from a more experienced one. ...

Tent of Miracles (1977)

When a prominent U.S. Nobel Laureate arrives in Salvador, Bahia, the city with the largest black population in Brazil, he stirs emotions by championing a long-forgotten local writer named Pedro Archanjo, who believed that humanity would be improved only th ...

As Aventuras Amorosas de um Padeiro (1975)

A newlywed woman, frustrated after her honeymoon, decides to search for lovers on the streets and ends up causing a conflict between her husband, a baker and a black artist. ...

The Amulet of Ogum (1974)

An ubiquitous folk singer narrates the tale of a young boy, who apparently becomes immune to gunfire after his mother arranges for him to have an amulet bearing Ogum's blessings. As time goes by, he becomes a valuable member of a mobster's hit-team, but en ...

Who Is Beta? (1972)

The critical success in France of How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman made possible dos Santos' delirious science-fiction vision of free love in a post-apocalyptic wilderness besieged by flesh hungry zombies contaminated by an unnamed nuclear attack. Who is ...

Jornalismo e Independência (1972)

Uma Mensagem de Chico Xavier (1972)

Documentary short about Brazilian medium Chico Xavier. ...

How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1971)

In 1594 Brazil, a frenchman becomes a prisoner of the Tupinambás. While waiting to be executed, the foreigner learns the habits of the indigenous people and joins a woman who tries to help him escape. ...

The Alienist (1970)

Father Simão Bacamarte arrives in the small town of Serafim to investigate a certain phenomenon of madness. ...

Hunger for Love (1968)

An extended research tour of US university film programs introduced dos Santos to the American avant-garde filmmakers, among them Jonas Mekas and Stan Brakhage, who would directly inspire his formally radical adaptation of an allegorical short story about ...

El Justicero (1967)

A shockingly irreverent follow-up to the rural austerity of Barren Lives, dos Santos' Godardian social satire owes more than a nod to the self-conscious antics of the French New Wave. The pampered son of a general, El Justicero is a hipster playboy who fan ...

A Public Opinion (1967)

Documentary about middle-class people in Rio de Janeiro, in the 1960s, when Brazil was going through a hard period in its history, with the military coup and the following dictatorship. Interviews with people in the street disclose their fears, aspirations ...

Fala Brasília (1966)

An amalgamation of accents and life experiences from different parts of Brazil reunited on the city of Brasília. ...

The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga (1965)

Augusto Matraga is a violent agressive farmer who, after being betrayed by his wife and trapped by several enemies, is beaten up and left for dead, being rescued by a couple of humble small farmers who nurse him for a long time until he is well again. Infl ...

Absolute Majority (1964)

The documentary depicts the everyday of illiterate rural workers in Northeast Brazil, living under extreme misery. Although incapable of writing, they are aware of their condition and qualified to proposing solutions they hope for to their problems. ...

A Seventy-Four Year-Old Fellow (1964)

Documentary about the history of Jornal do Brasil, founded on April 14, 1891. In 1965, the Jornal do Brasil marked its innovative and active position, as recorded in the documentary "A Seventv-Four- Year-Old Fellow" by the filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos San ...

Barren Lives (1963)

In vivid images, the documentary-like story of a drover and his family in the northern badlands of Brazil during the drought. A family in the search of new hope and destiny. ...

Golden Mouth (1963)

After a powerful outlaw dies, a reporter interviews his lover and gets three different stories about the legendary man. ...

Five Times Favela (1962)

Five segments about the hardships faced by people living in slums on hills in Rio de Janeiro. ...

Pedreira de São Diogo (1962)

Men work in a quarry on the edge of a hill where a slum is located, of which they are residents. The slope is blown up, advancing to the land near the shacks. Slum dwellers are warned that new explosions can cause damage. The community decides to place its ...

The Turning Wind (1962)

In Bahia, an educated black man returns to his home fishing village to try and free people from mysticism, in particular the Candomblé religion, which he considers a factor of political and social oppression, with tragic outcome. ...

Menino da Calça Branca (1962)

When a young boy from a shanty town near Rio de Janeiro gets a coveted pair of white trousers for Christmas his joy knows no bounds. Not getting them dirty, however, presents certain difficulties for a lively slum kid. ...

Red Mandacaru (1961)

Despite being promised to another man, a young orphaned woman falls in love with man working at the farm she lives in , and together they escape. According tradition in Northeast Brazil, her aunt goes after them, in order to kill them for revenge. ...

The Grand Moment (1958)

On the day of his wedding, young man from a family of immigrants faces some problems to get the money needed for the last arrangements. The family do what they can in order to honour the great event, selling personal belongings and buying enough supplies f ...

Rio, Northern Zone (1957)

A talented songwriter of sambas is forced to face the social injustices of the city around him. ...

Rio, 100 Degrees F° (1955)

On a scorching summer day in Rio de Janeiro, five impoverished black boys venture out of their favela to peddle peanuts throughout the bustling city. As they navigate the various districts of Rio, they bear witness to a series of unfortunate events and enc ...

O Saci (1951)

Two kids and a living, talkative doll attempt to catch a mulatto boy-like, supernatural one legged figure known as the Saci-Pererê, that enjoys playing pranks on the farms. ...

Juventude (1949)

Nelson Pereira dos Santos – A Life of Cinema (2023)

For six decades, the cinema of Nelson Pereira dos Santos has projected Brazil into the eyes of the world. Precursor of Cinema Novo, Nelson was, more than a director, he was an ideologue, a thinker of his country. ...

Já que Ninguém me Tira Para Dançar (2021)

Conducted from interviews with personalities who lived with Leila Diniz (1945-1972), the documentary is a record of an era and, above all, it rescues the participation in Brazilian culture of the actress who opened the way for the sexual revolution during ...

The Good Cinema (2021)

An authentically marginal cinema created in Catholic university in Brazil. One of the most intriguing and imaginative moments in modern cinema in the voice of some of its select conspirators—with Carlos Reichenbach at the lead—, and through the most ra ...

Nelson Filma o Rio (2021)

The city of Rio de Janeiro in the films of Nelson Pereira dos Santos contextualized by critic Rodrigo Fonseca. ...

Candango: Memoirs from a Festival (2020)

In 1965, a year after the military coup in Brazil, an oasis of freedom opened in the country's capital. The Brasília Film Festival: a landmark of cultural and political resistance. Its story is that of Brazilian cinema itself. ...

Memórias do Grupo Opinião (2019)

Follows the story of Opinião, a theatre group created in 1964 during the early Brazilian dictatorship period to oppose the government through artistic performances. Considered the first left-wing response to the dictatorship, the group gathered now famous ...

A música que meu pai gostava (2018)

Nelson Pereira dos Santos talks about The Highway of Life (1980) ...

Brazilian Cinema in the 20th Century (2017)

Two years of research and visits to collections, cinematheques and museums; almost seventy interviews that generated 30 hours of recorded material; more than two hundred scanned photos and more than one hundred films watched. In total, more than a thousand ...

Cinema Novo (2016)

A deep investigation, in the way of a poetic essay, on one of the main Latin American movements in cinema, analyzed via the thoughts of its main authors, who invented, in the early 1960s, a new way of making movies in Brazil, with a political attitude, alw ...

Cordilheiras no Mar: A Fúria do Fogo Bárbaro (2015)

Tudo Por Amor ao Cinema (2015)

A documentary on Cosme Alves Netto (1937-1996), former head of the Cinematheque of the Museum of Modern Arts at Rio de Janeiro. ...

O Brasil de Darcy Ribeiro (2014)

Documentary on the view, testimonies and times of Darcy Ribeiro, since military dictatorship. ...

Sinais de Cinza, A Peleja de Olney Contra o Dragão da Maldade (2013)

Glauber Rocha em Defesa do Cinema Brasileiro (2011)

A Paz é Dourada (2008)

The film chronicles both the life and work of Brazilian author and engineer Euclides da Cunha and a failed attempt at directing his biopic in the 1980s and 1990s. Footage from the unfinished film is included alongside archive and documentary material. ...

Critic (2008)

Seventy critics and filmmakers discuss cinema around the conflict between the artist and the observer, the creator and the critic. Between 1998 and 2007, Kléber Mendonça Filho recorded testimonies about this relationship in Brazil, the United States and ...

Jards Macalé - Um Morcego na Porta Principal (2008)

This film shines a light at the story of Jards Macalé, polemic artist and controversial character of Brazilian culture over the last four decades. Author of songs such as "Vapor Barato" and "Movimento dos Barcos", a partner in crime of poet Waly Salomão, ...

Sambando nas Brasas, Morô? (2007)

The adventures of Pedro, a musician who is trying his luck in Rio de Janeiro, in the 1950's. He leaves his hometown Belo Horizonte to share a lodging with his brother Carlos in Rio. During one of his gigs, he meets Arlete, a singer in a vocal group and fal ...

Oscar Niemeyer: Life is a Breath of Air (2007)

A documentary made to coincide with Niemeyer's 100th birthday. The renowned architect talks about his long life, his inspirations, and his aspirations towards a just Brazil, and the ways he tried to help that along in his spectacular and beautiful building ...

Português - A Língua do Brasil (2007)

16 members from the Brazilian Academy of Letters share their views on the current situation of the portuguese language. ...

Referências (2006)

During a showing of rare Afro-Brazilian Cinema films at the Cinematheque of the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, actor/filmmaker Zózimo Bulbul gathered some of the most notorious Brazilian black directors to talk about their works, their lives and ...

Glauber Rocha - The Movie, Brazil's Labyrinth (2003)

Documentary about Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha, one of the most important names in the Cinema Novo, with interviews with some of his friends and colleagues. ...

At the Edge of the Earth (2002)

On 17 May 1931, the young director Mário Peixoto released his masterpiece "Limite" in a premiere in Capitólio Theater in Rio de Janeiro to astonished audiences bewildered by the impressive and poetic images. Considered by many viewers the best Brazilian ...

How to Die in Cinema (2002)

Memories of a parrot who participated in the filming of the classic Vidas Secas, in 1962, where it was featured along the puppy Baleia. ...

For All - O Trampolim da Vitória (1998)

1943, World War II. The northeastern coast of Brazil is an strategic region for the Allies. Giancarlo, an Italian immigrant married to a Brazilian woman, lives nearby the Parnamirin Field, the largest military base built by the USA outside of their territo ...

Dib (1997)

Documentary that addresses, through the testimony of directors and actors, the work of Dib Lutfi, considered one of the greatest photographers of Brazilian cinema. ...

Que Filme 'Tu Vai' Fazer? (1991)

Que Viva Glauber! (1991)

Alex Viany - Um Documentário em Vídeo (1989)

Claves, 1: How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1984)

Documentary in four parts on Latin American cinema. First episode: the influences of Cahiers du cinéma, the New Wave, Italian neorealism. In Brazil, Cinema Novo draws inspiration from these models while drawing on the historical and cultural singularity o ...

Claves, 2: We will return younger (1984)

Documentary in four parts on Latin American cinema. Second episode, evoking the border between fiction and documentary. With his film Tire dié (1960), the Argentinian Fernando Birri proposed this manifesto: to create a realistic and critical national cine ...

Brazil in Cannes (1971)

The importance of the Cannes Film Festival in world terms and what it represented for Brazil in 1971. For Brazilian cinema, Cannes 71 represented the transition from film to industrialized production. ...

Nelson Filma (1971)

The work of Nelson Pereira dos Santos guides the documentary, which traces the path taken by Cinema Novo and addresses the issues raised by the filmmaker during the filming of Brazilian Cinema classics. ...

Garden of War (1969)

Edson is having an affair with actress Maria do Rosário, who dreams of being a movie director. So he tries to get some easy money for her film, but is arrested and meets a police torturer instead. ...

Improvised and Purposeful: Cinema Novo (1967)

Originally produced for German TV, Improvised and Purposeful is a firsthand look at the "Cinema Novo" movement (otherwise known as the 'Brazilian New Wave'). Director Joaquim Pedro de Andrade focuses on six Cinema Novo filmmakers working in Rio in 1967. ...

Red Mandacaru (1961)

Despite being promised to another man, a young orphaned woman falls in love with man working at the farm she lives in , and together they escape. According tradition in Northeast Brazil, her aunt goes after them, in order to kill them for revenge. ...