Ruy Polanah

Cobrador: In God We Trust (2007)

Adaptation and unification in a single story of several stories by the writer Rubem Fonseca, where the theme of violence in contemporary society is explored. ...

Journey to the End of the Night (2006)

In a dark and decadent area of São Paulo, the exiled Americans Rosso and his son Paul own a brothel. Paul is a compulsive gambler addicted in cocaine and his father is married with the former prostitute Angie, and they have a little son. When a client is ...

In Evil Hour (2006)

The old servant and chronicler Dom Sabas tells how his desolate South American town is the scene of a ruthless power struggle. The landowning Assis family, reduced to a widow and son, tries to hold out against the young, despotic mayor. No less effective t ...

Tainá 2 - A New Amazon Adventure (2004)

The young warrior indian Tainá must now battle against biopirates, and is joined by a new boy from the big city and an indian little girl who wants to follow her steps as a protector of the jungle. ...

Eclipse (2002)

The writer Pia and the painter Gil live by the Rio Negro deep in the Amazon jungle. One night, during a lunar eclipse, Pia is murdered. Her death plunges Gil into a world of shadows. He leaves the town by the river and does not return to the house he share ...

Tainá: An Amazon Adventure (2001)

A brave and bold indigenous girl, protector of her jungle and its wild life and guided by her shaman grandfather, pairs with a boy from the big city, against animal traffickers in the Amazon forest. ...

Orfeu (1999)

Orfeu is a popular composer from a samba school. He lives in the favela and falls madly in love when he meets Euridice, a newcomer to the neighborhood. But the local drug boss Lucinho stands between them and will drastically change both their lives. ...

No Coração dos Deuses (1999)

Following the clues of a map, a boy and some adventurers go into the forest in search of treasure from the pioneers, and end up going back two centuries in time, in search of the legendary Minas dos Martírios. ...

Il barbiere di Rio (1996)

Matteo is a Roman barber whose business is full of debts. He decides to escape from this depressing reality by accepting his sister's invitation to Brazil. ...

O Lado Certo da Vida Errada (1996)

Tummy (1995)

A young boy escapes from an orphanage to find two magical creatures in the jungle. As he bonds with the younger one, he discovers that poachers are out to kidnap the creatures and he strives to rescue them. ...

At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991)

Martin and Hazel Quarrier are small-town fundamentalist missionaries sent to the jungles of South America to convert the Indians. Their remote mission was previously run by the Catholics, before the natives murdered them all. They are sent by the pompous L ...

O Círculo de Fogo (1990)

The Fifth Monkey (1990)

When Cunda, a man living deep in the Brazilian rainforest, is bitten by a snake, he has a hallucination of four chimpanzees. Once he recovers, he is shocked to find the four chimpanzees waiting for him at home, and, believing them to be special, decides to ...

Kuarup (1989)

This epic Brazilian film was based on the equally epic novel by Antonio Callado. Set between 1954 and 1964, the film's focus is the saga of Jesuit priest Nando. Fed up with civilization, he ventures deep into Amazon country to live with and work among the ...

Luzia Homem (1988)

After witnessing the assassination of her parents, Luzia is raised by a cowboy and starts behaving like the men of Brazilian "Sertão". As a grown-up, she sets out to find her parent's murderer, but ends up discovering love. ...

Hell Hunters (1988)

A Nazi scientist, wanted as a war criminal, develops a spider serum that turns people into fascist Nazi zombies. A pair of investigators who have devoted their lives to hunting down Nazi war criminals set out to stop him. ...

Jorge, um Brasileiro (1988)

After arguing with his ex-girlfriend, truck driver Jorge hits the road again, while remembering the past and questioning his friendship with his manipulative boss. ...

Memória Viva (1987)

A documentary about the artist Aloísio Magalhães. ...

Land (1987)

The Amazonian jungle, Brazil, 1987. Ruthless landowners are evicting peasants from their land. The peasants look to the priest for help, and are contemplating taking up arms. A stranger arrives who provides an answer to their plight. ...

The Dolphin (1987)

According to an amazonian legend, every month, during the full moon, a brazilian fishing village receives a mysterious guest: the Dolphin, who transforms into a human to seduce and be loved by women and hated by men. One of her conquests is the daughter of ...

After Eight... Forever (1987)

Tereza tries to leave her past and forge her own destiny and happiness by going through several affairs. ...

Running Out of Luck (1987)

A rock singer goes to Brazil to shoot a video, but winds up getting kidnapped and enduring a number of seemingly bizarre and hilarious events. ...

A Dança dos Bonecos (1986)

Mr. Kapa and his assistant meet Iara, a mythical being, in a river with purple waters. Geléia, the assistant, fills a bottle with this magic water and makes three puppets turn alive. ...

Malandro (1986)

In Rio de Janeiro's bohemian district called Lapa, during the '40s, a stylish and popular scoundrel exploits a cabaret singer, and earns his living by means of petty swindles. But then he meets Ludmila, the cabaret owner's daughter, who wants to get rich s ...

The Emerald Forest (1985)

For ten years, engineer Bill Markham has searched tirelessly for his son Tommy who disappeared from the edge of the Brazilian rainforest. Miraculously, he finds the boy living among the reclusive Amazon tribe who adopted him. And that's when Bill's adventu ...

Noites do Sertão (1984)

The film shows the drama of the young and fragile Lalinha. After being abandoned by her husband, who ran away with another, the girl seeks comfort on the farm where the two in-laws live and the widowed father-in-law. There, the girl discovers a new world. ...

Quilombo (1984)

Quilombo dos Palmares was a real-life democratic society, created in Brazil in the 17th century. This incredibly elaborate (and surprisingly little-known) film traces the origins of Quilombo, which began as a community of freed slaves. The colony becomes a ...

Para Viver Um Grande Amor (1984)

Poor people who live in the slums in Rio de Janeiro decide to occupy an empty apartment building in the rich part of the city. Meanwhile, a rich girl falls in love with a poor composer. Based on the musical play "Pobre Menina Rica", by Vinícius de Moraes ...

Bar Esperanza (1983)

A group of eccentric people gather at a popular bar in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. ...

Índia, a Filha do Sol (1982)

A military man picks up a Native Brazilian woman and heads to a gold panning site where he has undisclosed business to attend to. ...

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rain ...

Insônia (1982)

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

O Cortiço (1978)

This adaptation of a classic Brazilian novel focuses on the relations of charismatic characters within a tenement. ...

Black Goddess (1978)

A Deusa Negra is a love story that spans two centuries. In 18th century Yorubaland, Prince Oluyole is taken prisoner in the course of internecine warfare fanned by overseas slave traders. He is sold into slavery in Brazil. In present day Nigeria, at his f ...

Branded For Life (1977)

A true friendship develops between Jojô, a prostitute Rosa, and the young Eduardo, who survive on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Everything goes well until ambition takes over the trio, causing friends to aim for bigger goals, planning a big assault that ...

Fish in a Barrel (1977)

Young robber, son of a prostitute who had killed herself, gets involved with two police informers, who force him to share the loot he gets. ...

Anchieta, José do Brasil (1977)

Life and death of the jesuit who fought for the peaceful relationship between colonists and the indigenous peoples of Brazil. ...

Sweet Thieves (1977)

After assaulting a Hollywood film crew, a group of residents of a community in Rio de Janeiro decided to produce a film that would express the reality of Brazil - with the theme of Inconfidência Mineira. ...

Un animal doué de déraison (1976)

A wealthy French promoter living in Rio tries to seduce Alexandra, a young woman of high society, but a prisoner of her strict education. He then shared his project with a journalist friend, who decided to make it the theme of a novel he imagined in 18th c ...

Feminino Plural (1976)

"Seven women on motorcycles, through Via Dutra, go to the Baixada Fluminense, a microcosm of Brazil. Diving into the memory and questioning the behavior imposed on women, they seek to rescue the strength of the feminine. The new woman, born in the Brazilia ...

Cristais de Sangue (1975)

Rui arrives in a small town looking for his father, a prospector. Before that, he gets involved with Maria, who is facing problems in the family. Maria's stepfather is the head of a gang and will go to any lengths to prevent Rui from finding his father. ...

Sagarana: O Duelo (1974)

Unable to endure the idea that he would go without punishment, a criminal's victim chases him the length and breadth of Brazil for a showdown. ...

Joanna Francesa (1973)

Joana is a sophisticated, beautiful woman, so she has a choice of lovers, and destinies. She will let down Pierre, the French consul at São Paulo, and with him the frivolity of tea-parties and comfort. Her wild inner-soul will develop into the wild forest ...

O Homem do Corpo Fechado (1972)

Of Gods and the Undead (1970)

In the 1930s, in the South of State of Bahia, Brazil, an adventurer with no name or history, who has already been shot seven times, gets involved in the battle for land and cacao plantations. His plan is to take the place of "Colonel" Santana, taking his w ...

Mar Corrente (1967)

Helena, married to decorator Bruno, is a woman dissatisfied with the futility of social life. She rekindles her relationship with her former boyfriend, Clóvis, and discovers how difficult the struggle for happiness is by seeing the example of the less for ...

The Guns (1964)

A group of armed soldiers is sent to the Northeast of Brazil in an attempt to stop a famine-struck population from invading and stealing a food deposit in the dry backlands. While the alienation and insanity of people driven to hallucination by their laten ...

Ganga Zumba (1963)

The life of a runaway slave who founded the Quilombo dos Palmares, an outlaw community of Brazilian slaves. ...

Tragic Jungle (1963)

In a company trading maté, workers are treated as slaves. Some of them try to escape, but those who are caught suffer severe punishments. ...

Saint Bernard (1972)

The story of Paulo Honório, a poor ploughman who becomes a rich farmer. Obsessed by his desire to get even richer, he doesn't pay much attention to his wife, Madalena, a teacher who reacts against his tyrannical ways. ...

Of Gods and the Undead (1970)

In the 1930s, in the South of State of Bahia, Brazil, an adventurer with no name or history, who has already been shot seven times, gets involved in the battle for land and cacao plantations. His plan is to take the place of "Colonel" Santana, taking his w ...

The Guns (1964)

A group of armed soldiers is sent to the Northeast of Brazil in an attempt to stop a famine-struck population from invading and stealing a food deposit in the dry backlands. While the alienation and insanity of people driven to hallucination by their laten ...