Fernando Meirelles
Encyclopedia
Fernando Ferreira Meirelles (born November 9, 1955 in São Paulo
, Brazil
) is a Brazilian film director
, producer
and screenwriter
.
He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director in 2004 for his work in the Brazilian film City of God, released in 2002 in Brazil and in 2003 in the U.S. by Miramax Films
. He was also nominated for the Golden Globe Best Director award in 2005 for The Constant Gardener
, film which garnered the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
to Rachel Weisz
.
and North America
(among other regions of the world), what gave opportunities for Fernando to have contact with different cultures and places. His mother, Sônia Junqueira
Ferreira Meirelles, is daughter of farmers and worked with landscape architecture
and interior design
for a long time. Second youngest of four children, he saw his older brother, José Marcos, die in a car-bike accident when he was only 4 years old. His two sisters, Márcia and Silvinha, graduated in theater and psychology, respectively. Fernando grew up in Alto dos Pinheiros, district of the West Zone of São Paulo
, and spending every vacation in farms from both sides of his parents. "Even I have a farm. I don't know why I bought it.", he says.
His first experience with cinema was with his father, who often directed 8 mm films
during his job at the university. Mostly western
and thriller parodies
, he used his relatives and friends as actors. At 11, in 1967, he spent a year in the United States
, precisely in California
, where he got in touch with the hippie movement
, which impressed him. At 13, with a borrowed Super 8 camera
, Meirelles started producing small films, encouraged by Norman McLaren
's animations.
during the 1980s
. His graduation work was done in the form of a film, instead of the traditional designs of the other students: he went to Japan
and bought professional video equipment to do the job. He presented it and graduated with the minimum acceptable grade.
When studying architecture
at the University of São Paulo, Meirelles became involved in experimental film-making. After several years in independent television, he became an advertisement film director. He is still one of the partners of O2 Filmes, the biggest Brazilian advertisement firm, which has produced City of God, Domésticas (Maids) and Viva Voz.
Along with four friends (Paul Morelli, Marcelo Machado, Dário Vizeu and Bob Salatini), Meirelles began his career with experimental films. Eventually, they formed an independent production company Olhar Eletrônico. Subsequently, new friends joined the group: Renato Barbiere, Agilson Araujo, Toniko and Marcelo Tas
. In 1982 the company aired TV programs on current affairs, as well as the children series Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum
(Ra-Tim-Bum Castle), with 180 episodes. In addition to obtaining high ratings, they also introduced a refreshing humorous informality in news reporting.
By the end of the 1980s, he became increasingly interested on the advertising market. In 1990, Meirelles and friends closed down Olhar Eletrônico, opening an advertising business, O2 Films. One decade was enough for him to become one of the most important and sought-after advertising producers.
In 1997, Meirelles read the book Paulo Lins
's City of God
. He decided to adapt it to film, which was done in 2002, and decided that the actors in it would be selected among the inhabitants of slums. In a final triage, from 400 children, they selected 200, with whom they worked for the shooting of the film. The filming was done with a professional crew. The film was a national and international success.
In 2004, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for City of God. Also, at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival
, the movie received four nominations: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Photography and Best Editing.
With the recognition, he was offered a job in Hollywood. With The Constant Gardener
, he again received critical acclaim, receiving several nominations, including for four Academy Awards
and the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Rachel Weisz
went on tho win the Academy Award
and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress
. Meirelles insisted that the soundtrack be based on the music of African countries, and most of the filming was done in Kenya.
In 2007, he began shooting Blindness
, a film adaptation of Nobel-prize winner José Saramago
's book, Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira
. The film, which was released in 2008, was the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival
.
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
) is a Brazilian film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
.
He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director in 2004 for his work in the Brazilian film City of God, released in 2002 in Brazil and in 2003 in the U.S. by Miramax Films
Miramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
. He was also nominated for the Golden Globe Best Director award in 2005 for The Constant Gardener
The Constant Gardener (film)
The Constant Gardener is a 2005 drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles. The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine is based on the John le Carré novel of the same name. It tells the story of Justin Quayle, a man who seeks to find the motivating forces behind his wife's murder.The film stars Ralph Fiennes,...
, film which garnered the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
to Rachel Weisz
Rachel Weisz
Rachel Hannah Weisz born 7 March 1970)is an English-American film and theatre actress and former fashion model. She started her acting career at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she co-founded the theatrical group Cambridge Talking Tongues...
.
Early life
Meirelles' father, José de Souza Meirelles, is a gastroenterologist who travelled regularly to AsiaAsia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
(among other regions of the world), what gave opportunities for Fernando to have contact with different cultures and places. His mother, Sônia Junqueira
Ferreira Meirelles, is daughter of farmers and worked with landscape architecture
Landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
and interior design
Interior design
Interior design describes a group of various yet related projects that involve turning an interior space into an effective setting for the range of human activities are to take place there. An interior designer is someone who conducts such projects...
for a long time. Second youngest of four children, he saw his older brother, José Marcos, die in a car-bike accident when he was only 4 years old. His two sisters, Márcia and Silvinha, graduated in theater and psychology, respectively. Fernando grew up in Alto dos Pinheiros, district of the West Zone of São Paulo
West Zone of São Paulo
The West Zone is an Administrative Zone of São Paulo, Brazil.-References:...
, and spending every vacation in farms from both sides of his parents. "Even I have a farm. I don't know why I bought it.", he says.
His first experience with cinema was with his father, who often directed 8 mm films
8 mm film
8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: the original standard 8mm film, also known as regular 8 mm or Double 8 mm, and Super 8...
during his job at the university. Mostly western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
and thriller parodies
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
, he used his relatives and friends as actors. At 11, in 1967, he spent a year in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, precisely in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where he got in touch with the hippie movement
History of the hippie movement
The hippie subculture developed as a youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world. Its origins can be traced back to classical culture, and to European social movements in the early 20th century i.e.: Fabians and Bohemians...
, which impressed him. At 13, with a borrowed Super 8 camera
Super 8 mm film
Super 8 mm film is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format....
, Meirelles started producing small films, encouraged by Norman McLaren
Norman McLaren
Norman McLaren, CC, CQ was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada...
's animations.
Career
He studied at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of São PauloUniversity of São Paulo
Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...
during the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
. His graduation work was done in the form of a film, instead of the traditional designs of the other students: he went to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and bought professional video equipment to do the job. He presented it and graduated with the minimum acceptable grade.
When studying architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
at the University of São Paulo, Meirelles became involved in experimental film-making. After several years in independent television, he became an advertisement film director. He is still one of the partners of O2 Filmes, the biggest Brazilian advertisement firm, which has produced City of God, Domésticas (Maids) and Viva Voz.
Along with four friends (Paul Morelli, Marcelo Machado, Dário Vizeu and Bob Salatini), Meirelles began his career with experimental films. Eventually, they formed an independent production company Olhar Eletrônico. Subsequently, new friends joined the group: Renato Barbiere, Agilson Araujo, Toniko and Marcelo Tas
Marcelo Tas
Marcelo Tristão Athayde de Souza , better known as Marcelo Tas, is a Brazilian director, writer, actor and television host.He is the current host of the Brazilian version of Caiga Quien Caiga, and has been since 2008....
. In 1982 the company aired TV programs on current affairs, as well as the children series Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum
Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum
Castelo Ra-Tim-Bum is a Brazilian children's program produced and broadcast by TV Cultura, and the Network Service of Television. Targeted toward children and youth, and following a teaching approach, the program premiered on May 9 in 1994 to stop being produced in 1997...
(Ra-Tim-Bum Castle), with 180 episodes. In addition to obtaining high ratings, they also introduced a refreshing humorous informality in news reporting.
By the end of the 1980s, he became increasingly interested on the advertising market. In 1990, Meirelles and friends closed down Olhar Eletrônico, opening an advertising business, O2 Films. One decade was enough for him to become one of the most important and sought-after advertising producers.
In 1997, Meirelles read the book Paulo Lins
Paulo Lins
Paulo Lins is a Brazilian author.Lins grew up in Rio de Janeiro and at the age of seven moved to the Cidade de Deus favela. He escaped the cycle of violence to become a successful writer....
's City of God
City of God (novel)
City of God is a 1997 semi-autobiographical novel by Paulo Lins, about three young men and their lives in Cidade de Deus, a favela in Western Rio de Janeiro where Lins grew up....
. He decided to adapt it to film, which was done in 2002, and decided that the actors in it would be selected among the inhabitants of slums. In a final triage, from 400 children, they selected 200, with whom they worked for the shooting of the film. The filming was done with a professional crew. The film was a national and international success.
In 2004, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for City of God. Also, at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival
2004 Cannes Film Festival
The 2004 Cannes Film Festival started on May 12 and ran until May 23. The Palme d'Or went to the American film Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore.-Jury:* Quentin Tarantino, President * Emmanuelle Béart * Edwidge Danticat * Tilda Swinton...
, the movie received four nominations: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Photography and Best Editing.
With the recognition, he was offered a job in Hollywood. With The Constant Gardener
The Constant Gardener (film)
The Constant Gardener is a 2005 drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles. The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine is based on the John le Carré novel of the same name. It tells the story of Justin Quayle, a man who seeks to find the motivating forces behind his wife's murder.The film stars Ralph Fiennes,...
, he again received critical acclaim, receiving several nominations, including for four Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
and the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Rachel Weisz
Rachel Weisz
Rachel Hannah Weisz born 7 March 1970)is an English-American film and theatre actress and former fashion model. She started her acting career at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she co-founded the theatrical group Cambridge Talking Tongues...
went on tho win the Academy Award
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress may refer to:*Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture or*Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film...
. Meirelles insisted that the soundtrack be based on the music of African countries, and most of the filming was done in Kenya.
In 2007, he began shooting Blindness
Blindness (film)
Blindness is a 2008 English-language film that is an adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by the Portuguese writer José Saramago about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness. The film is written by Don McKellar and directed by Fernando Meirelles with Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo...
, a film adaptation of Nobel-prize winner José Saramago
José Saramago
José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...
's book, Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira
Blindness (novel)
Blindness is a novel by Portuguese author José Saramago. It was originally published in Portuguese and then translated into English. It is one of his most famous novels, along with The Gospel According to Jesus Christ and Baltasar and Blimunda....
. The film, which was released in 2008, was the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
.
Filmography
| Year | English title | Original title |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | O Menino Maluquinho 2 | O Menino Maluquinho 2 |
| 2001 | Maids Maids (film) Maids is a 2001 Brazilian film directed by Fernando Meirelles and co-written with Cecília Homem de Mello, Renata Melo, and Nando Olival. It has won 7 awards and 8 nominations.- Cast :* Cláudia Missura as Raimunda* Graziela Moretto as Roxane... |
Domésticas |
| 2002 | City of God | Cidade de Deus |
| 2005 | The Constant Gardener The Constant Gardener (film) The Constant Gardener is a 2005 drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles. The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine is based on the John le Carré novel of the same name. It tells the story of Justin Quayle, a man who seeks to find the motivating forces behind his wife's murder.The film stars Ralph Fiennes,... |
|
| 2008 | Blindness Blindness (film) Blindness is a 2008 English-language film that is an adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by the Portuguese writer José Saramago about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness. The film is written by Don McKellar and directed by Fernando Meirelles with Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo... |
|
| 2012 | 360 360 (film) 360 is an upcoming film starring Rachel Weisz, Anthony Hopkins, and Jude Law. The film will, directed by Fernando Meirelles, is set to open the 2011 London Film Festival.-Production:... |
|
| 2012 | Janis Joplin: Get It While You Can |