Helena Ignez
Helena Ignez (born May 23, 1942) is a Brazilian actress and filmmaker.
Helena was born in Salvador, Bahia and was attending her second year of law school when she fell in love with theater and decided to study the Dramatic Arts at the Federal University of Bahia. At the time, the Bahian theater scene was breaking with traditional Brazilian theater and experiencing strong influence from the young vanguard. She first appeared on the screen in Glauber Rocha's short film "Pátio".
Helena acted in a few films associated with the Cinema Novo movement, such as "A Grande Feira" (1961), "Assalto ao Trem Pagador" (1962), and "O Padre e a Moça" (1966) before playing Janete Jane in O Bandido da Luz Vermelha by Rogério Sganzerla. After this film, she would perform in some most significant films in the Cinema Marginal movement, which directly opposed the critically acclaimed Cinema Novo -- the most remarkable being her role as Ângela Carne e "Osso in A Mulher de Todos" (1969).
She also was a financial partner of Rogério Sganzerla and fellow Cinema Marginal filmmaker Júlio Bressane in the short-lived, although prolific, Belair production company. Between 1968 and 1970, Sganzerla and Ignez made almost a dozen films together and were also married and had two children -- one of which would become actress Djin Sganzerla.
As a filmmaker, Ignez has directed 7 films, the most notable being "Luz das Trevas" (2010), a sequel to Sganzerla's debut feature "O Bandido da Luz Vermelha" (1968).
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 3.069 |
| Birthday | 1942-05-23 |
| Place of Birth | Salvador - Bahia - Brazil |
| Also Known As | Helena Ignês, Helena Inês, Helena Inez, |
2008
Embodiment of Evil
5.1/31
Released from the Mental Health Wing of São Paulo State Penitentiary after forty years, the sadistic undertaker Zé do Caixão is back on the streets, h...
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Embodiment of Evil
1964
Grito da Terra
0/0
In rural Brazil, villagers battle wealthy land barons for the sake of their own survival.
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Grito da Terra
2004
Retrato da Terra
0/0
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Retrato da Terra
1959
O Pátio
6.8/7
A man and a woman are laying on a chess-like patio. Both are trying to reach each other in the best way they can. However, for some odd reason they do...
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O Pátio
1990
Anônimo e incomum
6/1
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Anônimo e incomum
1966
The Priest and the Girl
7.1/27
In a small town in Minas Gerais, the arrival of a young priest causes a commotion in the conservative atmosphere of the place, aggravated by the sudde...
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The Priest and the Girl
1970
A Familia do Barulho
4.5/2
A dysfunctional family, composed of a prostitute and two gays, one strong and the other fragile and stupid, lives a routine life in Rio de Janeiro. Wh...
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A Familia do Barulho
1970
Copacabana Mon Amour
6.3/11
Sônia and her homosexual brother are both believed by their mother to be possessed by the devil. She works as a prostitute in the streets of Copacaban...
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Copacabana Mon Amour
1969
The Woman of Everyone
7.2/14
Ângela Carne e Osso (Angela Meat and Bone), a young nymphomaniac, lives surrounded by delinquents, and exerts intense allure on them, dominating them...
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The Woman of Everyone
1970
No Way, Spider
6/11
Spider, a banker, lives with three women. This tycoon is a caricature of Brazil's bourgeoisie, his trajectory is the starting point for an essay on th...
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No Way, Spider
1961
A Grande Feira
8.2/6
Made in the famous "Água de Meninos" market, the greatest popular market in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Salvador is revealed without prejudices, from the...
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A Grande Feira
1986
It's Not All True
6.6/5
Orson Welles goes to Brazil to shoot his documentary It's All True.
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It's Not All True
2012
A Balada do Provisório
5/2
Two days in the life of André Provisório, a man with many occupations: private detective, drug dealer, and incorrigible seducer. Between his activitie...
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A Balada do Provisório
2009
Hotel Atlântico
6.4/8
A road movie that follows a solitary man as he sets of on a journey to the south of Brazil. The strange characters and absurd situations he encounters...
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Hotel Atlântico
1969
Barão Olavo, o Horrível
4.8/5
Bressane’s first color film, shot in the home of the artist Elyseu Visconti. Part of it is missing sound and final editing because the director was fo...
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Barão Olavo, o Horrível
1970
Watch Out, Madame
6/6
Two maids decide to rebel against the society that oppresses them and start murdering their own mistresses.
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Watch Out, Madame
1967
Cara a Cara
4.9/8
The story of a civil servant who lives with his elderly mother. Falling in love with a corrupt politician's young and rich daughter, he abandons himse...
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Cara a Cara
2007
Meu Mundo em Perigo
5.7/3
Elias sees his world threatened when his ex-wife, one recovering junkie, asks for the guard of their son. Fito is in desperation for losing his father...
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Meu Mundo em Perigo
2001
B2
6/1
A short film made with unused footage from The Red Light Bandit and Carnaval na Lama.
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B2
1962
Assault on the Pay Train
7.9/25
Based on true events in Rio de Janeiro, in 1960, when a gang having the infamous outlaw Tião Medonho as a leader performed a sensational railroad hold...
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Assault on the Pay Train
2003
The Sign of Chaos
6.444/9
A customs agent, Dr. Amnésio, examines some reels of film, a documentary Orson Welles made about Brazil, and tries to confiscate the material. Then, a...
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The Sign of Chaos
2014
The End of an Age
7/2
They live, they act, they love. Today they remember, they relive, they live through cinema and life.
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The End of an Age
2014
Paixão e Virtude
4.6/6
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Paixão e Virtude
2003
Glauber Rocha - The Movie, Brazil's Labyrinth
5.8/8
Documentary about Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha, one of the most important names in the Cinema Novo, with interviews with some of his friends and...
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Glauber Rocha - The Movie, Brazil's Labyrinth
1968
The Red Light Bandit
7.5/48
Born and raised in the misery of Brazilian slums, Jorge becomes a luxury house burglar in São Paulo and gets nicknamed "The Red Light Bandit" by the s...
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The Red Light Bandit
1992
Oswaldianas
0/0
Collective film with five segments around the works and life of brazilian writer Oswald de Andrade.
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Oswaldianas
2012
Mr. Sganzerla: Os Signos da Luz
3.5/1
A documentary on prolific underground Brazilian filmmaker Rogério Sganzerla.
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Mr. Sganzerla: Os Signos da Luz
1992
Scent of Gardenias
5.8/4
Daniel is a taxi driver who’s married to Adalgisa. When she starts acting in low-budget movies, he forbids her from seeing their son, Joaquim. For mor...
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Scent of Gardenias
1999
São Jerônimo
6.2/4
Brazilian director Julio Bressane directs this religious biography on the life and work of Saint Jerome, the monk who first translated the Bible into...
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São Jerônimo
1968
The Outsiders
0/0
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The Outsiders
2016
Ralé: The Lower Depths
6.2/4
Young directors are filming “The Exhibitionist” in the middle of a farm in a paradise-like region. The film poetically investigates the Brazilian soul...
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Ralé: The Lower Depths
2013
Sinais de Cinza, A Peleja de Olney Contra o Dragão da Maldade
8/1
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Sinais de Cinza, A Peleja de Olney Contra o Dragão da Maldade
2005
A Miss e o Dinossauro
5/3
A short documentary on Belair, an independent Brazilian film company that lasted for only five months in 1970.
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A Miss e o Dinossauro
1974
A Man and His Cage
5.5/4
The painter Tino, in professional and political crisis, receives a telegram from his mother-in-law, Selma, announcing her return from Europe. After hi...
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A Man and His Cage
2006
Helena Zero
0/0
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Helena Zero
2016
O Cinema Foi à Feira
0/0
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O Cinema Foi à Feira
2010
Avacalha e se Esculhamba
0/0
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Avacalha e se Esculhamba
2017
Febre
10/1
Marcos returns home after a few years away.
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Febre
2018
Antes do Fim
5.5/1
Jean feels trapped in the logic of longevity that the pharmaceutical industry imposes on him and decides to plan a conscious suicide. He invites Helen...
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Antes do Fim
2018
My Calendar Girl
2.3/3
A film in which dream and reality intertwine, A Moça do Calendário tells the story of inácio, 40, married, without a permanent job. Ex-street sweeper,...
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My Calendar Girl
2017
All Paulos in the World - Paulo José
6.3/2
"All Paulos in the World" is a cinematographic essay about Paulo José, one of the greatest artists in Brazil, in the year in which he turns 80 years-o...
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All Paulos in the World - Paulo José
1978
Mulheres de Cinema
0/0
Documentary on famous Brazilian actresses, female directors and the role of women in Brazilian film history.
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Mulheres de Cinema
1970
The Monsters of Babaloo
6.1/8
Daily scenes of a grotesque family living in the metaphorical island of Babaloo.
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The Monsters of Babaloo
1994
Flying Geraldo
0/0
A fantastic tale in the brutal reality of a slum. The life of a boy with the rare gift of flying. Based on a Will Eisner's story
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Flying Geraldo
2017
Venus – Filly the Lesbian Little Fairy
3/1
In this animated fairy-tale Filly, a lesbian fairy with nimble fingers, seduces women by day dressed as a boy. But at night something strange happens...
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Venus – Filly the Lesbian Little Fairy
2013
Terno
0/0
One day away of Marcelo's wedding, the tailor, the groom and his father will have to correct much more than the suit's measures.
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Terno
2014
Copacabana, Mon Amour: A Restauração
0/0
A documentary on the restoration of Rogério Sganzerla's 1970 film "Copacabana, Mon Amour".
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Copacabana, Mon Amour: A Restauração
2019
A Mulher da Luz Própria
8/1
Helena Ignez is one of the main female figures of Brazilian cinema. She developed a new style of acting. Nowadays, she directs independent films. The...
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A Mulher da Luz Própria
2009
A Vermelha Luz do Bandido
0/0
Experimental documentary short that debates over Rogério Sganzerla's Brazilian cult classic "The Red Light Bandit".
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A Vermelha Luz do Bandido
2019
Flesh
7.167/9
Rare, medium rare, medium, medium well and well done. Through intimate and personal stories, five women share their experiences in relation to the bod...
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Flesh
2022
The Welles Raft
0/0
The raft man Manuel Jacaré was swallowed by the sea when Orson Welles was filming It's All True in 1942. The fact evokes memories of the dictatorship...
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The Welles Raft
2019
Extracts
0/0
Extracts is a short film with images from 1970 to 1972 in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, London, Marrakech, Rabat and the Sahara Desert regio...
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Extracts
2014
Estátua!
6/2
Isabel is a babysitter pregnant of her own child and can't wait to be a mother. Until she meets Joana.
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Estátua!
2018
O Desmonte do Monte
5/1
Morro do Castelo was chosen by the Portuguese to found Rio de Janeiro city. It was an important historical and architectural reference. Despite its re...
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O Desmonte do Monte
2020
Ensaio Sobre o Fracasso
8/1
A projectionist at a porn cinema in downtown São Paulo, makes his first film in Super8, an essay about the failure of a lifetime. The scenes from the...
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Ensaio Sobre o Fracasso
2020
Natureza Morta
2/1
The narrative takes place in 1888 and tells the story of Lenita, a young woman, raised by her father, with an educated background, who disregards the...
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Natureza Morta
2003
Reinvenção da Rua
0/0
Helena Ignez's first film as a director is a homage to American architect and contemporary artist Vito Acconti, who made an urban intervention over a...
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Reinvenção da Rua
2019
Bring me the Head of Carmen M.
8/1
Ana, a Portuguese actress, dives into Brazil's current atmosphere of identity and political crisis while trying to portray in a feature film the colou...
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Bring me the Head of Carmen M.
2014
Ossos
3/2
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Ossos
2013
Poder dos Afetos
0/0
A study that unwraps a paradisiac scenery, reaching the subjects of Brazility and its force in the change of habits, breaking taboos and bringing out...
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Poder dos Afetos
2008
A Bela P...
0/0
The human body in 5 parts.
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A Bela P...
2020
Esse fim de semana vou me dedicar as paredes
0/0
A person locked in the room.
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Esse fim de semana vou me dedicar as paredes
2020
Fogo Baixo, Alto Astral
0/0
Short film by Helena Ignez, for the "Programa Convida", from IMS, dedicated to creation during quarantine.
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Fogo Baixo, Alto Astral
1992
Perigo Negro
5/1
Loosely based on an Oswald de Andrade screenplay, "Perigo Negro" is a segment of anthology film "Oswaldianas" which deals with a uprising soccer playe...
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Perigo Negro
2017
Brazilian Cinema in the 20th Century
0/0
Two years of research and visits to collections, cinematheques and museums; almost seventy interviews that generated 30 hours of recorded material; mo...
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Brazilian Cinema in the 20th Century
2019
In Memoriam: O Roteiro do Gravador
0/0
Experimental movie about Rio de Janeiro's Museum of Modern Art's Movie Archive (Cinemateca).
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In Memoriam: O Roteiro do Gravador
2013
Desculpa, Dona Madama
0/0
Employee exploited by her employer changes her life by winning the lottery.
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Desculpa, Dona Madama
2020
Race Antenna
8.2/2
In 1979, while Brazil was going through the troubled moment of the Amnesty Law, Glauber Rocha directed the program Abertura for TV Tupi, in which he i...
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Race Antenna
2020
Candango: Memoirs from a Festival
5/1
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 cult...
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Candango: Memoirs from a Festival
2020
Mulher Oceano
5.5/2
After relocating to Tokyo, a Brazilian writer begins a new novel, provoked by her experiences in Japan and by one of the last scenes she witnessed in...
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Mulher Oceano
2013
Ugly, Me?
5/1
Ugly, Me? is a film manifesto made from a workshop for actors called Characters in Search of a Movie, in 'La pa', 'Rio De Janeiro', extended to Paris...
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Ugly, Me?
2021
Subterrânea
0/0
An experimental trip about Brazil after H.O.
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Subterrânea
2020
The Lady Who Died in the Trailer
6/1
After being born Georgina in the outback of Bahia, she became known as Diva Rios in São Paulo’s Boca do Lixo and Rio de Janeiro’s Lapa, as well as Suz...
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The Lady Who Died in the Trailer
2017
Inaudito
6.2/2
Guitarist Lanny Gordin was one of the fundamental characters in the transformation of Brazilian music from the 1960s onwards. He electrified Gal Costa...
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Inaudito
2021
Um Documentário Brasileiro
0/0
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Um Documentário Brasileiro
2020
Benjamim Zambraia e o Autopanóptico
0/0
Benjamim Zambraia is a young drunk who wanders around the city and is sometimes treated with pampering and sometimes with a beating by his parents (He...
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Benjamim Zambraia e o Autopanóptico
2021
Nova Pasta, Antigo Baú
0/0
A self-portrait short film by veteran Brazilian filmmaker Sylvio Lanna.
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Nova Pasta, Antigo Baú
2012
Light in Darkness: The Return of Red Light Bandit
5.2/6
Jorge, bastard child of the infamous Red Light Bandit, decides himself to pursuit a life of crime after meeting with his father, who has been incarcer...
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Light in Darkness: The Return of Red Light Bandit
1973
Um Intruso no Paraíso
0/0
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Um Intruso no Paraíso
2009
Belair
0/0
Between February an May of 1970, Julio Bresane and Rogerio Sganzerla made 7 films for their company Belair that were forbidden by the Brazilian censor...
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Belair
2005
Luz-Lux-Lúcia
0/0
A documentary short on Glauber Rocha's mother Lúcia.
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Luz-Lux-Lúcia
2021
The Good Cinema
0/0
An authentically marginal cinema created in Catholic university in Brazil. One of the most intriguing and imaginative moments in modern cinema in the...
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The Good Cinema
1997
Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional
0/0
"Portraits and excerpts from Brazilian films from all times. Actors, directors and images that affirm cinema."
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Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional
2022
The Mother
7/1
A street vendor who lives in the outskirts of São Paulo returns home at night and does not find her teenager son. After a nonstop search, she finds ou...
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The Mother
2014
Love Film Festival
7.5/4
Filmed over six years in four countries: Portugal, Brazil, Colombia and United States, this romantic drama tells the story of Luzia, a Brazilian scree...
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Love Film Festival
1967
O Engano
0/0
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O Engano
2023
Joy Is the Acid Test
0/0
A film about love, also a memoir, about the trip made in the 1970s to Morocco by Jarda Ícone, an artist, sexologist, and octogenarian rocker, as she d...
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Joy Is the Acid Test
2023
O Mel é Mais Doce Que o Sangue
6/1
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O Mel é Mais Doce Que o Sangue
1971
Memoirs of a Strangler of Blondes
7.5/4
First film by Julio Bressane shot in exile, "Memoirs" is a film about a man who repeatedly kills the same type of woman in same places, the same way....
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Memoirs of a Strangler of Blondes
2023
Helena de Guaratiba
0/0
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Helena de Guaratiba
Not Even God Is As Fair As Your Jeans
0/0
Not Even God Is As Fair As Your Jeans 2024
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Not Even God Is As Fair As Your Jeans
1986
Spray Jet
0/0
Three artists from São Paulo - Leda Catunda, Leonilson and Ciro Cozzolino - talk about their work and the rebirth of painting through pop, conceptual...
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Spray Jet
2020
Rio de Topless
0/0
Topless muse in Rio de Janeiro, Ana Paula Nogueira uses the ban on bare breasts and her story to debate freedom and feminism in the city that exported...
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Rio de Topless
2024
A Última Vanguarda
0/0
70 years ago, a visionary management in education and culture as a political strategy for the dissemination and development of Bahia gave rise to an a...
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A Última Vanguarda
2019
Memórias do Grupo Opinião
0/0
Follows the story of Opinião, a theatre group created in 1964 during the early Brazilian dictatorship period to oppose the government through artistic...
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Memórias do Grupo Opinião
2023
Nelson Carneiro: Knight of Democracy
0/0
In 2018, Brazil’s 1988 Constitution turned thirty. Known as the Citizen Constitution, it was a landmark in the history of Brazil, the outcome of acros...
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Nelson Carneiro: Knight of Democracy
1970
Carnaval na Lama
0/0
Rogério Sganzerla’s lost film. The only existing copy was lost in 1992 and the negatives are lost. It tells about the history of Betty Bomba, an exhib...
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Carnaval na Lama
2024
If I'm Here It Is by Mystery
0/0
New Rio, 2054 AD. The Order of Truth wreaks havoc on the streets, killing every being that has special powers. Renowned witch Dahlia is determined to...
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If I'm Here It Is by Mystery
2003
Abry
0/0
At 84 years of age, Lúcia Rocha admitted herself to a hospital in São Paulo to undergo heart tests. Upon receiving the news about the risk to her life...
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Abry
2023
The Long Voyage of the Yellow Bus
9/1
For this behemoth, Bressane took his opera omnia and edited it in an order that first adheres to historical chronology but soon starts to move backwar...
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