Personal Info
Birth date
1928-10-22 (96 Years)
Day of death
2018-04-12
Gender
Male
Known for
Directing
Place of birth
São Paulo, Brazil
Also known as
Нелсон Перейра дус Сантус
Нельсон Перейра дос Сантос
Нельсон Перейра дус Сантус
Нельсон Перейра душ Сантуш
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Biography
Nelson Pereira dos Santos ComRB • OMC (São Paulo, October 22, 1928 — Rio de Janeiro, April 21, 2018) was a Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter. Having been one of the founders of the Cinema Novo movement, his production spans a period of 60 years in the history of Brazil. Considered one of the most important filmmakers in the country, he was strongly influenced by the works of the 1930s generation of Brazilian literary modernism, having adapted works by Graciliano Ramos and Jorge Amado for cinema. His film Vidas Secas, based on Graciliano's novel, is one of the most awarded Brazilian films of all time, being recognized as a masterpiece. In 2006, he was elected Immortal by the Brazilian Academy of Letters, a position he held until his death in 2018.
Filmography
Critic
7.9
Overview:
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 Europe, based on his experience as a critic.Barren Lives
7.413
Overview:
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.The Turning Wind
6.944
Overview:
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.Nelson Pereira dos Santos – A Life of Cinema
7
Overview:
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.The Good Cinema
NYR
Overview:
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 razing flow of images that can possibly be conceived.Glauber Rocha - The Movie, Brazil's Labyrinth
5.8
Overview:
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.How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman
6.2
Overview:
Brazil, 1594. The Tupinambás natives are friends of the French and their enemies are the Tupiniquins, friends of the Portuguese. A Frenchman is captured by the Tupinambás, and in spite of his trial to convince them that he is French, they believe he is Portuguese. The Frenchman becomes their slave, and maritally lives with Seboipepe.Cinema Novo
6.7
Overview:
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, always near to people's problems, that combined art and revolution.Rio, 100 Degrees F°
7.171
Overview:
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 encounters, unfolding a vivid tapestry of urban life in Rio de Janeiro during that period. These true misadventures shed light on the gritty reality of the city, unveiling its vibrant urban tapestry.The Amulet of Ogum
6.2
Overview:
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 ends up joining a group of people who resist his original employers.Brasília 18%
4.8
Overview:
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.Tent of Miracles
5
Overview:
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 through miscegenation.Memories of Prison
6.975
Overview:
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.Jubiabá
5.2
Overview:
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.Rio, Northern Zone
8.2
Overview:
A talented songwriter of sambas is forced to face the social injustices of the city around him.Dib
NYR
Overview:
Documentary that addresses, through the testimony of directors and actors, the work of Dib Lutfi, considered one of the greatest photographers of Brazilian cinema.Candango: Memoirs from a Festival
5
Overview:
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.Music According to Tom Jobim
7
Overview:
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 songs by his friend Jobim, Frank Sinatra is reported to have said, "I haven't sung so quietly since I had laryngitis." Naturally, "The Girl from Ipanema" and Frank Sinatra are featured in this musical collage of countless seamlessly edited excerpts of concert footage that cover decades of events all over the world: from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon, Paris, Copenhagen, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Montreal, New York and back to Rio.Five Times Favela
7.8
Overview:
Five segments about the hardships faced by people living in slums on hills in Rio de Janeiro.Go Ahead, Brazil!
7.4
Overview:
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 Godoi da Fonseca, an alienated middle-class man, is mistaken for Sarmento, a political activist he met at an airport prior to his assassination. He is then arrested for being "subversive".Tudo Por Amor ao Cinema
NYR
Overview:
A documentary on Cosme Alves Netto (1937-1996), former head of the Cinematheque of the Museum of Modern Arts at Rio de Janeiro.O Grande Momento
5.7
Overview:
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 for a decent party.The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga
7.1
Overview:
Augusto Matraga is a violent agressive farmer who, after being betrayed by his wife and trapped by several enemies, is bitten 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. Influenced by the couple, Matraga starts a long penitent life while waiting for his hour and chance to payback, starting a fight between his violent nature, his hidden desire of vengeance and the mysticism and goodness which is also part of him.Who Is Beta?
5.1
Overview:
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 Beta? follows two statuesque survivors drawn irresistibly together only to be entranced by the arrival and sudden disappearance of a third, the bewitching raven haired Beta. With its cartoon-like depiction of extreme violence and desire, Who is Beta? offers a heady Pop-infused companion to Hunger for Love. Yet beneath its giddy play of surfaces, dos Santos' underappreciated film gradually reveals a darkly ambiguous metaphoric dimension. -Harvard Film ArchiveBrazilian Cinema in the 20th Century
NYR
Overview:
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 hours of work were needed to prepare Brazilian Cinema in the 20th Century. The work is a fascinating journey through all the cinematic cycles that Brazil lived, from the pioneering Belle Époque, through the great studios like Atlântica and Cinédia, Cinema Novo, the urban comedies of the 70's, until the resumption in the late 90's. The documentary is unique, it gives the floor to who really wrote and lived this story intensely.Sonhei com Você
NYR
Overview:
Milionário and José Rico are robbed of their money and their fans' enthusiasm. But a female truck driver is out to help them.As Aventuras Amorosas de um Padeiro
6.5
Overview:
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.Garden of War
7.1
Overview:
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.The Third Bank of the River
5.4
Overview:
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 João Guimarães Rosa. Openly embracing a mode of magical realism, dos Santos' celebrated film tells the story of a farming family defined by the absence of its father who abruptly abandoned his wife and children, sailing away down the river, including his son who continues to communicate with his father, speaking daily to him from the river bank. While offering an evocative vision of rural Brazil as a timeless land of mystery and solemnity, The Third Bank of the River is also bitingly satiric in the remarkable depiction of religious belief when the family moves to the city and its youngest member, a mesmerizing little girl, is revealed to be a kind of saint, capable of miraculous acts. -Harvard Film ArchiveActing
2023Nelson Pereira dos Santos – A Life of Cinema as Self (archive footage)
2021Já que Ninguém me Tira Para Dançar as Self
2021The Good Cinema as Self
2021Nelson Filma o Rio as Self (archive footage)
2020Candango: Memoirs from a Festival as Self (archive footage)
2019Memórias do Grupo Opinião as Self (archive footage)
2018A música que meu pai gostava as Unknown
2017Brazilian Cinema in the 20th Century as Self
2016Cinema Novo as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
2015Cordilheiras no Mar: A Fúria do Fogo Bárbaro as Self
2015Tudo Por Amor ao Cinema as Self
2014O Brasil de Darcy Ribeiro as Unknown
2013Sinais de Cinza, A Peleja de Olney Contra o Dragão da Maldade as Unknown
2011Glauber Rocha em Defesa do Cinema Brasileiro as Self (archive footage)
2008A Paz é Dourada as Unknown
2008Critic as Self
2007Sambando nas Brasas, Morô? as Self
2007Português - A Língua do Brasil as Unknown
2006Referências as Self
2003Glauber Rocha - The Movie, Brazil's Labyrinth as Self
2002At the Edge of the Earth as Self
2002How to Die in Cinema as Himself
1998For All - O Trampolim da Vitória as Unknown
1997Dib as Self
1991Que Filme 'Tu Vai' Fazer? as Unknown
1991Que Viva Glauber! as Unknown
1989Alex Viany - Um Documentário em Vídeo as Self
1971Brazil in Cannes as Unknown
1971Nelson Filma as Unknown
1969Garden of War as Unknown
1967Improvised and Purposeful: Cinema Novo as Self
1961Mandacaru Vermelho as Augusto
Directing
2013A Luz do Tom ... Director
2012Music According to Tom Jobim ... Director
2007Português - A Língua do Brasil ... Director
2006Brasília 18% ... Director
2004Raízes do Brasil ... Director
2001Meu Compadre, Zé Ketti ... Director
2001Casa Grande & Senzala ... Director
1995Cinema de Lágrimas ... Director
1994The Third Bank of the River ... Director
1987Jubiabá ... Director
1984Memories of Prison ... Director
1982A Missa do Galo ... Director
1982Insônia ... Director
1980The Highway of Life ... Director
1980Um Ladrão ... Director
1977Tent of Miracles ... Director
1974The Amulet of Ogum ... Director
1972Who Is Beta? ... Director
1972Jornalismo e Independência ... Director
1972Uma Mensagem de Chico Xavier ... Director
1971How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman ... Director
1970The Alienist ... Director
1968Hunger for Love ... Director
1967El Justicero ... Director
1966Fala Brasília ... Director
1964A Seventy-Four Year-Old Fellow ... Director
1963Barren Lives ... Director
1963Golden Mouth ... Director
1961Mandacaru Vermelho ... Director
1957Rio, Northern Zone ... Director
1955Rio, 100 Degrees F° ... Director
1953O Saci ... Assistant Director
1949Juventude ... Director
Writing
2012Music According to Tom Jobim ... Screenplay
2006Brasília 18% ... Writer
1995Cinema de Lágrimas ... Screenplay
1994The Third Bank of the River ... Screenplay
1987Jubiabá ... Writer
1984Memories of Prison ... Writer
1982A Missa do Galo ... Writer
1982Insônia ... Writer
1977Tent of Miracles ... Writer
1974The Amulet of Ogum ... Writer
1972Who Is Beta? ... Writer
1971How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman ... Writer
1970The Alienist ... Screenplay
1968Hunger for Love ... Writer
1967El Justicero ... Writer
1964A Seventy-Four Year-Old Fellow ... Writer
1963Barren Lives ... Screenplay
1963Golden Mouth ... Writer
1961Mandacaru Vermelho ... Writer
1957Rio, Northern Zone ... Screenplay
1955Rio, 100 Degrees F° ... Story, Screenplay
Production
1988Sonhei com Você ... Producer
1987Jubiabá ... Executive Producer
1984Memories of Prison ... Producer
1982Go Ahead, Brazil! ... Assistant Production Manager
1975As Aventuras Amorosas de um Padeiro ... Producer
1974The Amulet of Ogum ... Producer
1967El Justicero ... Producer
1967A Public Opinion ... Producer
1965The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga ... Associate Producer
1961Mandacaru Vermelho ... Producer
1958O Grande Momento ... Producer
Crew
1974The Amulet of Ogum ... Cinematography
Camera
1972Uma Mensagem de Chico Xavier ... Camera Operator
Editing
1968Cantores e Trovadores ... Editor
1966Fala Brasília ... Editor
1964Maioria absoluta ... Editor
1962Five Times Favela ... Editor
1962The Turning Wind ... Editor
1962Menino da Calça Branca ... Editor