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Kleber Mendonça Filho

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Portuguese name, "Filho" is a generational suffix meaning "son", which is used for someone whose name is the same as their father, like "Jr." in English.
Kleber Mendonça Filho
Kleber Mendonça Filho in 2020
Born (1968-11-22) 22 November 1968 (age 56)
Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, producer, critic
Years active1997–present
Known forBacurau
SpouseEmilie Lesclaux

Kleber Mendonça Filho (Portuguese: [ˈklebeʁ mẽˈdõsɐ ˈfiʎu]; born 22 November 1968)[1] is a Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer, and critic.[2]

Early life and career

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With a degree in journalism from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Kleber Mendonça Filho began his career as a film critic and journalist. He wrote for newspapers such as Jornal do Commercio and Folha de S. Paulo, for magazines such as Continente[3] and Cinética,[4] and for his own site, CinemaScópio.

Films

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As a director, he experimented with fiction, documentary, and video clips in the 1990s. He migrated from video to digital and 35mm film in the 2000s. Over the course of that decade, he made several short films, including A Menina do Algodão (co-directed by Daniel Bandeira, 2002), Vinil Verde (2004), Eletrodoméstica (2005), Noite de Sexta Manhã de Sábado (2006), and Recife Frio (Cold Tropics, 2009), as well as a feature-length documentary, Crítico (2008).

O Som ao Redor (Neighbouring Sounds, 2013) was Mendonça's first feature-length drama, winning numerous awards. Film critic AO Scott of The New York Times included it in his list of the 10 best films of 2012.[5] Caetano Veloso, in his column in the brazilian newspaper O Globo, classified it as "one of the best movies made recently in the world ".[6]

In 2016, his second feature film, Aquarius premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and was later nominated for Best International Film at the 32nd Independent Spirit Awards[7] and the César Award for best foreign film,[8] but lost to Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann and to Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake, respectively.

In 2013, he was the jury president of the Critics' Week section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.[9]

His third film, Bacurau, written and directed with Juliano Dornelles, won the Jury Prize at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, shared with Ladj Ly's Les Misérables.[10]

His second documentary feature, Retratos Fantasmas (Pictures of Ghosts) premiered in the Special Screenings section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Mendonça's films have received more than 120 awards in Brazil and abroad, with selections in festivals such as New York, Copenhagen and Cannes (Quinzaine des réalisateurs). Film festivals in Rotterdam, Toulouse, and Santa Maria da Feira have presented retrospectives of his films. He has served as programmer of cinema for the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation.

Filmography

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Year English Title Original Title Language(s) Notes
1997 Caged In Enjaulado Portuguese Short film
2002 The Little Cotton Girl A Menina do Algodão Short film; Co-directed with Daniel Bandeira
2004 Green Vinyl Vinil Verde Short film
2005 Eletrodoméstica
2007 Friday Night, Saturday Morning Noite de Sexta, Manhã de Sábado
2008 Crítico Documentary
2009 Cold Tropics Recife Frio Short film
2012 Neighboring Sounds O Som Ao Redor Brazilian submission for the 86th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
2015 The World Cup in Recife A Copa do Mundo no Recife Short documentary
2016 Aquarius Official Selection for the Palme d'Or Competition in the 2016 Cannes Film Festival
2019 Bacurau Portuguese, English Co-directed with Juliano Dornelles. Jury Prize winner at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival
2023 Pictures of Ghosts Retratos Fantasmas Portuguese Documentary; Official Selection for the Special Screenings section of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival
2025 The Secret Agent O Agente Secreto Portuguese Post-Production

References

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  1. ^ "Kleber Mendonça Filho: A biografia". adorocinema.com (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Kleber Mendonça Filho". Filme B (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  3. ^ Mendonça Filho, Kleber. "Revista Continente". Revista Continente. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  4. ^ Mendonça Filho, Kleber. "Cinetica". Revista Cinetica. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  5. ^ Scott, AO (14 December 2012). "25 Favorites From a Year When 10 Aren't Enough". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  6. ^ Veloso, Caetano (27 January 2013). "Belo é o Recife". O Globo. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  7. ^ Nogueira, Renata (22 November 2016). "Kleber Mendonça sobre "Aquarius" no Oscar independente: "Vamos aos poucos"" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  8. ^ "'Aquarius' é indicado a melhor filme estrangeiro no César, o 'Oscar francês'" (in Portuguese). 25 January 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Jurys 2017". Critics' Week. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  10. ^ Carlos Heli de Almeida (25 March 2019). "'Bacurau' ganha Prêmio do Júri e faz história em Cannes" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 14 September 2019.
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