Paulo Cesar Saraceni

Paulo César Saraceni was a Brazilian film director and screenwriter, who was one of the founders of the Cinema Novo movement in the 1960s. He started his career as a film critic and a theater assistant director, and made his first short film in 1957. He studied at the Centro Experimental de Cinema in Rome, and returned to Brazil to direct his first feature film, Porto das Caixas, in 1963. He was influenced by Italian neorealism and French new wave, and explored social and psychological themes in his films. He collaborated with renowned writers such as Clarice Lispector, Machado de Assis, and Lúcio Cardoso, and won several awards in national and international film festivals. He also worked as an actor, producer, and cinematographer in some of his films. He died in 2012, after suffering a stroke and multiple organ failure. He left behind a legacy of 14 films, which are considered as important contributions to the Brazilian cinema history.