Ruy Guerra

Biography

Ruy Alexandre Guerra Coelho Pereira is a Portuguese-Brazilian film director, screenwriter, film editor, and actor. Guerra was born a Portuguese citizen in Lourenço Marques (today Maputo) in Mozambique, when it was still Portuguese colony. Guerra studied at IDHEC film school in Paris from 1952. In 1958 he started his career as an assistant director in several French films. Later on he immigrated to Brazil, where he directed his first feature film, Os Cafajestes (1962). It was entered into the 12th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1964, Guerra directed Os Fuzis, which placed him in the forefront of the emerging Cinema Novo movement. The film was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Jury Prize. After that, he directed the international production Tendres Chasseurs (1969), starring Sterling Hayden, and Os Deuses e os Mortos (1970). The tumultuous political landscape in 1970's Brazil forced Guerra to stop filming until 1976, when he directed A Queda. The film was entered into the 28th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Special Jury Prize. In 1980, he returned to Mozambique where he shot Mueda, Memória e Massacre, that country's first feature film. While in Mozambique, Guerra shot many short films and helped the creation of the National Institute for Cinema. In 1982, Guerra shot Eréndira in Mexico, based on the work by Gabriel García Márquez. He also directed the musical comedy A Ópera do Malandro (1985), based on Chico Buarque's free theatrical adaptation of Bertold Brecht's Threepenny Opera; the TV film Os Amores Difíceis, another adaptation of García Márquez; and Kuarup (1989). In 2000, Guerra's Estorvo was nominated for the Golden Palm at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. It was Guerra's third nomination in the festival, after Erêndira and Kuarup. His 2004 film Portugal S. A. was the only film he did in Portugal and entered into the 26th Moscow International Film Festival.