Luiz Fernando Carvalho (born July 28, 1960) is a Brazilian film and television director, screenwriter, producer and editor, known for works closely linked to literature that constitute a renovation in Brazilian audiovisual aesthetics.Carter, Eli Lee "Luiz Fernando Carvalho: An Auteur of Brazilian Television", UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013. Retrieved on 05 April 2017. He has already brought to the screen works by Ariano Suassuna, Raduan Nassar, Machado de Assis, Eça de Queirós, Roland Barthes, Clarice Lispector, Milton Hatoum, José Lins do Rego, and Graciliano Ramos, among others.
Some critics compare Luiz Fernando Carvalho's productions to the style of the Brazilian Cinema Novo filmmakers and icons of film history such as Luchino Visconti and Andrei Tarkovsky. His work is characterized by visual and linguistic experimentation and exploration of the multiplicity of Brazil's cultural identity."Luiz Fernando Carvalho, talento made in Brasil", La Nácion, 11 May 2002. Retrieved on 05 April 2017. The baroque style of overlays and interlacing of narrative genres, the relation to the moment in Time, the archetypal symbols of the Earth and the reflection on the language of social and family melodrama are features of the director's poetic language.
The filmmaker's works have met with both critical and public acclaim. He directed the film To the Left of the Father (Lavoura Arcaica) (2001), based on the homonymous novel by Raduan Nassar, cited by the critic Jean-Philippe Tessé in the French magazine Cahiers du Cinéma as a "ground-breaking promise of renovation, of an upheaval not seen in Brazilian cinema since Glauber Rocha,Tessé, Jean-Philippe " Les pieds dans la terre", Cahiers du Cinèma, July–August 2003. Retrieved on 19 April 2017.Tessé, Jean-Philippe "On peut aisément voir dans cette grande fresque charnelle la plus belle découverte du cinéma brésilien depuis Glauber Rocha, au moins parce que Luiz Fernando Carvalho partage avec le réalisateur de Antonio das mortes un goût pour la puissance du lyrisme", Chronicart, 6 July 2003. Retrieved on 19 April 2017. which won over 50 national and international awards. The telenovelas Renascer (Rebirth) (1993) and The King of the Cattle (O Rei do Gado) (1996), by screenwriter Benedito Ruy Barbosa and directed by Luiz Fernando Carvalho, are recognized as benchmarks of Brazilian television drama and achieved some of the highest audience ratings of the 1990s.Hopewell, John "Luiz Fernando Carvalho (‘The King of the Cattle’) returns with a rural romantic saga packing political overtones", Variety, 8 March 2016. Retrieved on 05 April 2017.
There is a marked contrast between the director's television works: from the pop design of the 60s in the series Ladies' Mail (Correio Feminino) (2013) to the classic rigor of the mini-series The Maias (Os Maias) (2001), the urban references of the working-class suburbs in the mini-series Suburbia (2012) to the playfulness of the soap My Little Plot of Land (Meu Pedacinho de Chão) (2014), the aesthetic research of the Sertão (backcountry) in Old River (Velho Chico) (2016) to the Brazilian fairytale of the mini-series Today is Maria's Day (Hoje É Dia de Maria) (2005) and the realistic universe of family tragedy in Two Brothers (Dois Irmãos) (2017).Carter, Eli Lee "Rereading Dom Casmurro - aesthetic hybridity in Capitu", University of Virginia, 2014. Retrieved on 18 April 2017.
The director's production process is renowned for identifying new talent from all over Brazil and for training actors, revealing new stars of the dramatic arts such as Letícia Sabatella, Eliane Giardini, Bruna Linzmeyer, Johnny Massaro, Irandhir Santos, Simone Spoladore, Caco Ciocler, Marcello Antony, Marco Ricca, Isabel Fillardis, Giselle Itié, Emilio Orciollo Netto, Sheron Menezes, Jackson Antunes, Maria Luísa Mendonça, Eduardo Moscovis, Jackson Costa, Leonardo Vieira, Cacá Carvalho, Luciana Braga, Julia Dalavia, Renato Góes, Cyria Coentro, Marina Nery, Júlio Machado, Bárbara Reis, Lee Taylor, Zezita de Matos, Mariene de Castro and Lucy Alves, among others. The director's actor coaching technique has given rise to a method recounted in the book O processo de criação dos atores de Dois Irmãos (The creation process of the actors in Dois Irmãos), by the photographer Leandro Pagliaro.
Early career: 1980s Luiz Fernando Carvalho studied architecture and literature. He started out in cinema at 18 in a number of roles: audio technician, assistant director, screenwriter, short film editor, and director. His first TV work came in the early 80s, as assistant director of noteworthy mini-series, such as O Tempo e o Vento, based on the work of Érico Veríssimo, directed by Paulo José, and Grande Sertão: Veredas, from the work of João Guimarães Rosa, in which he started to direct his first scenes, still as assistant director to Walter Avancini.
The Waiting (A Espera) He wrote and directed the short The Waiting (A Espera), based on the book A Lover's Discourse: Fragments (Fragments d'un discours amoureux) by Roland Barthes. Launched in 1986, the film collected the following awards: Best Short Film, Best Actress (Marieta Severo) and Best Cinematography (Walter Carvalho) at the 13th Festival de Gramado; Best Short Film (Golden Shell) at the San Sebastián International Film Festival (Spain); and the Special Jury Award at the Ste Therèse Festival (Canada).
1990s Sweet River (Riacho Doce)
Early in the 90s, Luiz Fernando Carvalho directed a 40-chapter mini-series written by Aguinaldo Silva, based on the work of José Lins do Rego and starring Vera Fischer, Osmar Prado, Sebastião Vasconcelos, Carlos Alberto Riccelli and Fernanda Montenegro, with costumes by Beth Filipecki. The then inhospitable island of Fernando de Noronha (PE) served as the scene for the story, which is set in a small fishing village in the Northeast of Brazil.
The Cangaceiro's Revenge (Os Homens Querem Paz) In 1991, Luiz Fernando Carvalho directed an adaptation of a script by Brazilian TV pioneer Péricles Leal, with costumes by Beth Filipecki. The telefilm was shot in the town of Canindé, Ceará, and reached the finals of the 34th New York Television Festival. This marked the television debut of actress Letícia Sabatella. The critic Rodrigo Fonseca affirmed that his first memory of Letícia Sabatella on TV was also when he discovered the existence of the "genius of direction that is Luiz Fernando".
Stone on Stone (Pedra Sobre Pedra)
In 1992, he directed the telenovela written by Aguinaldo Silva, considered to have reached the 6th largest audience in Brazilian television history. Notable cast members included: Lima Duarte, Renata Sorrah, Armando Bógus, Eva Wilma, Paulo Betti, Andréa Beltrão, Pedro Paulo Rangel and Eduardo Moscovis. Certain characters are regarded as landmarks in TV drama: Sergio Cabeleira (Osmar Prado) and the photographer Jorge Tadeu (Fábio Jr.).
The Tale of Our Lady of Light (O Auto de Nossa Senhora da Luz) While filming Pedra sobre Pedra, Luiz Fernando Carvalho came up with a significant sequence inspired by Ariano Suassuna's Armorial Movement (Movimento Armorial) . The enormous success of the sequence, confirmed by the record number of requests by viewers for a rerun, was decisive in the transformation of the material into a telefilm, with additional scenes written by Braulio Tavares and interpreted by the actor and musician Antonio Nóbrega. It competed for the International Emmy Award in 1993.
Rebirth (Renascer)
The 1993 soap, written by Benedito Ruy Barbosa and directed by Luiz Fernando Carvalho, met with critical and public acclaim and was the most-watched in the 90s and 4th in audience ratings in the history of Brazilian television. It was also shown in several other countries. As directed by Luiz Fernando Carvalho, it is regarded as among the symbols of renovation of the aesthetics of the genre in the 90s. The character Buba, interpreted by Maria Luísa Mendonça, caused a national controversy, as it was the first time that the discussion of gender had been addressed in a telenovela. It received the APCA Award for Best Novela, Best Actor (Antônio Fagundes), Best Supporting Actor (Osmar Prado), Best Supporting Actress (Regina Dourado), Best Male Breakthrough Performance (Jackson Antunes). Leonardo Vieira, Jackson Antunes, Cacá Carvalho, Marco Ricca, Isabel Fillardis and Maria Luísa Mendonça were among the talents revealed in this work. The television entrepreneur José Bonifácio de Oliveira, considered the plot "well structured by Benedito, with a well-crafted first part, masterfully directed by Luiz Fernando Carvalho". According to Marilia Martins, few novelas had a first chapter directed with such polish and skill as Rebirth.
A Woman Clothed in Sun (Uma Mulher Vestida de Sol)
In 1994, the telefilm directed by Luiz Fernando Carvalho marked the first appearance of Ariano Suassuna's works on television. Based on the writer's unpublished novel of the same name, the script was the work of Ariano himself, in partnership with the director. Director of photography Dib Lufti, costumes by Luciana Buarque, and art production by Lia Renha. Scenography by the artist Fernando Velloso, from the Grupo Corpo dance group, music by Antônio Madureira, a member of the Armorial Quintet (Quinteto Armorial). With A Woman dressed in Sun (Uma Mulher Vestida de Sol), the director commenced his exploration of the limits of television language, combining elements of the popular theater of the Northeast. Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos's Grupo Piolim participated and the cast included Tereza Seiblitz, Lineu Dias, Sebastião Vasconcelos, Ana Lúcia Torre, Raul Cortez and the then novice actor Floriano Peixoto. According to the researcher of Literature Hélio Guimarães, the work gave rise to an impasse at the TV station: was Luíz Fernando Carvalho too big for the Globo screen?
The Farce of Pleasant Idleness (A Farsa da Boa Preguiça)
One year after A Woman dressed in Sun (Uma Mulher Vestida de Sol), in 1995, Luiz Fernando Carvalho resumed his connection with the writer Ariano Suassuna, this time transforming the play The Farce of Pleasant Idleness (A Farsa da Boa Preguiça) into a telefilm . The director continued his search for a hybrid language for television, as a way of criticizing the naturalism of the novelas. Art production and costumes by Yurika Yamasaki and the artist Dantas Suassuna, participation of Antonio Nóbrega, Patrícia França, Ary Fontoura and Marieta Severo. According to the critic Rogério Durst, the telefilm was a major feat of TV drama.
The King of the Cattle (O Rei do Gado)