About

Known credits:
41
Birthday:
1928-04-15
Place of birth:
São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Website:
Click here

Roberto Santos

Overview

Roberto Santos Pinhanez (1928–1987) was a Brazilian film director, known for films like Matraga (A Hora e Vez de Augusto Matraga) and The Great Moment (O Grande Momento).

Santos was born in a working-class suburb of São Paulo in 1928. He started his cinema activities around 1952, in the first big studio built in Brazil, the Vera Cruz Studio. In 1956, Santos made his first movie, O Grande Momento (The Great Moment), the first neo-realistic movie made in Brazil. In 1965, Roberto Santos adapted a short novel by Guimaraes Rosa, A Hora e Vez de Augusto Matraga (Matraga), the only successful adaptation to cinema of a work by Guimaraes Rosa, the most important name in Brazilian literature in this century. The film was shown at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival.

During the late 1960s and 1970s, his career was marked by problems with censorship. Nevertheless, he directed six more movies, among them, two experimental movies; Vozes do Medo (Voices of Fear) — a movie with the structure of a magazine — and As Tres Mortes de Solano (The Three Deaths of Solano), an experiment where the same plot is told three times, first in the fantastic realm, then as a realistic plot, and finally as a circus pantomime. Meanwhile, he worked in television and directed commercials. The success of an adaptation for TV of another Guimaraes Rosa's story prompted him to write a screenplay for the short novel Campo Geral, about a kid growing in the back-country of Brazil. After months of trouble to obtain the rights, the project was abandoned, and he decided to tackle another myth of Brazilian literature, Machado de Assis.

His last movie, Quincas Borba, recreated Machado de Assis's fin-de-siecle universe in the troubled 1980s. Roberto Santos died of a heart attack at the São Paulo airport in 1987, just after returning from the Festival of Gramado, where Quincas Borba was shown and heavily criticized by a clique of critics.

Known for

Acting
2021 The Good Cinema Actor Self N/A
N/A
2013 Ozualdo Candeias and the Cinema Actor Himself (archive footage) N/A
N/A
1978 Stop 88 Actor 59
Average

Directing
1988 Quincas Borba Directing Director 58
Average
1985 A Construção da Liberdade Directing Director N/A
N/A
1983 Nasce uma Mulher Directing Director N/A
N/A
1981 Chick Fowle, Faixa Preta de Cinema Directing Director 59
Average
1980 Erotic Stories Directing Director 59
Average
1979 Rain Lovers Directing Director N/A
N/A
1976 As Três Mortes de Solano Directing Director 59
Average
1972 Vozes do Medo Directing Director N/A
N/A
1971 Um Anjo Mau Directing Director N/A
N/A
1968 The Naked Man Directing Director 59
Average
1968 Embu Directing Director N/A
N/A
1968 A João Guimarães Rosa Directing Director N/A
N/A
1966 As Cariocas Directing Director 58
Average
1965 The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga Directing Director 59
Average
1963 Primeira Chance Directing Director N/A
N/A
1958 The Grand Moment Directing Director 59
Average

Writing
1988 Quincas Borba Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1983 Nasce uma Mulher Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1981 Chick Fowle, Faixa Preta de Cinema Writing Writer 59
Average
1979 Rain Lovers Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1978 Stop 88 Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1976 As Três Mortes de Solano Writing Dialogue 59
Average
1975 O Predileto Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1975 Ponto Final Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1971 Um Anjo Mau Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1970 Juliana do Amor Perdido Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1968 Embu Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1967 Bebel, Garota Propaganda Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1966 As Cariocas Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1965 The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga Writing Writer 59
Average
1963 Gimba, Presidente dos Valentes Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1963 Primeira Chance Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1958 The Grand Moment Writing Writer 59
Average

Production
1988 Quincas Borba Production Executive Producer 58
Average
1967 Bebel, Garota Propaganda Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1965 The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga Production Associate Producer 59
Average
1958 The Grand Moment Production Producer 59
Average

Editing
1965 Viramundo Editing Assistant Editor 59
Average