Kleber Mendonça Filho

{{Short description|Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer, and critic (born 1968)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Kleber Mendonça Filho

| image = Screen Shot of Kleber Mendonça Filho.png

| caption = Kleber Mendonça Filho in 2020

| birth_name =

| other_names =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1968|11|22}}

| birth_place = Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

| occupation = Film director, screenwriter, producer, critic

| years_active = 1997–present

| known_for = Bacurau

| spouse = Emilie Lesclaux

| children =

| website =

}}

Kleber Mendonça Filho ({{IPA|pt|ˈklebeʁ mẽˈdõsɐ ˈfiʎu|lang}}; born 22 November 1968){{cite web|title=Kleber Mendonça Filho: A biografia|url=http://www.adorocinema.com/personalidades/personalidade-146744/biografia/|website=adorocinema.com|access-date=11 August 2019|language=pt}} is a Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer, and critic.{{cite web|title=Kleber Mendonça Filho|url=http://www.filmeb.com.br/quem-e-quem/diretor/kleber-mendonca-filho|website=Filme B|access-date=25 August 2015|language=pt}}

Early life

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{{cite web|title=Revista Continente|last1=Mendonça Filho|first1=Kleber|url=http://www.revistacontinente.com.br/|website=Revista Continente|access-date=25 August 2015}} and Cinética,{{cite web|title=Cinetica|last1=Mendonça Filho|first1=Kleber|url=http://revistacinetica.com.br/home/|website=Revista Cinetica|access-date=25 August 2015}} and for his own site, CinemaScópio.

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.

Career

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).

Neighbouring Sounds (O Som ao Redor, 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.{{cite news|last1=Scott|first1=AO|title=25 Favorites From a Year When 10 Aren’t Enough|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/movies/a-o-scotts-25-best-films-of-2012.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=23 July 2014|work=The New York Times|date=14 December 2012}} Caetano Veloso, in his column in the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, classified it as "one of the best movies made recently in the world ".{{cite news|last1=Veloso|first1=Caetano|title=Belo é o Recife|url=http://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/belo-o-recife-7405983|access-date=23 July 2014|work=O Globo|date=27 January 2013}}

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{{cite web|title=Kleber Mendonça sobre "Aquarius" no Oscar independente: "Vamos aos poucos"|url=http://cinema.uol.com.br/noticias/redacao/2016/11/22/kleber-mendonca-sobre-aquarius-no-spirit-awards-vamos-aos-poucos.htm|access-date=23 February 2017|date=22 November 2016|author=Nogueira, Renata|language=pt}} and for the César Award for Best Foreign Film,{{cite web|title='Aquarius' é indicado a melhor filme estrangeiro no César, o 'Oscar francês'|url=http://g1.globo.com/pop-arte/cinema/noticia/aquarius-e-indicado-a-melhor-filme-estrangeiro-no-cesar-o-oscar-frances.ghtml|access-date=23 February 2017|date=25 January 2017|language=pt}} but lost to Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann and to Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake, respectively. In 2017, he was the jury president of the Critics' Week section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.{{Cite web|title=Jurys 2017|url=http://www.semainedelacritique.com/en/edition/2017/jury|access-date=2021-07-15|website=Critics' Week|language=en}}

His third film, Bacurau, co-written and co-directed with Juliano Dornelles, won the Jury Prize at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, shared with Ladj Ly's Les Misérables.{{cite web |title='Bacurau' ganha Prêmio do Júri e faz história em Cannes |url=https://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/filmes/bacurau-ganha-premio-do-juri-faz-historia-em-cannes-23693090 |author=Carlos Heli de Almeida |access-date=14 September 2019 |date=25 March 2019 |language=pt}} His second documentary feature, Retratos Fantasmas (Pictures of Ghosts) premiered in the Special Screenings section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

His fourth feature film. The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto), will have its world premiere at the main competition of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmography

= Feature films =

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="width:100%;"
scope="col" \| Year ! scope="col" \| English Title ! scope="col" \| Original Title ! scope="col" \| Notes
2012 \|Neighboring Sounds \|O Som Ao Redor \|Brazilian submission for the 86th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
2016 \| colspan="2" \|Aquarius \|World Premiere at the main competition of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival
2019 \| colspan="2" \|Bacurau \|Co-directed with Juliano Dornelles. Jury Prize winner at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival
2025 \|The Secret Agent \|O Agente Secreto \|Post-Production

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="width:100%;"

scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | English Title

! scope="col" | Original Title

! scope="col" | Notes

2012

|Neighboring Sounds

|O Som Ao Redor

|Brazilian submission for the 86th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

2016

| colspan="2" |Aquarius

|World Premiere at the main competition of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival

2019

| colspan="2" |Bacurau

|Co-directed with Juliano Dornelles. Jury Prize winner at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival

2025

|The Secret Agent

|O Agente Secreto

|Post-Production

= Documentaries =

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="width:100%;"
scope="col" \| Year ! scope="col" \| English Title ! scope="col" \| Original Title ! scope="col" \| Notes
style="text-align:center;" \| 2008 \| colspan="2" \| Crítico \|
2023 \|Pictures of Ghosts \|Retratos Fantasmas \|World Premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="width:100%;"

scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | English Title

! scope="col" | Original Title

! scope="col" | Notes

style="text-align:center;" | 2008

| colspan="2" | Crítico

2023

|Pictures of Ghosts

|Retratos Fantasmas

|World Premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival

= Short films =

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="width:100%;"
scope="col" \| Year ! scope="col" \| English Title ! scope="col" \| Original Title ! scope="col" \| Notes
style="text-align:center;" \| 1997 \| Caged In \|Enjaulado \|
style="text-align:center;" \| 2002 \| The Little Cotton Girl \| A Menina do Algodão \| Co-directed with Daniel Bandeira
style="text-align:center;" \| 2004 \| Green Vinyl \|Vinil Verde \|
style="text-align:center;" \| 2005 \| colspan="2" \|Eletrodoméstica \|
style="text-align:center;" \| 2007 \| Friday Night, Saturday Morning \|Noite de Sexta, Manhã de Sábado \|
style="text-align:center;" \| 2009 \| Cold Tropics \| Recife Frio \|
style="text-align:center;" \| 2015 \|The World Cup in Recife \|A Copa do Mundo no Recife \| Short documentary

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="width:100%;"

scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | English Title

! scope="col" | Original Title

! scope="col" | Notes

style="text-align:center;" | 1997

| Caged In

|Enjaulado

style="text-align:center;" | 2002

| The Little Cotton Girl

| A Menina do Algodão

| Co-directed with Daniel Bandeira