| Fernando Meirelles is perhaps best known
for his work in 2002 as co-director of the Oscar-nominated
'City of God', based in Rio's most notorious favela.
He was born in São Paulo in 1955. Whilst studying
Architecture at university, he became interested in
experimental film-making, winning several prizes in
the earliest Brazilian independent video festivals.
'City of God' was hugely popular in Brazil, reaching
an audience of 3.2 million people and provoking political
debate about the drug trade. Many of the young actors
came from the favelas and the workshops set up to train
them have been continued by a newly-established Brazilian
charity called Cinema Nosso.
He is also very active as a producer, heading his own
production company, and working on the Brazilian TV
series, 'Cidade dos Homens'. His most recent directorial
release is 'The Constant Gardener' (2005). Currently,
he is directing 'Blindness', starring Julianne Moore
and based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago.
Fernando has appeared at a number of events for
ABC Trust and is featured in a short film about our
work.
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