Karim Aïnouz Explained

Karim Aïnouz
Birth Date:1966 1, df=yes
Birth Place:Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Yearsactive:1992–present
Known For:The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão
Occupation:Film director

Karim Aïnouz (;[1] pronounced as /pt/;[2] born 17 January 1966) is a Brazilian film director and visual artist. He is best known for his film The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão.

Career

Karim Aïnouz was born to a Brazilian mother and an Algerian father, in Fortaleza, Ceará, in the Brazilian Northeast.[3] He is a film director, screenwriter and visual artist.

Aïnouz's feature debut, Madame Satã, premiered at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

His following films, Suely in the Sky, and I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You, co-directed with Marcelo Gomes, premiered at the Orizzonti of the in 2006 and 2009 Venice Film Festival.

In 2011, The Silver Cliff was presented in the Directors' Fortnight and won Best Director at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. In television, Aïnouz created and directed Alice, a 13 episode fiction series for HBO Brasil. His short films and installations have been shown at numerous venues including The Whitney Museum of American Art, the São Paulo Biennial, the Sharjah Biennial and Videobrasil.

As creative advisor and lecturer, Aïnouz has been invited to numerous Screenwriters Labs and institutions such as Princeton University, Wexner Center for the Arts, MIT, EICTV among others. Karim Aïnouz has been developing, alongside fellow filmmakers Marcelo Gomes and Sérgio Machado, The Center for Audiovisual Narratives in partnership with State authorities of Ceará, Brazil. Among other activities, they coordinate and work as creative advisors to the Screenwriters Lab, a one-year program committed to the development of a new generation of filmmakers, providing support throughout their projects. Since 2017, Aïnouz is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Karim Aïnouz documentary Zentralflughafen THF, premiered at the 68th Berlinale – Panorama, won the Amnesty International Film Award, and has been screened in over 10 festivals. His previous feature Futuro Beach, had its world premiere at the 64th Berlinale Competition.

In 2019 he released The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, an adaptation of the Brazilian novel A Vida Invisivel de Eurídice Gusmão, written by Martha Batalha, depicting the struggle of two sisters against repression and bigotry in the 1950s Rio de Janeiro. The film was screened at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the section top prize.

In 2021, Aïnouz third documentary, Mariner of the Mountains, followed his search for his own Algerian roots in Algiers, his father’s homeland.[4]

In 2023, Aïnouz released his English language debut film, Firebrand, at the main competition of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The film follows the final years of Henry VIII's reign and his wife Catherine Parr.[5]

In 2024, Aïnouz went back to the Brazilian Northeast with the erotic thriller Motel Destino. The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival main competition.[6]

Favourite films

In 2022, Aïnouz participated in the Sight & Sound film polls of that year. It is held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, by asking contemporary directors to select ten films of their choice.[7] Aïnouz selections were:

Filmography

Feature film

YearTitleDirectorWriter
2001Behind the Sun
2002Madame Satã
2004Se fosse tudo sempre assim
2005Lower City
Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures
2006Suely in the Sky
Love for Sale
2009I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You
2011The Silver Cliff
2014Futuro Beach
2019The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão
2023Firebrand
2024Motel Destino

Documentary film

Short film

YearTitleDirectorWriter
1992O Preso
1994Paixão Nacional
1996Hic Habitat Felicitas
2000Rifa-me
2011Sunny Lane
Destricted.br

Documentary short

YearTitleDirectorWriter
1993Seams
1998Les Ballons des Bairros
2004Sertão de Acrílico Azul Piscina
2014Sunday

TV series

YearTitleDirectorWriterNotes
2008AliceEpisode "O Primeiro Dia Do Resto Da Minha Vida"
2014Cathedrals of CultureEpisode "Centre Pompidou"

Awards

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Interview Karim Aïnouz – THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF EURÍDICE GUSMÃO. Zurich Film Festival. 11 December 2019. 25 May 2023.
  2. Web site: Karim Aïnouz comenta cena de Praia do Futuro Cena Comentada. Canal Brasil. 28 February 2020. 25 May 2023.
  3. Web site: Garcia Fonseca . Bruna . After Cannes, Karim Aïnouz works on documentary on Algeria . anba.com.br . Brazil-Arab News Agency . 5 November 2019 . 10 June 2019.
  4. News: Felperin . Leslie . 2022-05-17 . Mariner of the Mountains review – dreamily wonderful Algerian odyssey . 2024-05-19 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  5. Web site: Rubin . Manori Ravindran,Elsa Keslassy,Rebecca . Ravindran . Manori . Keslassy . Elsa . Rubin . Rebecca . 2023-05-18 . Alicia Vikander and Jude Law’s ‘Firebrand’ Sells Out Internationally Ahead of Cannes Premiere, Prime Video Swooping for U.K. Deal (EXCLUSIVE) . 2024-05-19 . Variety . en-US.
  6. Web site: Barraclough . Leo . 2023-08-07 . ‘Firebrand’ Director Karim Aïnouz Starts Production on Erotic Thriller ‘Motel Destino,’ the Match Factory Handles Sales . 2024-05-19 . Variety . en-US.
  7. https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time/all-voters/karim-ainouz