Joao G. Amorim

João Amorim is an Emmy nominated Director, writer and producer focused on animation and documentaries. He is the son of Celso Amorim (Brazilian's Defense Minister and former Foreign Minister) and brothers with acclaimed Brazilian filmmakers Vicente and Pedro Amorim. The Amorim's family relation to film dates back to the 1960's when Celso was assistant Director to "os Cafajestes", (directed by Rui Guerra). Later in the late 70's Celso became President of Embrafilme, the state owned financier of all film in Brazil back then. His Brother Vicente has been working in the business since the 1980's. Pedro the youngest sibling's romantic comedy "Mato sem Cahorro" was a box office hit in 2013. The Amorim's are certainly one of the most connected families in Brazil, and the three brothers have produced content for pretty much all market segments of Brazilian TV and Film. João has directed and produced animation and documentaries in Brazil and abroad for many years. In 2010 he finished his first animated feature documentary: "2012 Time for Change", featuring among others David Lynch, Sting, Ellen Page, Gilberto Gil, and Paul Stamets. The News agency Reuters has called "2012" one of the 10 films behind the Occupy Wall Street movement. In 2011-2012 João directed the Recycling and Composting animated campaigns for the Brazilian Government, he directed a TV series hosted by Brazilian Singer Zeca Baleiro, on Ecological Innovation in Brazilian Industry (currently airing on TV Futura) and Directed a 32-minute documentary film on the Council of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, called "In the Flow with Waters". João worked for many years at Curious Pictures where he helped develop animation and graphics for games, films, Tv shows and commercials. Some of the titles include: Code name, Kid's next door, Tam Umi Zumi, Little Einsteins, Barbie Diaries, Polly Pockets, Beatles Rock Band, Guitar Hero. João directed commercials for clients such as BMW, Panasonic and Oceana. At Curious, João was Animation Director on "Chicago 10", Brett Morgen's Animated documentary that opened Sundance 2007. João was nominated for an Emmy in 2009 for this same film, and won the Cinema Eye awards for best animation for it. He has worked as an animation director on: "Footsteps in Africa", "For the next 7 Generations", "Ghetto Physics", among other films. He has worked worldwide as an industrial designer, character designer, vfx artist, animator, and animation supervisor for many years prior to directing. As an environmental education activist, João led a team, training young people at risk, at one of the toughest favelas in Rio (Complexo do Alemão), in permaculture and organic agriculture techniques. The project was turned in to a short: Permaculture in the Favelas, Rio+20 Rio+Green, and was featured at Earth Summit in Rio. Also as an environmental activist João has spoken at events such as Green Festivals and participated in a wide range of panels during the Earth Summit Rio+20. He is currently finishing his second feature documentary "Water and Cooperation, reflections for a new time" featuring Vandana Shiva, Dr. Amit Goswami, Masaru Emoto, Rajendra Singh and Benke Ashaninka. He is also developing the environmental literacy pre-school show: "EcoBaby, Biomes of Brazil", highlighting through music and animation the richness and diversity of Brazilian music, fauna flora. João speaks 5 languages, practices Permaculture and Yoga; he is married and has 3 kid's ages 1-12.