Biography

Emanuel Mendes

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A director, producer and writer, Emanuel Mendes was born in countryside Minas Gerais and has been living in São Paulo since 1999. After graduating in Social Communication, in Ribeirão Preto, he studies Film in Los Angeles for a two-month period. He has worked as a production assistant in short films and feature films for Felistoque Filmes, besides having worked at Casablanca Finish, a post-production company in São Paulo. He debuted as a film director with the short "Assis & Aletéia" in 2002, inspired by the cinema of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. In 2008, he releases his second short, "Amarar". He founded Sincronia Filmes in 2011 and through it he has released the films "O Homem Que..." (The Man Who...) (2011), "É Quase Verdade" (It's Almost True) (2014) and the web series "Os Chorões" (The Criers) (2012). His style mixes up elements from the fantastic and the extraordinary inserted into the everyday lives of characters apparently ordinaries.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous

Is a huge fan of the German silent cinema, like F. W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, Robert Wiene, etc. Also Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Luis Buñuel, as well as all of Italian cinema of the classic period, including Federico Fellini, Vitorio DeSica, and Ettore Scola.
Doesn't like to give interviews and isn't fond of the media circus.
The repetition of scenes and/or situations, or elements revolving around circles, is also a trademark of his cinema - undoubtedly inherited from the cinema of Spanish director Luis Buñuel, one of Mendes's favorite directors of all time.
Characters in his movies are usually lost in daydreams - without knowing the difference between reality and fantasies - or in their very particular inner world. Examples are Assis in "Assis & Aletéia" (2002), Noemi (the three women) in "Amarar" (2008) and even the main character of "É Quase Verdade" (It's Almost True) (2014).
His films have often been misunderstood in public screenings and/or film festivals because they do not provide a rational or satisfactory explanation for the story and/or the characters's behaviors. Instead, it is said that Mendes prefers the spectator to make his/her own interpretation of them. Journalist Mariana Ribeiro, from the Belo Horizonte International Short Film Festival, has said that "his films are mysterious and enigmatic, but so much so it is difficult to immerse in their stories." But she agreed that the director respects the viewer's intelligence.

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