Leon Hirszman

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Biography

Leon Hirszman was a Brazilian filmmaker, one of the main figures of the Brazilian Cinema Novo movement. His first short film, Pedreira de São Diogo, was one of the five segments of Cinco Vezes Favela, an important film for New Cinema released in 1962. His first full-lenght motion picture was an adaptation of playwright Nelson Rodrigues' A Falecida (The Deceased). The film already spoke on a subject dear to Leon: the social alienation of the working class. Working both with documentaries and fictional narratives, among Leon's body of work are the documentaries Nelson Cavaquinho, Megalópolis, Ecologia and Sexta-feira da Paixão, Sábado de aleluia. In 1971, he releases São Bernardo, a work of fiction based off Graciliano Ramos' eponymous book. He was also responsible for films such as Cantos do Trabalho no Campo, Que País É Esse?, Rio, Carnaval da Vida and ABC da Greve. For his 1981 film Eles Não Usam Black Tie (They Don't Wear Black Tie), the 1981 Venice Film Festival gave him three awards (it was also nominated for the Golden Lion). The film was also nominated for the Great Prize Coral Negro on the 3rd Festival Internacional do Novo Cinema Latino-Americano; Great Prize on the Festival dos Três Continentes, and the Espiga de Oro on the Festival Internacional de Vallodolid. At last, it was also nominated for the Air France Prize in 1982. Leon Hirszman had an extremely important role on Brazilian cinema and left behind a great number of articles in which he proposes a number of reflections on the conditions for filmmaking in Brazil, its market and legislation, Embrafilme (then an Federal institution responsible for aiding filmmaking in Brazil), and politic cinema. Leon died from complications of HIV, after a year of treatment. He got the virus from a blood transfusion and left behind three children: Irma, Maria and João Pedro, and his spouse, Cláudia Fares Menhem.