Leon Hirszman

Directing

Leon Hirszman

Born 1937-11-22 · Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Leon Hirszman (Rio de Janeiro, November 22, 1937 — Rio de Janeiro, September 15, 1987) was a Brazilian filmmaker and one of the main exponents of the movement known as Cinema Novo. A member of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), his work is marked by the influence of central Marxist theses in political debates in Latin America and by the politicized representation of the working class.

Acting credits

Guarnieri poster
7.2

Develops from the life, work and memory of Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, one of the most important names in the history of Brazilian theater, to examine the courses of dramaturgy and politics in the last decades. Guarnieri, besides being a TV star, was also seen as the synthesis of the politically engaged artist in Brazil. His sons, also actors, saw a separation between art, work, and politics. As he investigates the portraits of two generations, grandson and director Francisco aims to understand the place of his own generation in history, in art and the world as a whole.

Guarnieri

2017

Improvised and Purposeful: Cinema Novo poster
7.5

Originally produced for German TV, Improvised and Purposeful is a firsthand look at the "Cinema Novo" movement (otherwise known as the 'Brazilian New Wave'). Director Joaquim Pedro de Andrade focuses on six Cinema Novo filmmakers working in Rio in 1967.

Improvised and Purposeful: Cinema Novo

1967

ABC of a Strike poster
7.7

ABC of a Strike captures the 1979 metal workers strikes outside of São Paulo. The footage sat untouched until after the death of highly-regarded director Leon Hirszman in 1987, by which time the material had a new relevance. The gripping film captures the negotiations between the labor unions and the factory bosses and shows the birth of the region’s Worker’s Party, as well as the emergence of its charismatic leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Rising from extreme poverty, Lula gained national prominence as a union activist during the late 70s and early 80s. After being jailed during his time as a union leader, he eventually becomes Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2010.

ABC of a Strike

1990

Dunas do Barato poster
5.5

A rescue of the history of Ipanema beach in the 1970s, when the construction of a pier changed the landscape and created fertile soil for a generation of artists and sportsmen.

Dunas do Barato

2017

Memórias do Grupo Opinião poster
NR

Follows the story of Opinião, a theatre group created in 1964 during the early Brazilian dictatorship period to oppose the government through artistic performances. Considered the first left-wing response to the dictatorship, the group gathered now famous Brazilian artists such as Nara Leão, Maria Bethânia, João do Vale and Millôr Fernandes.

Memórias do Grupo Opinião

2019

The Beggars poster
9.0

A young female fugitive escapes from a juvenile institution (the Child Assistance Service) and joins a group of poor beggars with the intention of finding a potential partner to marry in order to avoid her return to that place.

The Beggars

1963

Bahia de Todos os Sambas poster
8.0

Between August 23 and 31, 1983, at the "Circo Massimo", in Rome, there was a musical event that brought together artists from Bahia. This film brings a recording of the event, also featuring backstage, rehearsals, testimonies and some relaxing moments of these great names in Bahia's music.

Bahia de Todos os Sambas

1996

Cinema Novo poster
6.7

A deep investigation, in the way of a poetic essay, on one of the main Latin American movements in cinema, analyzed via the thoughts of its main authors, who invented, in the early 1960s, a new way of making movies in Brazil, with a political attitude, always near to people's problems, that combined art and revolution.

Cinema Novo

2016

Let Me Tell You poster
8.8

The documentary presents the biography of filmmaker Leon Hirszman, director of Cinema Novo, who made 11 short films and five feature films between 1962 and 1986. A review of the trajectory of Leon Hirszman through his work and archive images.

Let Me Tell You

2007

Vianinha poster
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

Vianinha

1987

No artwork available
NR

Dialoguing directly with the trilogy of documentaries “Images of the Unconscious”, made between 1983 and 1986 and based on clinical cases and therapies with a humanist approach and artistic expression, conducted by the pioneering psychiatrist Nise da Silveira (1905-1999) – screenwriter of that film –, here is presented, in two parts, an interview with the doctor, a student of Carl Jung and a pioneer in the application of non-violent treatments for psychiatric patients, given to director Leon Hirszman, in 1986. The conversation is divided in two parts: the first, "The emotion of dealing", the second, "The egress".

Afterword: Images of the Unconscious

2014

Behind the camera

No artwork available
10.0

Didactic documentary on the History of Brazil

Which Country is this?

1981

Cantos de Trabalho - Cana de Açúcar poster
5.0

Between 1974 and 1976, while researching for his filme "S. Bernardo", Leon Hirszman shot three documentary shorts produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Education on the chores of the men who worked in the sugar cane fields in the town of Feira de Santana, in the cocoa fields of Itabuna, and in the efforts of building households in Chã Preta.

Cantos de Trabalho - Cana de Açúcar

1976

They Don't Wear Black Tie poster
8.3

Otavio is an idealistic union leader trying to organize workers at a factory to resist the company's exploitative practices. His son, Tião, one of the employees, is more of a realist and doesn't want to risk losing his job by striking. This clash of perspectives puts the father and son at odds. Fortunately, Tião's mother, Romana, is on hand to act as a moderator between the two opinionated men.

They Don't Wear Black Tie

1981

They Don't Wear Black Tie poster
8.3

Otavio is an idealistic union leader trying to organize workers at a factory to resist the company's exploitative practices. His son, Tião, one of the employees, is more of a realist and doesn't want to risk losing his job by striking. This clash of perspectives puts the father and son at odds. Fortunately, Tião's mother, Romana, is on hand to act as a moderator between the two opinionated men.

They Don't Wear Black Tie

1981

ABC of a Strike poster
7.7

ABC of a Strike captures the 1979 metal workers strikes outside of São Paulo. The footage sat untouched until after the death of highly-regarded director Leon Hirszman in 1987, by which time the material had a new relevance. The gripping film captures the negotiations between the labor unions and the factory bosses and shows the birth of the region’s Worker’s Party, as well as the emergence of its charismatic leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Rising from extreme poverty, Lula gained national prominence as a union activist during the late 70s and early 80s. After being jailed during his time as a union leader, he eventually becomes Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2010.

ABC of a Strike

1990

The Deceased poster
7.1

After visiting a fortune teller, Zulmira is informed that a blonde woman will threaten her peace. After talking to her husband Toninho, she suspects that her cousin Glorinha may be that blonde.

The Deceased

1965

The Deceased poster
7.1

After visiting a fortune teller, Zulmira is informed that a blonde woman will threaten her peace. After talking to her husband Toninho, she suspects that her cousin Glorinha may be that blonde.

The Deceased

1965

The Girl from Ipanema poster
6.3

Chronicles the life of a 17 year-old girl living in the upper-class Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood of Ipanema. Márcia lives a life of parties and spend her days among bohemians, musicians and intellectuals. While seeming happy in the outside, she's extremely anguished inside. Based on the famous song by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes.

The Girl from Ipanema

1967

The Girl from Ipanema poster
6.3

Chronicles the life of a 17 year-old girl living in the upper-class Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood of Ipanema. Márcia lives a life of parties and spend her days among bohemians, musicians and intellectuals. While seeming happy in the outside, she's extremely anguished inside. Based on the famous song by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes.

The Girl from Ipanema

1967

The Girl from Ipanema poster
6.3

Chronicles the life of a 17 year-old girl living in the upper-class Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood of Ipanema. Márcia lives a life of parties and spend her days among bohemians, musicians and intellectuals. While seeming happy in the outside, she's extremely anguished inside. Based on the famous song by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes.

The Girl from Ipanema

1967

Cantos de Trabalho - Mutirão poster
5.0

Between 1974 and 1976, while researching for his filme "S. Bernardo", Leon Hirszman shot three documentary shorts produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Education on the chores of the men who worked in the sugar cane fields in the town of Feira de Santana, in the cocoa fields of Itabuna, and in the efforts of building households in Chã Preta.

Cantos de Trabalho - Mutirão

1975

Cantos de Trabalho - Mutirão poster
5.0

Between 1974 and 1976, while researching for his filme "S. Bernardo", Leon Hirszman shot three documentary shorts produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Education on the chores of the men who worked in the sugar cane fields in the town of Feira de Santana, in the cocoa fields of Itabuna, and in the efforts of building households in Chã Preta.

Cantos de Trabalho - Mutirão

1975

Cantos de Trabalho - Cacau poster
5.0

Between 1974 and 1976, while researching for his filme "S. Bernardo", Leon Hirszman shot three documentary shorts produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Education on the chores of the men who worked in the sugar cane fields in the town of Feira de Santana, in the cocoa fields of Itabuna, and in the efforts of building households in Chã Preta.

Cantos de Trabalho - Cacau

1976

Bahia de Todos os Sambas poster
8.0

Between August 23 and 31, 1983, at the "Circo Massimo", in Rome, there was a musical event that brought together artists from Bahia. This film brings a recording of the event, also featuring backstage, rehearsals, testimonies and some relaxing moments of these great names in Bahia's music.

Bahia de Todos os Sambas

1996

Médio São Francisco poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Médio São Francisco

1971

Five Times Favela poster
7.9

Five segments about the hardships faced by people living in slums on hills in Rio de Janeiro.

Five Times Favela

1962

Five Times Favela poster
7.9

Five segments about the hardships faced by people living in slums on hills in Rio de Janeiro.

Five Times Favela

1962

Five Times Favela poster
7.9

Five segments about the hardships faced by people living in slums on hills in Rio de Janeiro.

Five Times Favela

1962

Saint Bernard poster
7.4

The story of Paulo Honório, a poor ploughman who becomes a rich farmer. Obsessed by his desire to get even richer, he doesn't pay much attention to his wife, Madalena, a teacher who reacts against his tyrannical ways.

Saint Bernard

1972

Saint Bernard poster
7.4

The story of Paulo Honório, a poor ploughman who becomes a rich farmer. Obsessed by his desire to get even richer, he doesn't pay much attention to his wife, Madalena, a teacher who reacts against his tyrannical ways.

Saint Bernard

1972

Images of the Unconscious poster
7.5

In hopes of unraveling the causes and cure for various forms of insanity, a psychiatrist in Brazil created the Museum of Images from the Unconscious in 1952. It gathered paintings and drawings made by mental patients from all over Brazil. Many of the works in the museum are paired with the case-histories of the patients who created them in this fascinating film.

Images of the Unconscious

1987

Images of the Unconscious poster
7.5

In hopes of unraveling the causes and cure for various forms of insanity, a psychiatrist in Brazil created the Museum of Images from the Unconscious in 1952. It gathered paintings and drawings made by mental patients from all over Brazil. Many of the works in the museum are paired with the case-histories of the patients who created them in this fascinating film.

Images of the Unconscious

1987

Partido Alto poster
7.3

The history of Partido-Alto, a musical subgenre derived from Samba, with roots in the batucada of Bahia.

Partido Alto

1976

Partido Alto poster
7.3

The history of Partido-Alto, a musical subgenre derived from Samba, with roots in the batucada of Bahia.

Partido Alto

1976