
Directing
Karim Aïnouz
Born
1966-01-17 (60)
Place of birth
Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Known for
Directing
Credits
45 titles
Karim Aïnouz (born 17 January 1966) is a Brazilian filmmaker and visual artist. Description above from the Wikipedia article Karim Aïnouz, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
5.8When an American heir living in a luxurious Spanish villa decides to move in with his girlfriend, his departure triggers a family collapse as his brother uncovers the truth behind their mother's tragic death.
Rosebush Pruning
2026
7.7Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.
Invisible Life
2019
6.3Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.
Firebrand
2024
5.0Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
6.7Motel Destino, a sex hotel in Northern Brazil, is run by the hot-headed Elias and his restless wife, Dayana. When a young gang member on the run named Heraldo stays at the motel, Dayana becomes intrigued with him. As the two navigate a dance of power and desire, a dangerous plan for freedom emerges.
Motel Destino
2024
6.5Donato fails in his attempt to save a drowning man, and meets one of the man's friends. He decides to start his life over, but pieces of his past keep coming after him.
Futuro Beach
2014
Film credits
2010s · 2 titles
8.2An abandoned tumbledown theater in the outback of Paraíba state is the initial setting of a film about cinema, which explores the testimonials of the novelist and playwright Ariano Suassuna and other filmmakers such as Ruy Guerra, Julio Bressane, Ken Loach, Andrzej Wajda, Karim Ainouz, José Padilha, Hector Babenco, Vilmos Zsigmond, Béla Tarr, Gus Van Sant and Jia Zhangke. They all respond to two basic questions: why do they make movies and why do they serve the seventh art. The filmmakers share their thoughts about time, narrative, rhythm, light, movement, the meaning of tragedy, the audience‘s desires and the boundaries with other forms of art.
About Cinema
2015
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Saudade
2017
2000s · 2 titles
7.9Seventy critics and filmmakers discuss cinema around the conflict between the artist and the observer, the creator and the critic. Between 1998 and 2007, Kléber Mendonça Filho recorded testimonies about this relationship in Brazil, the United States and Europe, based on his experience as a critic.
Critic
2008
3.0Cinema in 7 Colors traces an historical panorama of how the queer people were portrayed in the Brazilian silver screens, from its origin in the chanchadas of the 1950s up to the present day. The film investigates the origins of the prejudices, stereotypes, as well as the importance of the identification with constructive representations of these characters.
Cinema in 7 Colors
2008
Behind the camera
5.8When an American heir living in a luxurious Spanish villa decides to move in with his girlfriend, his departure triggers a family collapse as his brother uncovers the truth behind their mother's tragic death.
Rosebush Pruning
2026
7.7Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.
Invisible Life
2019
7.7Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.
Invisible Life
2019
6.3Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.
Firebrand
2024
5.0Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
6.7Motel Destino, a sex hotel in Northern Brazil, is run by the hot-headed Elias and his restless wife, Dayana. When a young gang member on the run named Heraldo stays at the motel, Dayana becomes intrigued with him. As the two navigate a dance of power and desire, a dangerous plan for freedom emerges.
Motel Destino
2024
6.5Donato fails in his attempt to save a drowning man, and meets one of the man's friends. He decides to start his life over, but pieces of his past keep coming after him.
Futuro Beach
2014
6.5Donato fails in his attempt to save a drowning man, and meets one of the man's friends. He decides to start his life over, but pieces of his past keep coming after him.
Futuro Beach
2014
6.9In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro of the 1930s, João Francisco dos Santos is several things — son of slaves, ex-convict, thug, homosexual and adopted father for a number of pariahs. João expresses himself on the stage of a cabaret as Madame Satã.
Madame Satã
2002
6.9In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro of the 1930s, João Francisco dos Santos is several things — son of slaves, ex-convict, thug, homosexual and adopted father for a number of pariahs. João expresses himself on the stage of a cabaret as Madame Satã.
Madame Satã
2002
6.5Best friends Deco and Naldinho co-own a cargo boat in Brazil's Salvador da Bahia. They give a ride to a sultry prostitute named Karinna, and soon both men fall prey to her considerable sexual charms, pushing the bounds of their friendship to the limit.
Lower City
2005
NRAdyr, a brilliant scientist working at a public university in Rio de Janeiro, conducts cutting-edge research into psychedelics as a treatment for alcoholism—the disease that claimed her husband’s life. When she becomes the target of a group seeking to appropriate her work, Adyr must fight to complete her research while protecting her own life and that of her son, Tom.
Oceanic
2026
7.3In northern Brazil, Hermila patiently waits for her husband. However, he has abandoned her. Sexy, restless and resolute, she raffles off "a night in paradise" with herself. This beautifully-shot portrait doesn't shy away from the burdens of a young scarred woman, but it also celebrates her courage to live according to her own rules.
Love for Sale
2006
7.3In northern Brazil, Hermila patiently waits for her husband. However, he has abandoned her. Sexy, restless and resolute, she raffles off "a night in paradise" with herself. This beautifully-shot portrait doesn't shy away from the burdens of a young scarred woman, but it also celebrates her courage to live according to her own rules.
Love for Sale
2006
6.91942, in the middle of Northeastern Brazil, two very different men meet along the road: Johan, an aspirin salesman avoiding the German draft, and Ranulpho, a rural Brazilian seeking escape from the drought.
Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures
2005
7.4Brazilian badlands, April 1910. Tonho is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother. The young man knows that if he commits this crime, his life will be divided in two: the twenty years he has already lived and the few days he has left to live, before the other family avenges their son's death. He is torn between fulfilling his ancestral duty and rebelling against it, urged by his younger brother Pacu. That's when a tiny travelling circus passes through the vast badlands where Tonho's family lives.
Behind the Sun
2001
5.3Over 30 filmmakers and friends of Strand Releasing have come together to honor the company’s indelible contribution to independent cinema over the past thirty years. The participating filmmakers have each created a short film for the project, all shot on iPhones.
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
2019
5.5Violeta is a married dentist on a normal working day. While listening to a message left on the cell she enters in despair. The message of her husband, Djalma, says he is leaving her and going to another city.
The Silver Cliff
2011
5.5Violeta is a married dentist on a normal working day. While listening to a message left on the cell she enters in despair. The message of her husband, Djalma, says he is leaving her and going to another city.
The Silver Cliff
2011
Celebrated Broadway composer Elliot invites his daughter Emma on a gay cruise through the Caribbean in 1991 – a dazzling, liberating world of music, celebration, and chosen family where Emma, the only straight woman on board, experiences an unexpected first love with a young crew member. But beneath the joy and abandon, the AIDS crisis casts an ever-deepening shadow. As Elliot retreats from the devastating reality of his illness, father and daughter are forced to confront the unspoken truths between them. In the fleeting time they have left together, can they rediscover each other before the music finally fades?
Last Dance
—
5.1Football seen through the eyes of some of the best directors of the world.
Short Plays
2014
7.0José Renato, a 35-year-old geologist, is sent out on a solitary expedition to the hinterlands of northeastern Brazil. The purpose of the trip is to assess possible routes for a canal that will connect the area with the only major river in the region. As the field trip progresses, it becomes clear that Renato shares with those places the same emptiness, sense of abandonment and isolation.
I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You
2010
7.0José Renato, a 35-year-old geologist, is sent out on a solitary expedition to the hinterlands of northeastern Brazil. The purpose of the trip is to assess possible routes for a canal that will connect the area with the only major river in the region. As the field trip progresses, it becomes clear that Renato shares with those places the same emptiness, sense of abandonment and isolation.
I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You
2010
6.8Filmmaker Karim Aïnouz decides to take a boat, cross the Mediterranean, and embark on his first journey to Algeria. Accompanied by the memory of his mother, Iracema, and his camera, Aïnouz gives a detailed account of the journey to his father’s homeland, interweaving present, past, and future.
Mariner of the Mountains
2023
6.8Filmmaker Karim Aïnouz decides to take a boat, cross the Mediterranean, and embark on his first journey to Algeria. Accompanied by the memory of his mother, Iracema, and his camera, Aïnouz gives a detailed account of the journey to his father’s homeland, interweaving present, past, and future.
Mariner of the Mountains
2023
An experimental collective film lasting little more than an hour, compiled from 10 episodes by a total of 14 different young Brazilian filmmakers. The project was an initiative of the directing duo Felipe Bragança and Marina Meliande, who sent a ‘letter of concern’ to inspire the participants. In it, a 16-year-old girl wrote about her dreams, which have been translated by the directors into films about love, youth and the possibilities of cinema.
Neverquiet (Film of Wonders)
2011
5.3He was ceaselessly in search of the human truth through the treatment of the light and the space and in the way he roams around things. His work full of boldness marks an essential stage in the history of paint.
Velázquez – Wild Realism
2015
5.3He was ceaselessly in search of the human truth through the treatment of the light and the space and in the way he roams around things. His work full of boldness marks an essential stage in the history of paint.
Velázquez – Wild Realism
2015
NRA trip, sort of a daydream in the Brazilian badlands. Remote places reveal traditions and customs of a landscape that is at once primitive and contemporary, regional and globalised.
Pool Acrylic Blue Hinterland
2004
NRA trip, sort of a daydream in the Brazilian badlands. Remote places reveal traditions and customs of a landscape that is at once primitive and contemporary, regional and globalised.
Pool Acrylic Blue Hinterland
2004
NRAccompanying activist Nardjes with his camera, Karim Aïnouz documents the youth culture, which is confidently taking to the streets for a democratic future in Algeria, whose independence their parents and grandparents have already fought.
Nardjes A.
2021
6.8Two years after her arrival in São Paulo, Alice continues her relationship with Nicholas and has begun to look for a place where they can live together. She has also launched a business that produces children's shows, and a stable life seems to be taking shape. But as she goes about the apartment search and shares in the loves and uncertainties of old and new friends, what she observes leaves her far less certain of her decisions and her future.
Alice Especial, Part 1: The First Day of the Rest of My Life
2010
An western about a gang of transsexuals who steal to carry out trans operations.
Trevo de Quatro Navalhas
—
It narrates in a near-future Tokyo the wild love affair between Dirka, a Japanese-Brazilian girl who works as a nightclub hostess to pay for her ailing Japanese father's debts, and Vadim, a young Russian drug delivery driver. Dirka yearns to return to the vaguely remembered Brazil of her youth. Vadim is sunk by remorse at having got his brother killed back in Russia.
Favela High-Tech
—
It narrates in a near-future Tokyo the wild love affair between Dirka, a Japanese-Brazilian girl who works as a nightclub hostess to pay for her ailing Japanese father's debts, and Vadim, a young Russian drug delivery driver. Dirka yearns to return to the vaguely remembered Brazil of her youth. Vadim is sunk by remorse at having got his brother killed back in Russia.
Favela High-Tech
—
No synopsis available yet.
O Preso
1992
No synopsis available yet.
O Preso
1992
5.7"If buildings could talk, what would they say about us?" CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE offers six startling responses. This 3D film project about the soul of buildings allows six iconic and very different buildings to speak for themselves, examining human life from the unblinking perspective of a manmade structure. Six acclaimed filmmakers bring their own visual style and artistic approach to the project. Buildings, they show us, are material manifestations of human thought and action: the Berlin Philharmonic, an icon of modernity; the National Library of Russia, a kingdom of thoughts; Halden Prison, the world's most humane prison; the Salk Institute, an institute for breakthrough science; the Oslo Opera House, a futuristic symbiosis of art and life; and the Centre Pompidou, a modern culture machine. CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE explores how each of these landmarks reflects our culture and guards our collective memory.
Cathedrals of Culture
2014
5.7"If buildings could talk, what would they say about us?" CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE offers six startling responses. This 3D film project about the soul of buildings allows six iconic and very different buildings to speak for themselves, examining human life from the unblinking perspective of a manmade structure. Six acclaimed filmmakers bring their own visual style and artistic approach to the project. Buildings, they show us, are material manifestations of human thought and action: the Berlin Philharmonic, an icon of modernity; the National Library of Russia, a kingdom of thoughts; Halden Prison, the world's most humane prison; the Salk Institute, an institute for breakthrough science; the Oslo Opera House, a futuristic symbiosis of art and life; and the Centre Pompidou, a modern culture machine. CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE explores how each of these landmarks reflects our culture and guards our collective memory.
Cathedrals of Culture
2014
NRFilipa, a young jockey whose talent remains undiscovered, lives in her brother's shadow until she has to step in for him in a race after he is injured, finally getting the chance to show who she really is.
Joqueta
2026

