Helena Ignez

Acting

Helena Ignez

Born 1939-05-23 · Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Helena Ignez (Salvador, May 23, 1939) is a Brazilian actress and filmmaker. Helena was born in Salvador, Bahia and was attending her second year of law school when she fell in love with theater and decided to study the Dramatic Arts at the Federal University of Bahia. At the time, the Bahian theater scene was breaking with traditional Brazilian theater and experiencing strong influence from the young vanguard. She first appeared on the screen in Glauber Rocha's short film "Pátio". Helena acted in a few films associated with the Cinema Novo movement, such as "A Grande Feira" (1961), "Assalto ao Trem Pagador" (1962), and "O Padre e a Moça" (1966) before playing Janete Jane in O Bandido da Luz Vermelha by Rogério Sganzerla. After this film, she would perform in some most significant films in the Cinema Marginal movement, which directly opposed the critically acclaimed Cinema Novo -- the most remarkable being her role as Ângela Carne e "Osso in A Mulher de Todos" (1969). She also was a financial partner of Rogério Sganzerla and fellow Cinema Marginal filmmaker Júlio Bressane in the short-lived, although prolific, Belair production company. Between 1968 and 1970, Sganzerla and Ignez made almost a dozen films together and were also married and had two children -- one of which would become actress Djin Sganzerla. As a filmmaker, Ignez has directed 7 films, the most notable being "Luz das Trevas" (2010), a sequel to Sganzerla's debut feature "O Bandido da Luz Vermelha" (1968).

Acting credits

Estátua! poster
6.0

Isabel is a babysitter pregnant of her own child and can't wait to be a mother. Until she meets Joana.

Estátua!

2014

Ralé: The Lower Depths poster
5.4

Young directors are filming “The Exhibitionist” in the middle of a farm in a paradise-like region. The film poetically investigates the Brazilian soul, with the Amazon as the center of the world, reflecting on existential issues, the right to sexual freedom and individuality.

Ralé: The Lower Depths

2016

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

O Cinema Foi à Feira

2016

Hotel Atlântico poster
7.1

A road movie that follows a solitary man as he sets of on a journey to the south of Brazil. The strange characters and absurd situations he encounters along the way present an extraordinary portrait of human relations.

Hotel Atlântico

2009

Belair poster
NR

Between February an May of 1970, Julio Bresane and Rogerio Sganzerla made 7 films for their company Belair that were forbidden by the Brazilian censorship that reveal today images of an unique freedom.

Belair

2009

Nosferatu poster
1.0

Nosferatu arrives in a town escaping from Van Helsing. He brings not only his curse, but ghosts from his past. In this escape, he dives into a macabre dance searching for an actress and faces the horror of eternity and the pain of an endless existence.

Nosferatu

2025

Lost Media poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Lost Media

Fakir poster
NR

The feature-length documentary Fakir portrays the success of fakirism in Brazil, Latin America and France. This circus art origin show is presented and analyzed through archives that reveals the success of these presentations with their pain resistance championships and the great public presence, including politicians and government officials. Fakir spans current footage from contemporary artists who keep this art alive in performances and shows.

Fakir

2019

Nem Tudo é Paz e Amor poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Nem Tudo é Paz e Amor

2026

Eclipse poster
NR

Cleo, a 43-year-old astronomer who is pregnant and emotionally fragile, is surprised by a visit from Nalu, her half-sister of Indigenous descent. The encounter reveals dark secrets and stirs up fragmented memories in Cleo, leading the two of them down a path of mysterious investigations.

Eclipse

2026

No artwork available
2.3

Two days in the life of André Provisório, a man with many occupations: private detective, drug dealer, and incorrigible seducer. Between his activities, he meets Mariana, an aspiring theater actress, and falls in love.

A Balada do Provisório

2012

Paixão e Virtude poster
4.2

No synopsis available yet.

Paixão e Virtude

2014

Embodiment of Evil poster
5.3

Released from the Mental Health Wing of São Paulo State Penitentiary after forty years, the sadistic undertaker Zé do Caixão is back on the streets, haunted by ghostly visions and spirits of past victims but still set upon the goal that sent him to prison in the first place: finding a woman who can give him the perfect child.

Embodiment of Evil

2008

The Red Light Bandit poster
7.7

Born and raised in the misery of Brazilian slums, Jorge becomes a luxury house burglar in São Paulo and gets nicknamed "The Red Light Bandit" by the sensationalist press. In addition to wearing a red flashlight, he talks to his hostages in an irreverent tone and makes bold breakthroughs to later spend the money extravagantly. His world is the decadent neighbourhood of Boca do Lixo.

The Red Light Bandit

1968

A Film to Remind Us of Utopia poster
NR

In Esdras Baptista's film archives, kept at his home for decades, one can feel the fervor of those who believed in a new tomorrow. Filmed in Brazil in the early 1960s, in the heat of a libertarian political movement, the filmmaker's images materialize the incandescence of collective desires at the historic moment of their emergence. Utopia, though unattainable, is never a mere abstraction. A force that mobilizes actions and feelings, it constitutes the impetus necessary for human existence.

A Film to Remind Us of Utopia

2026

Inauditoo poster
6.2

Guitarist Lanny Gordin was one of the fundamental characters in the transformation of Brazilian music from the 1960s onwards. He electrified Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and Jards Macalé, among others. Lanny reveals his libertarian process of composition and current thinking, embarking on an unusual odyssey through China, his birthplace, and Brazil, the country where he lives.

Inauditoo

2017

Antes do Fim poster
5.8

Jean feels trapped in the logic of longevity that the pharmaceutical industry imposes on him and decides to plan a conscious suicide. He invites Helena to commit suicide to two. She, on the other hand, hesitates, knows that she will live well even if she needs to live alone, but she helps him in his intentions. The silence between them does not reveal distance, but intimacy. These are years of shared affection. Together, they will prepare all the details for the funeral. He dances death while she continues rehearsing life. In the process, the two realize that before the end, there is still a lifetime.

Antes do Fim

2018

Subterrânea poster
NR

An experimental trip about Brazil after H.O.

Subterrânea

2021

As Florestas da Noite poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

As Florestas da Noite

2026

Oswaldianas poster
9.0

Collective film with five segments around the works and life of brazilian writer Oswald de Andrade.

Oswaldianas

1992

Ugly, Me? poster
5.0

Ugly, Me? is a film manifesto made from a workshop for actors called Characters in Search of a Movie, in 'La pa', 'Rio De Janeiro', extended to Paris and 'Kerala' (India). Multifaceted like a kaleidoscope, the characters appear in multi-screens scenes and sequences. The images were captured with different kinds of cameras and Ugly, Me? uses this sign of the variety imposed by independent production as language experimentation. Transposing the boundaries of style, Ugly, Me? navigates in a sea of metaphors, philosophical and musical politics, from Prince Harry to Heraclitus, going through a series of authors like Rimbaud, Brecht, Nietzsche, Bispo do Rosario and Eduardo Viveiros DE Castro, capturing a contradictory and original country.

Ugly, Me?

2013

Candango: Memoirs from a Festival poster
5.0

In 1965, a year after the military coup in Brazil, an oasis of freedom opened in the country's capital. The Brasília Film Festival: a landmark of cultural and political resistance. Its story is that of Brazilian cinema itself.

Candango: Memoirs from a Festival

2020

Anônimo e incomum poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Anônimo e incomum

1990

Copacabana Mon Amour poster
7.3

Sônia and her homosexual brother are both believed by their mother to be possessed by the devil. She works as a prostitute in the streets of Copacabana and he’s a servant who falls madly in love with his employer.

Copacabana Mon Amour

1970

Behind the camera

Ralé: The Lower Depths poster
5.4

Young directors are filming “The Exhibitionist” in the middle of a farm in a paradise-like region. The film poetically investigates the Brazilian soul, with the Amazon as the center of the world, reflecting on existential issues, the right to sexual freedom and individuality.

Ralé: The Lower Depths

2016

Ralé: The Lower Depths poster
5.4

Young directors are filming “The Exhibitionist” in the middle of a farm in a paradise-like region. The film poetically investigates the Brazilian soul, with the Amazon as the center of the world, reflecting on existential issues, the right to sexual freedom and individuality.

Ralé: The Lower Depths

2016

Ralé: The Lower Depths poster
5.4

Young directors are filming “The Exhibitionist” in the middle of a farm in a paradise-like region. The film poetically investigates the Brazilian soul, with the Amazon as the center of the world, reflecting on existential issues, the right to sexual freedom and individuality.

Ralé: The Lower Depths

2016

Canção de Baal poster
2.0

A marginal version of Brecht’s piece, “Baal”.

Canção de Baal

2007

Canção de Baal poster
2.0

A marginal version of Brecht’s piece, “Baal”.

Canção de Baal

2007

Fakir poster
NR

The feature-length documentary Fakir portrays the success of fakirism in Brazil, Latin America and France. This circus art origin show is presented and analyzed through archives that reveals the success of these presentations with their pain resistance championships and the great public presence, including politicians and government officials. Fakir spans current footage from contemporary artists who keep this art alive in performances and shows.

Fakir

2019

Fakir poster
NR

The feature-length documentary Fakir portrays the success of fakirism in Brazil, Latin America and France. This circus art origin show is presented and analyzed through archives that reveals the success of these presentations with their pain resistance championships and the great public presence, including politicians and government officials. Fakir spans current footage from contemporary artists who keep this art alive in performances and shows.

Fakir

2019

Ugly, Me? poster
5.0

Ugly, Me? is a film manifesto made from a workshop for actors called Characters in Search of a Movie, in 'La pa', 'Rio De Janeiro', extended to Paris and 'Kerala' (India). Multifaceted like a kaleidoscope, the characters appear in multi-screens scenes and sequences. The images were captured with different kinds of cameras and Ugly, Me? uses this sign of the variety imposed by independent production as language experimentation. Transposing the boundaries of style, Ugly, Me? navigates in a sea of metaphors, philosophical and musical politics, from Prince Harry to Heraclitus, going through a series of authors like Rimbaud, Brecht, Nietzsche, Bispo do Rosario and Eduardo Viveiros DE Castro, capturing a contradictory and original country.

Ugly, Me?

2013

Ugly, Me? poster
5.0

Ugly, Me? is a film manifesto made from a workshop for actors called Characters in Search of a Movie, in 'La pa', 'Rio De Janeiro', extended to Paris and 'Kerala' (India). Multifaceted like a kaleidoscope, the characters appear in multi-screens scenes and sequences. The images were captured with different kinds of cameras and Ugly, Me? uses this sign of the variety imposed by independent production as language experimentation. Transposing the boundaries of style, Ugly, Me? navigates in a sea of metaphors, philosophical and musical politics, from Prince Harry to Heraclitus, going through a series of authors like Rimbaud, Brecht, Nietzsche, Bispo do Rosario and Eduardo Viveiros DE Castro, capturing a contradictory and original country.

Ugly, Me?

2013

Light in Darkness: The Return of Red Light Bandit poster
5.2

Jorge, bastard child of the infamous Red Light Bandit, decides himself to pursuit a life of crime after meeting with his father, who has been incarcerated for the last 30 years.

Light in Darkness: The Return of Red Light Bandit

2012

Light in Darkness: The Return of Red Light Bandit poster
5.2

Jorge, bastard child of the infamous Red Light Bandit, decides himself to pursuit a life of crime after meeting with his father, who has been incarcerated for the last 30 years.

Light in Darkness: The Return of Red Light Bandit

2012

My Calendar Girl poster
2.0

A film in which dream and reality intertwine, A Moça do Calendário tells the story of inácio, 40, married, without a permanent job. Ex-street sweeper, he works as a mechanic at Barato da Pesada, where he dreams of the calendar girl.

My Calendar Girl

2018

My Calendar Girl poster
2.0

A film in which dream and reality intertwine, A Moça do Calendário tells the story of inácio, 40, married, without a permanent job. Ex-street sweeper, he works as a mechanic at Barato da Pesada, where he dreams of the calendar girl.

My Calendar Girl

2018

A Miss e o Dinossauro poster
5.0

A short documentary on Belair, an independent Brazilian film company that lasted for only five months in 1970.

A Miss e o Dinossauro

2005

Joy Is the Acid Test poster
NR

A film about love, also a memoir, about the trip made in the 1970s to Morocco by Jarda Ícone, an artist, sexologist, and octogenarian rocker, as she defines herself, and Lírio Terron, a human rights activist. In fact, a journey that is not over in their lives. Jarda Icon teaches classes on how women can obtain their own orgasm. With her group of disciples and friends Ana Brasil, Sheyla Fernanda, Caroline Sylvie and Lakshmi she develops self-sustainable feminist and artistic projects. The film is political, but not at all politicized in the traditional sense. It is an ode to the underground and counterculture movements, it is a hymn to freedom, and its title is also a tribute to Oswald d Andrade, one of the main names in Brazilian modernism.

Joy Is the Acid Test

2023

Joy Is the Acid Test poster
NR

A film about love, also a memoir, about the trip made in the 1970s to Morocco by Jarda Ícone, an artist, sexologist, and octogenarian rocker, as she defines herself, and Lírio Terron, a human rights activist. In fact, a journey that is not over in their lives. Jarda Icon teaches classes on how women can obtain their own orgasm. With her group of disciples and friends Ana Brasil, Sheyla Fernanda, Caroline Sylvie and Lakshmi she develops self-sustainable feminist and artistic projects. The film is political, but not at all politicized in the traditional sense. It is an ode to the underground and counterculture movements, it is a hymn to freedom, and its title is also a tribute to Oswald d Andrade, one of the main names in Brazilian modernism.

Joy Is the Acid Test

2023

Fogo Baixo, Alto Astral poster
NR

Short film by Helena Ignez, for the "Programa Convida", from IMS, dedicated to creation during quarantine.

Fogo Baixo, Alto Astral

2020

Poder dos Afetos poster
NR

A study that unwraps a paradisiac scenery, reaching the subjects of Brazility and its force in the change of habits, breaking taboos and bringing out a magical and original reality throught its characters.

Poder dos Afetos

2013

Poder dos Afetos poster
NR

A study that unwraps a paradisiac scenery, reaching the subjects of Brazility and its force in the change of habits, breaking taboos and bringing out a magical and original reality throught its characters.

Poder dos Afetos

2013

Reinvenção da Rua poster
NR

Helena Ignez's first film as a director is a homage to American architect and contemporary artist Vito Acconti, who made an urban intervention over a bridge in São Paulo, transforming that space for it to be used as shelter by nearby homeless people.

Reinvenção da Rua

2003

Ossos poster
2.3

No synopsis available yet.

Ossos

2014

Ossos poster
2.3

No synopsis available yet.

Ossos

2014

Ossos poster
2.3

No synopsis available yet.

Ossos

2014