Helena Solberg

Background

Helena Solberg was born in Rio de Janeiro, daughter of Norwegian father and Brazilian mother, lived for a long time in New York City, has established itself as a producer and director of documentaries in Brazil and the United States.

Career

Solberg is the only woman to participate in the "Cinema Novo" in Brazil. She began her career from contact with big names of the new movies, as Carlos Diegues and Arnaldo Jabor, a time when she lived with them during the studies at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. Solberg began in adolescence working as a reporter at the Metropolitano newspaper and by mastering English and French interviewed important names like the writer Clarice Lispector and also the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre.

Her debut as a filmmaker occurred in 1966 with the short film A Entrevista.

In 1969 directed Meio-dia, a fiction about the revolt of students in the classroom, with the context the period of military dictatorship in Brazil, Caetano Veloso"s music, É proibido proibir. From the 80s, began to produce a series of documentaries for international television channels such as Home Box Office, Public Broadcasting Service, Channel 4, Radio and Television of Portugal, National Geographic Channel, among others

In 1995, she produced, wrote and directed her first feature film, Carmen Miranda: Bananas is My Business, a mixture of documentary and fictional recreation from the singer Carmen Miranda"s life. The film also was awarded with the Golden Hugo for Best documentary at the Chicago International Film Festival and was selected among the 10 best in its category by the critic Andrew Sarris.

Her latest work and first fiction feature film is Vida de Menina, based on the book by Alice Dayrell Caldeira Brant, awarded with six prizes at the Gramado Film Festival 2004: Best Film, Screenplay, Photography, Soundtrack, Art Direction and Best Film by the audience.

Achievements

• In 1983, she won an News & Documentary Emmy Award with From the Ashes: Nicaragua Today, documentary on a new society that born of political turmoil in Central America and the role that the United States. plays in determining its future. In the 70s, she took up residence in the United States for about 30 years, where she directed several productions, among them: From the Ashes: Nicaragua Today (1982), which won an News & Documentary Emmy Award. With Bananas is my business she won the Best Films award of the audience, the critic and the jury at the Festival de Brasilia.