Helena Solberg

Directing·Jun 17, 1938·Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Helena Solberg (born June 17, 1938, in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian-born documentarist who, since 1971, has made her career in the United States. She is recognized as the only woman to participate in "Cinema Novo" movement in Brazil. In 1983, Solberg received an Emmy Award for From the Ashes: Nicaragua Today, documentary on a new society that born of political turmoil in Central America and the role that the U.S. plays in determining its future. Helena Solberg was born in Rio de Janeiro, daughter of a Norwegian father and Brazilian mother, lived for a long time in New York City, and established herself as a producer and director of documentaries in Brazil and the United States. 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 (It is forbidden to forbid). 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 a News & Documentary Emmy Award. From the 80s, began to produce a series of documentaries for international TV channels such as HBO, PBS, 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. With Bananas is my business she won the Best Films award of the audience, the critic and the jury at the Festival de Brasilia. 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.

Film	Credit
Um Filme para Beatrice2024 · Self, Director, Writer	Self, Director, Writer
Nelson Carneiro: Knight of Democracy2023 · Self	Self
Women's Cinema2020 · Self	Self
Meu Corpo, Minha Vida2017 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Our Stories, Ourselves2013 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Palavra (En)Cantada2009 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Diary of a Provincial Girl2003 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
BBrazil in Living Colour1997 · Director	Director
Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business1995 · Narrator, Director, Producer	Narrator, Director, Producer
TThe Forbidden Land1990 · Director	Director
As Kineastas1986 · Actor	Actor
Portrait of a Terrorist1985 · Director	Director
Home of the Brave1985 · Director	Director
Chile: By Reason or By Force1983 · Director	Director
TThe Brazilian Connection1983 · Director	Director
From the Ashes: Nicaragua Today1982 · Narrator, Director	Narrator, Director
Simplemente Jenny1977 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
The Double Day1975 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
The Emerging Woman1974 · Producer, Director	Producer, Director
Noon1969 · Producer, Writer, Director	Producer, Writer, Director
The Interview1966 · Director	Director