Rogério Sganzerla

Biography

Rogério Sganzerla (1946 — 2004) was a Brazilian filmmaker and one of the main names of the Cinema de Invenção (or Cinema Marginal) underground movement. Influenced by Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, and José Mojica Marins, Sganzerla often used clichés from film noir and pornochanchadas. Irony, narrative subversion and collage were trademarks of his film aesthetics. Sganzerla was born in Joaçaba, in the state of Santa Catarina, but moved with his family to São Paulo at a very young age, living there for most of his life. During the 1960s he wrote for the newspaper "O Estado de S. Paulo" ("The State of S. Paulo") as film critic, quickly being recognised as a young talent. In 1967, Sganzerla directed his first short film, "Documentário" ("Documentary"), winning an award at the JB-Mesbla 16mm Festival. "Documentário" was quickly followed up by his first feature-length film in 1968, "O Bandido da Luz Vermelha" ("The Red Light Bandit"), which became a landmark for the movement known as Cinema de Invenção or Cinema Marginal and is still Sganzerla's most well-known film. In 1970, he founded the "Bel-Air Filmes" production company along with fellow Cinema de Invenção filmmaker Júlio Bres…

Directed

1. The Red Light Bandit (1968) — Director
2. Copacabana Mon Amour (1970) — Director
3. The Woman of Everyone (1969) — Director
4. No way, Spider (1970) — Director
5. The Sign of Chaos (2003) — Director
6. Documentário (1966) — Director
7. Brasil (1981) — Director
8. It's Not All True (1986) — Director
9. It's All Brazil (1997) — Director
10. Comics (1969) — Director
11. Isto é Noel Rosa (1990) — Director
12. The Abyss (1977) — Director
13. Welles' Language (1990) — Director
14. A Cidade do Salvador (Petróleo Jorrou na Bahia) (1981) — Director
15. Noel por Noel (1981) — Director
16. Perigo Negro (1992) — Director
17. Ritos Populares: Umbanda no Brasil (1986) — Director
18. B2 (2001) — Director
19. Oswaldianas (1992) — Director
20. Irani (1983) — Director
21. Informação H. J. Koellreutter (2003) — Director
22. Travel and Description of the Guanabara River on the Occasion of Antarctic France (1977) — Director
23. Anônimo e incomum (1990) — Director
24. Carnaval na Lama (1970) — Director
25. Quadrinhos no Brasil (1969) — Director
26. América: O Grande Acerto de Vespúcio (1992) — Director

Also appeared in

1. The Red Light Bandit (1968) — Man in the theater (uncredited)
2. Glauber Rocha - The Movie, Brazil's Labyrinth (2003) — Self
3. The Long Voyage of the Yellow Bus (2023)
4. A Miss e o Dinossauro (2005) — Himself (archive footage) / (Voz em Off)
5. A Marca do Terrir (2005) — Self
6. Welles' Language (1990) — Self
7. Noel por Noel (1981)
8. Horror Palace Hotel (1978) — Himself
9. Audácia! (1970)
10. Ivan, the TerrirBle (2020) — Self (archive footage)
11. Dunas do Barato (2017) — Self (archive footage)
12. A Mulher da Luz Própria (2019) — Self (archive footage)
13. Candango: Memoirs from a Festival (2020) — Self (archive footage)
14. Mr. Sganzerla: Os Signos da Luz (2012)
15. Rogério Sganzerla Send His Message to Brazil (1991) — Himself
16. The Good Cinema (2021) — Self
17. Rogério Sganzerla e Sylvio Renoldi sobre "O Bandido da Luz Vermelha" (2006)
18. O Galante Rei da Boca (2003) — Himself
19. Copacabana, Mon Amour: A Restauração (2014) — Self (archive footage)
20. Extracts (2019)
21. The Universe of Mojica Marins (1978) — Self
22. Torquato Neto, O Anjo Torto da Tropicália (1992) — Self
23. Brazilian Cinema in the 20th Century (2017) — Self
24. Belair (2009)
25. Identidade (2026) — Rogério Sganzerla (Imagens de Arquivo)