Born in Brazil, he stud­ied archi­tec­ture in Brasil­ia and film the­o­ry at NYU. His first fea­ture, Madame Satã, was select­ed for Un Cer­tain Regard at the 2002 Cannes Film Fes­ti­val. He then direct­ed Love for Sale (2006) and I Trav­el Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You (2009), both select­ed at the Venice Film Fes­ti­val, then The Sil­ver Cliff (2011), pre­sent­ed at the Direc­tors’ Fort­night. His sixth fea­ture film Invis­i­ble Life won the Un Cer­tain Regard Prize at the 2019 Cannes Film Fes­ti­val and was select­ed as the Brazil­ian entry for the 2020 Acad­e­my Award for Best Inter­na­tion­al Fea­ture Film. Fire­brand was pre­sent­ed in com­pe­ti­tion at the last Cannes Film Festival.