Rogério Sganzerla was a renowned Brazilian filmmaker, born in 1946 and passed away in 2004, who made significant contributions to the underground Cinema de Invenção (or Cinema Marginal) movement.
Influenced by prominent filmmakers such as Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, and José Mojica Marins, Sganzerla's film aesthetics were characterized by the use of clichés from film noir and pornochanchadas, as well as irony, narrative subversion, and collage.
Sganzerla was born in Joaçaba, Santa Catarina, but moved to São Paulo at a young age, where he spent most of his life. During the 1960s, he worked as a film critic for the newspaper "O Estado de S. Paulo", quickly gaining recognition as a young talent.
In 1967, Sganzerla directed his first short film, "Documentário", which won an award at the JB-Mesbla 16mm Festival. This was followed by his first feature-length film, "O Bandido da Luz Vermelha", in 1968, which became a landmark for the Cinema de Invenção movement and remains his most well-known work.
In 1970, Sganzerla co-founded the production company "Bel-Air Filmes" with fellow filmmaker Júlio Bressane. The company produced several films, including "Copacabana Mon Amour", "Carnaval na Lama", and "Sem Essa, Aranha", which were shot in Brazil and edited abroad due to the filmmakers' exile from their home country.
Throughout his career, Sganzerla's personal obsessions, such as Orson Welles, Noel Rosa, and Jimi Hendrix, appeared in many of his films, with some even serving as the main subject. In 1985, he directed the docufiction "Nem Tudo É Verdade", which explored Orson Welles' visit to Brazil to film his unfinished documentary "It's All True".
Sganzerla's life was cut short in 2004, when he passed away from a brain tumor, shortly after completing his final film, "O Signo do Caos".
