Tizuka Yamasaki, a Brazilian film director, was born on May 12, 1949, to Japanese immigrant parents. She was one of the pioneering women filmmakers in Brazil to achieve a successful and lasting career.
Yamasaki and her peers learned filmmaking by working on the sets of renowned Cinema Novo directors, such as Glauber Rocha and Nelson Pereira dos Santos. She broke away from the norms of Cinema Novo by increasing the representation of women and raising awareness about issues affecting women in Brazilian society.
Her film style focuses on historical subjects, and she uses melodrama to reconstruct Brazilian politics, history, and culture. Yamasaki established herself as a prominent film director of the 1980s, discussing sexuality and traditional gender roles more openly within Brazilian cultural identity.
She initiated a "cinema of emotion" to comment on Brazil's past and rework female figures' experiences in Brazil's history. During her career, Yamasaki faced censorship and funding issues, particularly during the final years of the Brazilian military dictatorship.
In response to these challenges, she founded her own production company, Centro de Produção e Comunicação (Production and Communication Center),in 1976. Yamasaki gained critical acclaim with her 1980 film "Gaijin, Os Caminhos da Liberdade" (aka "Gaijin, a Brazilian Odyssey"),a story about Japanese immigration to Brazil.
She also achieved immense popularity by directing movies starring Xuxa, a beloved children's TV show hostess, which have become a cornerstone in Brazilian pop culture. In 2003, Yamasaki completed Gaijin 2 as a sequel to her debut film.
