Helena Ignez

Helena Ignez (born May 23, 1942) is a Brazilian actress and filmmaker who participated in the Cinema Marginal movement during the 1960s and 70s alongside Rogério Sganzerla and Glauber Rocha.^[1]

Helena Ignez
Ignez in 1963
Born	(1942-05-23) May 23, 1942 (age 83) Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Occupation	Actress

Biography

Helena was born in Salvador, Bahia and was attending her second year of law school when she fell in love with theater and decided to study the Dramatic Arts at the Federal University of Bahia. At the time, the Bahian theater scene was breaking with traditional Brazilian theater and experiencing strong influence from the young vanguard. She first appeared on the screen in Glauber Rocha's film Pátio^[2].

Cinema Marginal

Helena acted in a few more films, such as A Grande Feira (1961), Assalto ao Trem Pagador (1962), and O Padre e a Moça (1966) before playing Janete Jane in O Bandido da Luz Vermelha by Rogério Sganzerla. After this film, she would perform in some most significant films in the Cinema Marginal movement, the most noted being her role as Ângela Carne e Osso in A Mulher de Todos (1969).^[3] She also was a financial partner in Rogério Sganzerla and Júlio Bressane Belair production company.^[2] Between 1968 and 1970, Sganzerla and Ignez made almost a dozen films together and were also married and had two children. In 1972 she took a turn in her career and decided to film in Europe, the United States and Africa, making an untitled super-8 film.

Filmography

Film

Acting

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	O Pátio	Jovem no Pátio	Short
1961	A Grande Feira	Ely
1962	O Assalto ao Trem Pagador	Marta
1964	O Grito da Terra
1965	O Padre e a Moça	Mariana
1967	Cara a Cara	Luciana
1968	O Bandido da Luz Vermelha	Janete Jane[4]
	Os Marginais		(segment "Guilherme")
	O Engano	Esposa do Doutor
1969	A Mulher de Todos[4]	Ângela Carne e Osso
	Um Homem e Sua Jaula	Aeromoça
1970	Sem Essa, Aranha[4]	Mulher
	Os Monstros de Babaloo	Daughter
	Cuidado Madame	Empregada[5]
	Copacabana Mon Amour[4]	Sônia Silk
	Barão Olavo, o Horrível	Isabel
	A Família do Barulho
1973	Um Intruso no Paraíso
1975	Carnaval na Lama[4]	Betty
1986	Nem Tudo É Verdade[4]
1992	Perfume de Gardênia	Burglar
	Oswaldianas		(segment "Perigo Negro")
1993	Perigo Negro[4]
1999	São Jerônimo	Marcela
2005	O Signo do Caos[4]	Guida
2007	Jurando que Viu a Periquita	Rainha da Amazônia[6]	Short
	Meu Mundo em Perigo	Mãe de Ísis[7]
2008	A Bela P...	Narradora	Video short
	Encarnação do Demônio	Cabíria
2009	Hotel Atlântico	Dona da Pousada
2012	Jetlag	Mãe	Short
	A Balada do Provisório
2013	Desculpa, Dona Madama		Short
2014	Paixão e Virtude	Gustave Flaubert
2016	Xavier	Professora[8]	Short, Voice
2016	Ralé	Sonia Silk
2017	Antes do Fim	Helena
2018	A Moça do Calendário	Narrator
2019	Tragam-me a Cabeça de Carmen M.	Diretora

Directing

Key

†

Indicates a documentary

‡

Indicates a short film

List of films directed by Helena Ignez

Year	Original title	English release title	Language(s)	Notes
2005	A Miss e o Dinossauro †		Portuguese	Short documentary on the Bel-Air film production company.
2007	Canção de Baal	Canção de Baal	Portuguese	Co-directed with Michele Matalon. Based on Baal, by Bertolt Brecht.
2010	Luz nas Trevas: A Volta do Bandido da Luz Vermelha	Light in Darkness: The Return of the Red Light Bandit	Portuguese	Co-directed with Ícaro Martins.
2013	Poder dos Afetos ‡	Power of Affections	Portuguese
2013	Feio, Eu? †		Portuguese	Brazilian-indian-french co-production.
2016	Ralé	Ralé	Portuguese
2018	A Moça do Calendário	My Calendar Girl	Portuguese

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Você Decide	—
1992	Tereza Batista	Maricota[9]
1991	Meu Marido	Promotora[10]
1968	A Última Testemunha	Mina

On stage

• 1969 – Hair