Karim Aïnouz

Karim Aïnouz (; ; born 17 January 1966) is a Brazilian film director and visual artist. He is best known for his film The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão.

Career Karim Aïnouz was born to a Brazilian mother and an Algerian father, in Fortaleza, Ceará, in the Brazilian Northeast. He is a film director, screenwriter and visual artist.

Aïnouz's feature debut, Madame Satã, premiered at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

His following films, Suely in the Sky, and I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You, co-directed with Marcelo Gomes, premiered at the Orizzonti of the in 2006 and 2009 Venice Film Festival.

In 2011, The Silver Cliff was presented in the Directors' Fortnight and won Best Director at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival.

In television, Aïnouz created and directed Alice, a 13 episode fiction series for HBO Brasil. His short films and installations have been shown at numerous venues including The Whitney Museum of American Art, the São Paulo Biennial, the Sharjah Biennial and Videobrasil.

As creative advisor and lecturer, Aïnouz has been invited to numerous Screenwriters Labs and institutions such as Princeton University, Wexner Center for the Arts, MIT, EICTV among others. Karim Aïnouz has been developing, alongside fellow filmmakers Marcelo Gomes and Sérgio Machado, The Center for Audiovisual Narratives in partnership with State authorities of Ceará, Brazil. Among other activities, they coordinate and work as creative advisors to the Screenwriters Lab, a one-year program committed to the development of a new generation of filmmakers, providing support throughout their projects. Since 2017, Aïnouz is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Karim Aïnouz documentary Zentralflughafen THF, premiered at the 68th Berlinale – Panorama, won the Amnesty International Film Award, and has been screened in over 10 festivals. His previous feature Futuro Beach, had its world premiere at the 64th Berlinale Competition.

In 2019 he released The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, an adaptation of the Brazilian novel A Vida Invisivel de Eurídice Gusmão, written by Martha Batalha, depicting the struggle of two sisters against repression and bigotry in the 1950s Rio de Janeiro. The film was screened at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the section top prize. In 2021, Aïnouz released his third documentary, Mariner of the Mountains, which followed his search for his Algerian roots in Algiers, the homeland of his father.

In 2023, Aïnouz released his English language debut film, Firebrand, as part of the main competition of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The film follows the final years of Henry VIII's reign and his wife Catherine Parr.

In 2024, he went back to the Brazilian Northeast with the erotic thriller Motel Destino, set in his hometown Fortaleza. The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme D'Or.

Aïnouz followed with Rosebush Pruning (2026), his second English language feature film, written by Efthimis Filippou and loosely based on the 1965 film Fists in the Pocket by Marco Bellocchio. The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Golden Bear.

Upcoming films In 2026, Aïnouz announced the pre-production of Lana Jaguaribe, a new Brazilian production set in Ceará (his home state) and a companion piece to Motel Destino. It's set in 1870 during the Great Drought in the Brazilian Northeast and shortly before the abolition of slavery. The film is expected to start filming in early 2027.

Filmography

Feature film Year English Title Original Title Notes 2002 Madam Satan Madame Satã 2006 Suely in the Sky O Céu de Suely 2009 I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You Viajo Porque Preciso, Volto Porque te Amo Co-directed with Marcelo Gomes 2011 The Silver Cliff O Abismo Prateado 2014 Futuro Beach Praia do Futuro 2019 The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão 2023 Firebrand English language debut 2024 Motel Destino 2026 Rosebush PruningTBALana JaguaribePre-production

Only writer

Documentary film Velázquez (2015) Zentralflughafen THF (2018) Mariner of the Mountains (2021)

Short film Year Title Director Writer 1992 O Preso 1994 Paixão Nacional 1996 Hic Habitat Felicitas 2000 Rifa-me 2004 Se fosse tudo sempre assim 2011 Sunny Lane Destricted.br 2019 30/30 Vision: 3 Decades of Strand Releasing (segment "A Peaceful Revolution Is on the Rise")

Documentary short Year Title Director Writer 1993 Seams 1998 Les Ballons des Bairros 2004 Sertão de Acrílico Azul Piscina 2014 Sunday

TV series Year Title Director Writer Notes 2008 Alice Episode "O Primeiro Dia Do Resto Da Minha Vida" 2014 Cathedrals of Culture Episode "Centre Pompidou"

Awards

1994: Award for Best Short, Atlanta Film Festival, for Seams 1997: Award for Best Short, Ann Arbor Film Festival, for Seams 2002: Award for Best Director, Biarritz Film Festival, for Madame Satã 2002: Award for Best Director, São Paulo Association of Art Critics Awards, for Madame Satã 2002: Gold Hugo, Chicago International Film Festival, for Madame Satã 2006: Grand Coral Award, Havana Film Festival, for Love for Sale 2006: Award for Best Director, Rio International Film Festival, for Love for Sale 2006: Award for Best Film, Rio International Film Festival, for Love for Sale 2006: FIPRESCI Award, 47th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, for Love for Sale 2009: Award for Best Director, Rio International Film Festival, for I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You 2009: FIPRESCI Award, Havana Film Festival, for I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You 2009: Third Grand Coral Award, Havana Film Festival, for I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You 2010: Grand Prix Coup de Coeur, 22º Rencontres Cinémas d'Amérique Latin (Toulouse/France), for I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You co-directed with Marcelo Gomes. 2011: Award for Best Director, Rio International Film Festival, for The Silver Cliff 2011: Second Grand Coral Award, Havana Film Festival, for The Silver Cliff 2018: Amnesty International Film Prize, Berlinale, for Zentralflughafen THF 2019: Prix Un Certain Regard for The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão