Brazilian director Breno Silveira died today at age 58 after suffering a heart attack on the set of his latest film in the state of Pernambuco in the northeast of the country. He was best known for his 2002 debut feature Two Sons of Francisco / Os Dois Filhos de Francisco, the box-office hit based on the real-life story of a leading Brazilian country music duo, which played at numerous international film festivals.
Born on February 5, 1964 in Brasilia, Silveira studied at the École Louis Lumière in Paris. In 2000, he served as director of photography of Andrucha Waddington’s Me You Them / Eu Tu Eles, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes, receiving a Special Mention.
In 2005, Silveira premiered his debut feature Two Sons of Francisco, the drama on the lives and rise of real-life musicians Zezé Di Camargo and Luciano, a famous Brazilian country duo, and their impoverished upbringing in central Brazil by the hand of their father Francisco Camargo. The film was a huge local hit, becoming the top grossing Brazilian film in over two decades and been seen by over five million spectators.
Two Sons of Francisco received a one-week run in New York City as part of the Premiere Brazil! series at The Museum of Modern Art. “Casts a sweet spell” said the The New York Times of the film in its U.S. theatrical release. Silveira’s box office hit also won four awards at Brazil’s Cinema Grand Prize including for Best Picture and was Brazil’s Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film.
Other films by Silveira include Once Upon a Time / Era Uma Vez… (2008), Along the Way / À Beira do Caminho (2012), the music biopic Gonzaga: From Father to Son / Gonzaga: De Pai pra Filho (2012), and The Seamstress / Entre Irmãs (2017). He also directed the 2016 documentary film Days of Truce, the official film of the Olympic Games Rio 2016.
At the time of his death, Silveira was shooting Dona Vitoria, starring actress Fernanda Montenegro and based on the true story of an elderly woman who started filming the drug dealers on the street outside her window and uncovered a major corruption scheme. Silveira is survived by his wife Paula and his two daughters Olívia and Valentina.
