Brazilian filmmaker Cadu Barcellos has passed away tragically at the age of 34. Barcellos was stabbed to death in the early hours of Wednesday, November 11 in downtown Rio de Janeiro, in what police presume started as a mugging.
Barcellos, born Carlos Eduardo Barcellos Sabino, was recognized for work in both film and television, co-directing the multi-part feature Five Times Favela, Now By Ourselves (2009) with director’s credit for the episode ‘Let it Fly.’ The project brought together young people from Rio de Janeiro’s favelas to participate in filmmaking workshops and script-writing classes in order to document the daily lives of their communities and reframe stereotypical representations of low-income Brazilian neighborhoods. Composed of five stories, the film played at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2010.
Barcellos was also part of the team that wrote and directed the 2012 documentary 5 x Pacificação, another multi-part feature that explored the aftermath of Rio’s police-run pacification programs in low-income communities around the city. His fellow directors included Wagner Novais, Rodrigo Felha, and Luciano Vidigal.
At the time of his death, Barcellos was assistant director of the HBO program Greg News, headed by Gregório Duvivier, and artistic director of the group No Lance. Barcellos was also part of the research team behind Rodrigo Felha’s 2014 documentary Favela Gay, directed the cable series Mais x Favela, and was assistant director of the YouTube comedy channel Porta dos Fundos.
He leaves behind a wife and two-year-old son.
