Biographie
Altenir Silva is a playwright and screenwriter with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Estácio - RJ.
A great-grandson of German-Jewish and Portuguese descent, he began studying film in 1983 at the Cinemateca of Curitiba, Brazil. That same year, he wrote and directed the short film "O Açougueiro do Norte contra o Cineasta Voador" (The Flying Filmmaker), along with several other short films.
In 2026, he published the e-book Chicken Bone: and Other New York Flash-Stories on Amazon Kindle.
His plays have been performed in the United States and England, including titles such as She Loves Pepsi, He Drinks Coca-Cola; Friendship; and The Fall of Narcissus. Friendship was featured in the anthology One Minute Plays: A Practical Guide to Tiny Theatre, published by Routledge in England in 2017, and is part of the collection at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
In 2019, he won the Best Screenplay Award at the Prisma International Film Awards in Rome, Italy, for The Sunrise Man, co-written with Ben Fiore. This screenplay was also a Top Finalist at the 2017 Hollywood Hills Screenplay Awards in California.
In 2014, he received the Excellence Award at the Shakespeare in The Burg Theater Festival in Middleburg, VA, USA, for his play The Idea.
In Brazil, Altenir has worked as a writer and screenwriter for Rede Globo programs such as Você Decide (which holds a record for submitted plots), A Turma do Didi, Sai de Baixo, and Vídeo Show. As a contributing screenwriter for Record TV, he contributed to telenovelas including A Escrava Isaura, Prova de Amor, Caminhos do Coração, Os Mutantes, Promessas de Amor, Rebelde, and Os Dez Mandamentos, as well as series like A Rainha Ester, Rei Davi, and José do Egito. For CNT/PR, he created the police series Pista Dupla and wrote for various variety shows.
In film, he has served as screenwriter and director for short films and contributed to feature films including O Sal da Terra, Conexão Japão, Belarmino e Gabriela, Curitiba Zero Grau, and the box-office success Os Dez Mandamentos - O Filme.
His educational background includes online courses such as Shakespeare’s Life and Work with Stephen Greenblatt at Harvard University (2020) and The Ten Minute Play Workshop with Jen Whiting at Princeton University (2012). His in-person studies include the Master Class Story with John Truby in New York (2013) and Robert McKee’s Story Brazil in São Paulo (2010).
Since 2020, Altenir has been writing fiction for Scene4 Magazine, a monthly publication based in Seattle, WA, USA.
He is married to Celia, and they are parents to Neo Rodrigues Kurpiel Silva.
