Biography
Ozualdo Ribeiro Candeias (1918–2007) was a Brazilian screenwriter, editor, photographer, director of photography, actor, producer, and filmmaker.
Though believed to have been born in 1918, his birth was only officially registered in 1922 in Cajobi, São Paulo. He held various jobs, including aeronautics sergeant and truck driver. As a self-taught filmmaker, Candeias released his debut feature, "A Margem," in 1967, which marked the beginning of the Cinema Marginal movement (also known as Cinema de Invenção), a turning point in Brazilian cinema history. Seeking a distributor, he turned to Boca do Lixo, a district in downtown São Paulo known for its independent filmmakers. A passionate supporter of Boca do Lixo, he paid tribute to it in several short and feature films.
His body of work includes numerous shorts and feature films, mostly portraying the lives of communities in urban and rural Brazil grappling with poverty. Candeias worked across genres such as horror, western, exploitation, and drama, though his films are difficult to classify due to their experimental style. While some of his features, like the 1969 film "Meu Nome É Tonho," achieved commercial success, his films generally attracted a small audience during his lifetime. "Caçada Sangrenta" (1974) and "A Freira e a Tortura" (1983), two of his works aimed at a broader audience, resulted from a collaboration with producer and actor David Cardoso, who had previously starred in "A Herança" (1971), Candeias’ rural Brazilian adaptation of Hamlet. His film "Aopção ou As Rosas da Estrada" (1981) won the Bronze Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. His final feature, "O Vigilante" (1992), received the Special Jury Award at the 25th Brasília Film Festival but was never released in theaters.
