Luiz Sérgio Person

February 12, 1936

Luiz Sérgio Person (1936-1976) crossed the Brazilian cultural scene like a comet. He acted, wrote, directed and produced works of both cinema and theatre, worked as a commercial director and journalist. He established one of the most solid bodies of work in Brazilian cinema with only five feature films. The most famous of them, "São Paulo S/A" (1965), remains as an unparalleled looking glass into the wide spread impact of Brazil's industrialization process and the arise of a new middle class. This film stands among the ten most important in Brazilian cinematography. His next film "Case of the Naves Brothers" was the most courageous cry against the height of the military dictatorship, which was installed in 1964. With aspirations to enlarge the Brazilian film market, Person was one of the creators of the IRP (RPI) - Independent Producers Reunion, pioneering initiative of cooperative distribution. A lover of theatre (where his acting and directing career began), he founded the Augusta Theatre in 1973, which became one of São Paulos's creative epicenters.