I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You

Karim Aïnouz was born in 1966 in Fortaleza, Brazil. After studying Architecture at the University of Brasilia and Film Studies at New York University, Karim Aïnouz participated in the Independent Study Program of the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1993. From 1989 to 1992, he worked on various feature film projects as assistant to the director Todd Haynes, and from 1992 to 1996 he was an assistant editor in the production of more than 20 feature films. He is co-author of the film “Behind the Sun” (2001) by Walter Salles. In 1992, Aïnouz began to devote himself to his own film projects. He has received numerous promotional awards and fellowships, including from the highly-regarded Hubert Bals Fonds (Netherlands), the New York Foundation for the Arts (USA) and the Fundação Itaú Cultural (Brazil). His documentary film “Seams” (1993) received the Vito Russo Award of the New Festival in New York, his short film “Paixão Nacional” (1994) was shown at festivals including Oberhausen, Rotterdam, Vancouver, Porto and Montreal.

Aïnouz’ first feature film “Madame Satã” (2002) marked his breakthrough as a director. The film about the eccentric dancer, singer and transvestite João Francisco dos Santos was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the section “Un certain regard” and received awards as the best film and major prizes for direction at numerous international festivals (incl. Chicago, Huelva/Spain, Sao Paulo, Biarritz).

During his time in Berlin in 2004, Karim Aïnouz devoted himself (alongside work on his diary of photos and video notes) primarily to the screenplay for “Cidade Baixa”, filmed under the same title by the Brazilian director Sergio Machado. The film is about two best friends, Deco and Naldinho, who both fall in love with the stripper Karinna and thus putting their friendship at risk. “Cidade Baixa” was once again premiered at the film festival in Cannes in the series “Un certain regard”.

Together with the Brazilian director and DAAD fellowship-holder 2007, Marcelo Gomes, Aïnouz wrote the screenplay for the latter’s road movie “Cinema, aspirinas et urubus” (2005), which also enjoyed a successful premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the same year. In 2006 the feature film “Suely in the Sky” was selected to compete at the Venice Film Festival. Karim Aïnouz lives in Brazil. —berliner-kuenstlerprogramm.de