Graduado en arquitectura, en la universidad realizó sus primeras producciones experimentales, con un grupo de amigos, junto a los cuales fundó la sociedad Olhar Eletrônico, que propuso métodos de expresión más frescos para la televisión brasileña de los años ochenta.
En 1989 Meirelles creó y dirigió la popular serie para niños Rá-Tim-bum, para la televisión pública, con 190 episodios, y que ganó la Medalla de Oro en el New York Film and Television Festival, entre muchos otros reconocimientos. Desde antes, había comenzado a dirigir spots publicitarios y videos promocionales con la sociedad independiente 02 Filmes, que se convirtió en la más importante de Brasil, en su categoría, y ha ganado los principales premios nacionales e internacionales.
Su debut en el cine en 1997, se titula O Menino Maluquinho, y tres años después dirige Palace II, un episodio de la serie televisiva Brava Gente Brasileira, una suerte de ensayo general para la posterior Ciudad de Dios. Desde el 2000, junto con Nando Olival, dirigió su segundo filme, Domésticas, que participó con éxito en el Festival de Rotterdam y dos años después se convirtió en uno de los directores latinoamericanos más célebres de todos los tiempos con Ciudad de Dios, que llegó a tener cuatro candidaturas al Oscar de Hollywood como mejor dirección, guión adaptado (Braulio Mantovani), fotografía (César Charlone) y edición (Daniel Rezende). Además, ganó más de cincuenta premios de primera categoría en sus numerosas exhibiciones por el mundo entero.
Luego del éxito de Ciudad de Dios, 02 Filmes, en sociedad con Rede O`Globo, ha producido cinco episodios de la serie Cidade dos Homens, la secuela televisiva del filme. Meirelles ha producido todos los episodios y ha dirigido algunos de ellos. Posteriormente, se dedicó a dirigir filmes en inglés, de gran tirada internacional (The Constant Gardener) y a producir filmes de realizadores emergentes brasileños.
Fernando Meirelles is a Brazilian film and television director. He graduated in architecture and was precisely at the university that he made his first experimental productions with a group of friends, with whom he founded the society Olhar Eletrônico, which advanced a more refreshing aesthetic for Brazilian television of the 1980s.
In 1989 Meirelles created and directed for the public television the popular series for children Rá-Tim-bum with 190 episodes that won the Golden Medal of the New York Film and Television Festival, among many other awards. Before creating this series he has started to direct commercial spots and promotional videos for the independent company 02 Filmes, which became the most important of its kind and which has won the most important national and international awards.
His debut in film was in 1997 with O Menino Maluquinho; three years later he directed Palace II, an episode of the Brazilian TV series, a kind of general rehearsal for the forthcoming feature film City of God (Cidade de Deus). In 2000, together with Nando Olival, he directed his second film, Domésticas. O Filme which successfully participated at the Rotterdam Film Festival. Two years later he became one of the most famous Latin American filmmakers of all times with his feature film City of God, which received four nominations to the Oscar Academy Award as Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay (Braulio Mantovani), Cinematography (César Charlone) and Editing (Daniel Rezende). The movie won more than fifty important awards in his numerous screenings around the world.
After the success of City of God, 02 Filmes in partnership with Rede O`Globo produced the series Cidade dos Homens, a television sequel of this film; Meirelles produced all the episodes and directed some of them. Then he devoted himself to direct films in English with a wide international distribution.
As director of the film The Constant Gardener, Meirelles insisted that the soundtrack be based on the music of African countries, and most of the filming was done in Kenya. This was the first film by Meirelles in English.
In 2007, Meirelles began shooting Blindness, a film adaptation of Nobel-prize winner José Saramago's book, Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira. The film, which was released in 2008, was the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival.
He has also produced films of emergent Brazilian filmmakers.
“Nuestro objetivo final es nada menos que lograr la integración del cine latinoamericano.
Así de simple, y así de desmesurado”.
