Fernando Ferreira Meirelles (born November 9, 1955) is a Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for co-directing the film City of God, released in 2002 in Brazil and in 2003 in the U.S. by Miramax Films, which received international critical acclaim. For his work in the film, he was eventually nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director in 2005 for The Constant Gardener, which garnered the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Rachel Weisz. He also directed the 2008 adaptation of José Saramago's novel Blindness, and the 2011 film 360. "A great tragedy for the family. For a long time, it was a taboo. No one mentioned it. I was four when it happened, but I still remember him. "Meirelles about his brother's death. Meirelles' father, José de Souza Meirelles, is a gastroenterologist who travelled regularly to Asia and North America (among other regions of the world), which gave Fernando the opportunity for contact with different cultures and places. His mother, Sônia Junqueira Ferreira Meirelles, is the daughter of farmers and worked with landscape architecture and interior design for a long time. Fernando is the second youngest of four children. He saw his older brother, José Marcos, die in a car-bike accident when he was only 4 years old. His two sisters, Márcia and Silvinha, graduated in theater and psychology, respectively. Fernando grew up in Alto dos Pinheiros, district of the West Zone of São Paulo, and spent every vacation on the farms of relatives from both sides of his family. "Even I have a farm. I don't know why I bought it.", he says. His first experience with cinema was with his father, who often directed 8 mm films during his job at the university. He produced mostly western and thriller parodies, using his relatives and friends as actors. At 11, in 1967, Fernando spent a year in the United States in California, where he had contact with the hippie movement, which impressed him. At 13, with a borrowed Super 8 camera, Meirelles started producing small films, inspired by Norman McLaren's animations.

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