Daughter of poet Mário Chamie, Lina Chamie studied philosophy and music at New York University while working as a projectionist for the film department. After directing a few short films, Chamie launched into the world of feature films with her first piece, Tonic Dominant (2000). Through a tripartite structure—like the movements of a sonata—this film presents the story of a male clarinetist who finds himself tragically in love. The confluence of the director’s two passions—film and music—would become a defining element of her cinematic production.

Her second feature film, The Milky Way (2007), established Chamie, with the likes of Tata Amaral and Eliane Caffé, as one of the most celebrated Brazilian directors emerging in the 1990s. An urban symphony that fuses poetry, music, dreams, and the ever-present beating heart of Sao Paulo itself, this film participated in more than 80 international film festivals and won innumerable awards. Her most recent feature, Best Friends (2013) is inspired by her own relationship with actor Marco Ricca and pays homage to friendship and childhood experiences whose impact continues into adulthood.

Chamie is also a widely acclaimed director of documentary films such as Santos, 100 Years of Playful Soccer (2012) about the trajectory of the Santos Futebol Clube on the occasion of its centennial, and São Silvestre (2013), which constructs with sensorial richness—and without a single word of narration—the experience of running in the famous Saint Sylvester Road Race of São Paulo. Regarding the privileged place of her city of birth in her films, Chamie comments:

São Paulo is a difficult actress, a bit temperamental, demanding, that doesn’t do exactly what you want. What most fascinates me is its occult beauty, far from simple, far from explicit. … In São Paulo, you discover its beauty little by little. The city holds mysteries. I film in São Paulo because I live here, it is the air that I breathe every single day. This space is a natural extension of my life. (Revista de Cinema; my translation)

Vera R. Coleman

Arizona State University