José Padilha facts for kids

Quick facts for kids José Padilha
Padilha at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013
Born	José Bastos Padilha Neto (1967-08-01) 1 August 1967 (age 58) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Alma mater	Oxford University
Occupation	Film director, producer and screenwriter
Years active	2000–present
Known for	Elite Squad Elite Squad: The Enemy Within RoboCop

José Padilha is a talented Brazilian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was born on August 1, 1967. He is famous for directing the successful Brazilian movies Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within. He also directed the 2014 movie RoboCop.

In 2008, he won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival for Elite Squad. José Padilha also helped create the Netflix series Narcos as a producer. He directed the first two episodes of that show.

Early Life and Education

José Padilha was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Before he started making movies, he studied business, politics, and economics. He went to Oxford University in England. There, he studied literature and international politics.

In 1997, Padilha started a company called Zazen Produções. He co-founded it with Marcos Prado, whom he met at Oxford. This company became very important for his future films.

José Padilha's Film Career

José Padilha became known in the Brazilian movie world with his first film, Bus 174 (2002). This was a documentary film produced by his company. It told the true story of a bus hijacking in his hometown.

Padilha used the film to show how poverty in Rio de Janeiro could lead to crime. The movie was successful and got a lot of attention at film festivals. These included Vancouver, Sundance, and San Francisco.

Directing the Elite Squad Films

In 2007, Padilha directed Elite Squad. This was his first movie that mixed real events with a fictional story. The film was a big hit, seen by over 11 million people in Brazil. It was the number one movie in Brazil in 2007.

In 2008, Padilha won the Golden Bear award for Elite Squad at the Berlin Film Festival. This award brought him international attention. The movie also started important discussions about police actions in Brazil.

Because Elite Squad was so popular, a sequel was released in 2010. It was called Elite Squad: The Enemy Within. This movie broke records in Brazil for ticket sales. It was even chosen to represent Brazil at the Academy Awards in 2012.

Other Documentary Films

After Elite Squad, Padilha made two more documentary films. One was Garapa, which showed a family struggling with hunger in Brazil.

Another documentary, Secrets of the Tribe, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. This film looked into how some anthropologists studied the Yanomami people in the 1960s and 1970s.

Directing RoboCop

After the huge success of the Elite Squad movies, José Padilha was offered many films by Sony Pictures Entertainment. He chose to direct a new version of the classic 1987 science fiction movie, RoboCop.

Padilha explained that he saw a RoboCop poster at Sony and realized he wanted to make that film. The new RoboCop movie was released on February 12, 2014. Padilha used the film to explore ideas about automated actions and their dangers. The movie earned over $240 million worldwide.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music Video

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: José Padilha para niños