Fernando Meirelles

Among the prominent Latin filmmakers to have emerged during the late-20th and early-21st centuries, director Fernando Meirelles has perhaps been the most critically acclaimed of them all-no small feat when his contemporaries have included Walter Salles, Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Amenabar. With his breakout feature, the Oscar-nominated "City of God" (2002), a violent and kinetic film about drug-dealing gangs in the slums of Rio de Janiero, Meirelles displayed a flair for stylized camera moves, rapid editing and gritty realism-elements that soon became trademarks. A one-time commercial director, Meirelles has taken a non-traditional approach to filmmaking, using barebones crews, non-actors in major roles and major stars as camera operators for point-of-view shots. The results have been some of the most stunning and vibrant films to have emerged from south of the Rio Grande.