Writing

Marcos Bernstein

Born February 17, 1970 · Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (age 56)

Born in Rio de Janeiro, in 1970, Bernstein is a screenwriter and director. With João Emanuel Carneiro, he wrote Central Station (1998), movie directed by Walter Salles, winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin International Film Festival and screened at the 42nd Mostra. He also wrote Oriundi (1999, 23rd Mostra), Zuzu Angel (2006), Chico Xavier (2010) and Brazilian Western (2013), among other films. As …

Known For

Central Station

Central Station · 1998

Central Station

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

My Sweet Orange Tree

My Sweet Orange Tree · 2012

My Sweet Orange Tree

MovieDramaFamily

Zezé is an 8 year old boy who, although a naughty boy, has a good heart. He leads a very modest life, due to the fact that his father has been unemployed for a long time, and has the habit of having long conversations with a sweet orange tree which is in his backyard. Until one day he meets Portuga, a man who begins to help him and soon becomes his best friend.

Oriundi

Oriundi · 2000

MovieDramaRomance

In a love story set in Curitiba, Southern Brazil, a patriarch witnesses the crumbling of his life-long family business at the hands of his descendants. Suddenly Sofia appears. Is she from this world, and is she the key to this family's happiness and their hope for survival?

We're So Young

We're So Young · 2013

MovieDramaMusic

The life of Renato Russo, from his first involvement with music, to his years in the punk rock band Aborto Alétrico, to the formation of Legião Urbana, in the Brasília rock scene of 1970s and 1980s.

Foreign Land

Foreign Land · 1996

MovieDramaThriller

During a time of political upheaval in Brazil, two strangers meet by coincidence in a foreign land and end up caught in the middle of a gem smuggling ring.

Bufo & Spallanzani

Bufo & Spallanzani · 2001

Bufo & Spallanzani

MovieCrimeMystery

Ivan Canabrava is a writer, turned insurance ivestigator who investigates mysterious deaths involving Bufo Marinus. Bufo Marinus is a frog poison causing catalepsy in humans, simulating death, enabling grand insurance fraud and other crimes. Ten years later, now as a successful writer, similar characters possibly using Bufo Marinus reappear and create an intricate plot full of surprises.

Suspension Points

Suspension Points · 2022

Suspension Points

MovieComedyRomance

André is a young doctor who, after spending a year working in Africa, discovers that he has been exchanging letters not with his long-time girlfriend, but with someone very close to her.

Zuzu Angel

Zuzu Angel · 2006

MovieDramaHistory

Covering the last years of the famous Brazilian fashion designer in her doomed quest for justice, Zuzu Angel follows the case of her activist son Stuart's arrest, torture, murder, and subsequent corpse disposal by the military forces in early 1970s Rio de Janeiro, during the darkest era of Brazilian military regime and media censorship.

Filmography

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Central Station

Central Station · 1998

Central Station

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

Screenplay

My Sweet Orange Tree

My Sweet Orange Tree · 2012

My Sweet Orange Tree

MovieDramaFamily

Zezé is an 8 year old boy who, although a naughty boy, has a good heart. He leads a very modest life, due to the fact that his father has been unemployed for a long time, and has the habit of having long conversations with a sweet orange tree which is in his backyard. Until one day he meets Portuga, a man who begins to help him and soon becomes his best friend.

Writer

Oriundi

Oriundi · 2000

MovieDramaRomance

In a love story set in Curitiba, Southern Brazil, a patriarch witnesses the crumbling of his life-long family business at the hands of his descendants. Suddenly Sofia appears. Is she from this world, and is she the key to this family's happiness and their hope for survival?

Writer

We're So Young

We're So Young · 2013

MovieDramaMusic

The life of Renato Russo, from his first involvement with music, to his years in the punk rock band Aborto Alétrico, to the formation of Legião Urbana, in the Brasília rock scene of 1970s and 1980s.

Writer

Foreign Land

Foreign Land · 1996

MovieDramaThriller

During a time of political upheaval in Brazil, two strangers meet by coincidence in a foreign land and end up caught in the middle of a gem smuggling ring.

Assistant Director

Bufo & Spallanzani

Bufo & Spallanzani · 2001

Bufo & Spallanzani

MovieCrimeMystery

Ivan Canabrava is a writer, turned insurance ivestigator who investigates mysterious deaths involving Bufo Marinus. Bufo Marinus is a frog poison causing catalepsy in humans, simulating death, enabling grand insurance fraud and other crimes. Ten years later, now as a successful writer, similar characters possibly using Bufo Marinus reappear and create an intricate plot full of surprises.

Script Consultant

Suspension Points

Suspension Points · 2022

Suspension Points

MovieComedyRomance

André is a young doctor who, after spending a year working in Africa, discovers that he has been exchanging letters not with his long-time girlfriend, but with someone very close to her.

Screenplay

Zuzu Angel

Zuzu Angel · 2006

MovieDramaHistory

Covering the last years of the famous Brazilian fashion designer in her doomed quest for justice, Zuzu Angel follows the case of her activist son Stuart's arrest, torture, murder, and subsequent corpse disposal by the military forces in early 1970s Rio de Janeiro, during the darkest era of Brazilian military regime and media censorship.

Writer

Brazilian Western

Brazilian Western · 2013

Brazilian Western

MovieCrimeDrama

When João goes to Brazil in search of a better life, he meets punk music enthusiast Maria and falls in love with her. But his involvement in the local drug trade makes him the target of a vicious drug lord.

Screenplay

Inesquecível

Inesquecível · 2007

Laura goes to Buenos Aires and falls for the photographer Guilherme. When she returns to Brazil, her homeland, she discovers Guilherme is actually her fiancé's best friend.

Writer

Little Secret

Little Secret · 2016

Little Secret is a film with three interlocked stories all connected by a single secret that converge to reveal the tragic yet beautiful lives of three families and how hope, dreams and destiny can unite people from very different parts of the world.

Writer

The Other Side of the Street

The Other Side of the Street · 2004

The Other Side of the Street

MovieThrillerDrama

Regina, a lonely 65 year old who works on the neighborhood watch for the police in Copacabana, believes to have witnessed a murder in the building across the street, and ends up getting involved with the suspect in a potentially dangerous chain of events that will force her to take stock of her life.

Director

The Xango from Baker Street

The Xango from Baker Street · 2001

The Xango from Baker Street

MovieMysteryComedy

Rio de Janeiro, 1886. A precious Stradivarius violin presented to Emperor Dom Pedro II is stolen. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are called to solve the case.

Writer

Favorite Son

Favorite Son · 2001

Claudia Maccari, an Italian doctor who has a Brazilian adopted son suffering from leukemia, goes to Rio de Janeiro to find the child's biological mother for a transplant. She is reluctantly helped by a Detective.

Writer

Barbaric Acts

Barbaric Acts · 2023

MovieDramaThriller

A successful 38-year-old attorney leads a normal life until her daughter is shot by criminals. Desperate and powerless that her daughter's attacker hasn't been arrested, Carla decides to take justice into her own hands.

Writer

Arpoador, Praia and Democracy

Arpoador, Praia and Democracy · 2015

Arpoador, Praia and Democracy

MovieDocumentary

Writer

Chico Xavier

Chico Xavier · 2010

A biography of spiritual medium and author Francisco Candido Xavier.

Writer

Pierre Fatumbi Verger: Messenger Between Two Worlds

Pierre Fatumbi Verger: Messenger Between Two Worlds · 1998

Pierre Fatumbi Verger: Messenger Between Two Worlds

MovieDocumentary

Inspired by the life of the french-born photographer and ethnographer, Pierre Verger, the movie follows his journey between Bahia, Brazil and Benin, Oriental Africa, showing places and people he met and his life study project: the Candomblé culture.

Screenplay

Beatriz

Beatriz · 2015

MovieDramaRomance

In Lisbon, Marcelo writes a novel, using the life of his own wife, Beatriz, as the main inspiration to the story. The creative process of the book takes a dangerous path, ultimately compromising the love they feel for each other.

Screenplay

3 Champions

3 Champions · 2011

MovieDocumentary

An intimate look at the history of Brazilian drivers from the '70s to the '90s, an era in which Brazil dominated Formula 1 racing, from the colorful point of view of its protagonists, especially Fittipaldi, Piquet and Senna, but without forgetting the drivers who failed to reach the profession's pinnacle, and the many behind-the-scenes helpers.

Producer

João & Antônio

João & Antônio · 1992

João & Antônio

MovieDocumentaryMusic

A documentary about the fathers of Bossa Nova: João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Research Assistant

Meteoro

Meteoro · 2007

MovieComedyDrama

Based on a true story about a road crew that raced to build the road between Brasilia and Fortaleza and the unexpected events that unfold make this film funny, engaging, and a true gem.

Writer

The Life We Lead

The Life We Lead · 2011

The Life We Lead

SeriesSoapDrama

This moving telenovela tells the story of an unconditional love that overcomes life’s unexpected turnarounds. Ana is a promising tennis player who counts on best friend and sister Manuela for support. After a terrible car accident, Ana goes into a deep coma and only emerges from it five years later. Now, she must struggle to recover the life that went on without her and that she no longer recognizes as her own.

Writer

Pride and Passion

Pride and Passion · 2018

Pride and Passion

SeriesSoapDrama

At the beginning of the 20th century, a mother dreams of marrying her five daughters to eligible bachelors but marriage is not a priority in Elisabeta Benedito's life. More than finding true love, the strong-willed dreamer and her sisters want to live according to their own choices and to do so they must go against traditional rules and customs. Inspired by Jane Austen's works, this romantic comedy retells classic novels from the point of view of modern and empowered women.

Writer

Beyond the Horizon

Beyond the Horizon · 2013

Beyond the Horizon

SeriesSoapDrama

Three young people decide to search for missing friends and relatives. When they find a community in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, they face great adventures.

Writer

Miracle Hands

Miracle Hands · 2010

SeriesDramaMystery

A young medical doctor discovers some paranormal abilities. He can operate people with the assistance of the spirits of dead people.

Writer

Barefoot on Red Soil

Barefoot on Red Soil · 2014

Barefoot on Red Soil

Since he arrived in Sao Felix do Araguaia, in Brazil, the Catalan bishop Pere Casaldàliga fights for the disadvantaged and the indigenous peoples. Casaldàliga must confront the landowners of the region and rethink the role of the Catholic Church.

Writer

Chico Xavier

Chico Xavier · 2011

The minisseries is a cinematic adaptation depicting the life of the Brazilian medium Chico Xavier—who lived to the age of 92—as well as his mediumistic and philanthropic work. It portrays a turbulent life filled with struggles and love. Chico Xavier produced over 400 books through psychography.

Creator