Helena Ignez

Acting

Helena Ignez

Born May 23, 1939 · Salvador, Bahia, Brazil (age 87)

Helena Ignez (Salvador, May 23, 1939) is a Brazilian actress and filmmaker. Helena was born in Salvador, Bahia and was attending her second year of law school when she fell in love with theater and decided to study the Dramatic Arts at the Federal University of Bahia. At the time, the Bahian theater scene was breaking with traditional Brazilian theater and experiencing strong influence from the y…

Known For

Hotel AtlânticoHotel Atlântico · 2009
Hotel Atlântico
7.12009
MovieDrama
A road movie that follows a solitary man as he sets of on a journey to the south of Brazil. The strange characters and absurd situations he encounters along the way present an extraordinary portrait of human relations.
Lost MediaLost Media
Lost Media
MovieComedy
Antes do FimAntes do Fim · 2018
Antes do Fim
5.52018
MovieDrama
Jean feels trapped in the logic of longevity that the pharmaceutical industry imposes on him and decides to plan a conscious suicide. He invites Helena to commit suicide to two. She, on the other hand, hesitates, knows that she will live well even if she needs to live alone, but she helps him in his intentions. The silence between them does not reveal distance, but intimacy. These are years of shared affection. Together, they will prepare all the details for the funeral. He dances death while she continues rehearsing life. In the process, the two realize that before the end, there is still a lifetime.
Ralé: The Lower DepthsRalé: The Lower Depths · 2016
Ralé: The Lower Depths
5.42016
MovieDrama
Young directors are filming “The Exhibitionist” in the middle of a farm in a paradise-like region. The film poetically investigates the Brazilian soul, with the Amazon as the center of the world, reflecting on existential issues, the right to sexual freedom and individuality.
Estátua!Estátua! · 2014
Estátua!
6.02014
MovieDramaHorror
Isabel is a babysitter pregnant of her own child and can't wait to be a mother. Until she meets Joana.
NosferatuNosferatu · 2025
Nosferatu
2025
MovieHorrorDrama
Nosferatu arrives in a town escaping from Van Helsing. He brings not only his curse, but ghosts from his past. In this escape, he dives into a macabre dance searching for an actress and faces the horror of eternity and the pain of an endless existence.
Ugly, Me?Ugly, Me? · 2013
Ugly, Me?
5.02013
MovieDocumentaryDrama
Ugly, Me? is a film manifesto made from a workshop for actors called Characters in Search of a Movie, in 'La pa', 'Rio De Janeiro', extended to Paris and 'Kerala' (India). Multifaceted like a kaleidoscope, the characters appear in multi-screens scenes and sequences. The images were captured with different kinds of cameras and Ugly, Me? uses this sign of the variety imposed by independent production as language experimentation. Transposing the boundaries of style, Ugly, Me? navigates in a sea of metaphors, philosophical and musical politics, from Prince Harry to Heraclitus, going through a series of authors like Rimbaud, Brecht, Nietzsche, Bispo do Rosario and Eduardo Viveiros DE Castro, capturing a contradictory and original country.
SubterrâneaSubterrânea · 2021
Subterrânea
2021
MovieAdventureFantasy
An experimental trip about Brazil after H.O.

Movies

Hotel AtlânticoHotel Atlântico · 2009
Hotel Atlântico
7.12009
MovieDrama
A road movie that follows a solitary man as he sets of on a journey to the south of Brazil. The strange characters and absurd situations he encounters along the way present an extraordinary portrait of human relations.
Lost MediaLost Media
Lost Media
MovieComedy
Antes do FimAntes do Fim · 2018
Antes do Fim
5.52018
MovieDrama
Jean feels trapped in the logic of longevity that the pharmaceutical industry imposes on him and decides to plan a conscious suicide. He invites Helena to commit suicide to two. She, on the other hand, hesitates, knows that she will live well even if she needs to live alone, but she helps him in his intentions. The silence between them does not reveal distance, but intimacy. These are years of shared affection. Together, they will prepare all the details for the funeral. He dances death while she continues rehearsing life. In the process, the two realize that before the end, there is still a lifetime.
Ralé: The Lower DepthsRalé: The Lower Depths · 2016
Ralé: The Lower Depths
5.42016
MovieDrama
Young directors are filming “The Exhibitionist” in the middle of a farm in a paradise-like region. The film poetically investigates the Brazilian soul, with the Amazon as the center of the world, reflecting on existential issues, the right to sexual freedom and individuality.
Estátua!Estátua! · 2014
Estátua!
6.02014
MovieDramaHorror
Isabel is a babysitter pregnant of her own child and can't wait to be a mother. Until she meets Joana.
NosferatuNosferatu · 2025
Nosferatu
2025
MovieHorrorDrama
Nosferatu arrives in a town escaping from Van Helsing. He brings not only his curse, but ghosts from his past. In this escape, he dives into a macabre dance searching for an actress and faces the horror of eternity and the pain of an endless existence.
Ugly, Me?Ugly, Me? · 2013
Ugly, Me?
5.02013
MovieDocumentaryDrama
Ugly, Me? is a film manifesto made from a workshop for actors called Characters in Search of a Movie, in 'La pa', 'Rio De Janeiro', extended to Paris and 'Kerala' (India). Multifaceted like a kaleidoscope, the characters appear in multi-screens scenes and sequences. The images were captured with different kinds of cameras and Ugly, Me? uses this sign of the variety imposed by independent production as language experimentation. Transposing the boundaries of style, Ugly, Me? navigates in a sea of metaphors, philosophical and musical politics, from Prince Harry to Heraclitus, going through a series of authors like Rimbaud, Brecht, Nietzsche, Bispo do Rosario and Eduardo Viveiros DE Castro, capturing a contradictory and original country.
SubterrâneaSubterrânea · 2021
Subterrânea
2021
MovieAdventureFantasy
An experimental trip about Brazil after H.O.
Canção de BaalCanção de Baal · 2007
Canção de Baal
2.02007
MovieMusic
A marginal version of Brecht’s piece, “Baal”.
OswaldianasOswaldianas · 1992
Oswaldianas
9.01992
MovieDrama
Collective film with five segments around the works and life of brazilian writer Oswald de Andrade.
Embodiment of EvilEmbodiment of Evil · 2008
Embodiment of Evil
5.32008
MovieHorrorThriller
Released from the Mental Health Wing of São Paulo State Penitentiary after forty years, the sadistic undertaker Zé do Caixão is back on the streets, haunted by ghostly visions and spirits of past victims but still set upon the goal that sent him to prison in the first place: finding a woman who can give him the perfect child.
Copacabana Mon AmourCopacabana Mon Amour · 1970
Copacabana Mon Amour
7.31970
MovieDramaComedy
Sônia and her homosexual brother are both believed by their mother to be possessed by the devil. She works as a prostitute in the streets of Copacabana and he’s a servant who falls madly in love with his employer.
Rio de ToplessRio de Topless · 2020
Rio de Topless
2020
MovieDocumentary
Topless muse in Rio de Janeiro, Ana Paula Nogueira uses the ban on bare breasts and her story to debate freedom and feminism in the city that exported thongs and which has the false reputation of being libertarian.
A Última VanguardaA Última Vanguarda · 2024
A Última Vanguarda
2024
MovieDocumentary
70 years ago, a visionary management in education and culture as a political strategy for the dissemination and development of Bahia gave rise to an artistic vanguard that still impacts Brazilian culture today.
A Film to Remind Us of Utopia
NEW
A Film to Remind Us of Utopia · 2026
A Film to Remind Us of Utopia
2026
Movie
In Esdras Baptista's film archives, kept at his home for decades, one can feel the fervor of those who believed in a new tomorrow. Filmed in Brazil in the early 1960s, in the heat of a libertarian political movement, the filmmaker's images materialize the incandescence of collective desires at the historic moment of their emergence. Utopia, though unattainable, is never a mere abstraction. A force that mobilizes actions and feelings, it constitutes the impetus necessary for human existence.
BelairBelair · 2009
Belair
2009
MovieDocumentary
Between February an May of 1970, Julio Bresane and Rogerio Sganzerla made 7 films for their company Belair that were forbidden by the Brazilian censorship that reveal today images of an unique freedom.
EclipseEclipse · 2026
Eclipse
2026
MovieThrillerDrama
Cleo, a 43-year-old astronomer who is pregnant and emotionally fragile, is surprised by a visit from Nalu, her half-sister of Indigenous descent. The encounter reveals dark secrets and stirs up fragmented memories in Cleo, leading the two of them down a path of mysterious investigations.
FakirFakir · 2019
Fakir
2019
MovieDocumentary
The feature-length documentary Fakir portrays the success of fakirism in Brazil, Latin America and France. This circus art origin show is presented and analyzed through archives that reveals the success of these presentations with their pain resistance championships and the great public presence, including politicians and government officials. Fakir spans current footage from contemporary artists who keep this art alive in performances and shows.
Paixão e VirtudePaixão e Virtude · 2014
Paixão e Virtude
4.22014
MovieDrama
Memoirs of a Strangler of BlondesMemoirs of a Strangler of Blondes · 1971
Memoirs of a Strangler of Blondes
7.51971
MovieDramaHorror
First film by Julio Bressane shot in exile, "Memoirs" is a film about a man who repeatedly kills the same type of woman in same places, the same way. Filmed on the streets of London.
My Calendar GirlMy Calendar Girl · 2018
My Calendar Girl
2.02018
MovieDramaComedy
A film in which dream and reality intertwine, A Moça do Calendário tells the story of inácio, 40, married, without a permanent job. Ex-street sweeper, he works as a mechanic at Barato da Pesada, where he dreams of the calendar girl.
Love Film FestivalLove Film Festival · 2014
Love Film Festival
7.52014
MovieRomanceDrama
Filmed over six years in four countries: Portugal, Brazil, Colombia and United States, this romantic drama tells the story of Luzia, a Brazilian screenwriter, and Adrian, a Colombian actor, that fall in love during a film festival in 2009 and will live a fragmented love story while competing in different film festivals around the world.
Anônimo e incomumAnônimo e incomum · 1990
Anônimo e incomum
6.01990
MovieDramaDocumentary
The Red Light BanditThe Red Light Bandit · 1968
The Red Light Bandit
7.61968
MovieThrillerCrime
Born and raised in the misery of Brazilian slums, Jorge becomes a luxury house burglar in São Paulo and gets nicknamed "The Red Light Bandit" by the sensationalist press. In addition to wearing a red flashlight, he talks to his hostages in an irreverent tone and makes bold breakthroughs to later spend the money extravagantly. His world is the decadent neighbourhood of Boca do Lixo.

TV Shows

Era Preciso VoltarEra Preciso Voltar · 1969
Era Preciso Voltar
7.01969
SeriesDrama
Tereza BatistaTereza Batista · 1992
Tereza Batista
8.51992
SeriesDrama
The miniseries is an adaptation of the novel Tereza Batista Cansada de Guerra, by Jorge Amado. Born in the city of Cajazeiras, Tereza Batista, still a child, is sold by her aunt Felipa to the feared captain Justo. Collector of girls, the captain finds in Tereza someone who is not intimidated, even when she is mistreated. In her warehouse, she meets the student Daniel with whom she falls in love and surrenders. Caught in the act, Tereza kills the captain and is arrested. She achieves her freedom thanks to the intervention of lawyer Lulu dos Santos and begins to be courted by Colonel Emiliano. At this stage, she knows tranquility and security. But the colonel dies and she has to go to the house of Veneranda, the local pimp. All this misfortune happens while Tereza waits for the time to realize her big dream: to live alongside the fisherman Jereba, who disappeared from her life. Close to marrying Almério, a good man and settled in life, she meets Jereba, her true love.
Primavera nos Dentes – A História do Secos & MolhadosPrimavera nos Dentes – A História do Secos & Molhados · 2025
Primavera nos Dentes – A História do Secos & Molhados
2025
SeriesDocumentary
The series follows Secos & Molhados, the rock band that shaped music and concepts in Brazil. In exactly twelve months, the group broke all records — selling over 1 million records of their debut album and playing to 25,000 people at Maracanãzinho Stadium. With painted faces and sinuous dance moves, they brought gender issues, androgyny, and the poetry of authors like Manuel Bandeira and Vinicius de Moraes into the country's homes.