José Antônio Ventura

Movies

Chico Rei
Director of Photography
Galanga, king of Congo brought to Brazil as a slave, finds gold in Vila Rica, in the State of Minas Gerais, and buys his enfranchisement, the properties of his former owner, and his companions' freedom, becoming Chico Rei, the first black man to own lands in Brazil.
A Terra Queima
Director of Photography
Teu Tua
Director of Photography
A comedy divided in four episodes, set in different time periods, each starring a different couple, yet all facing the same issue: marital jealousy.
A Lira do Delírio
Sound Recordist
During the Carnival, in Niterói, the son of a Lira do Delírio nightclub dancer is kidnapped. With the help of a journalist friend, she dives into Rio de Janeiro's underworld and meet all kind of criminals. She also goes back in time, to a past carnival, where she thinks she might pin-point the culprit among a group of people.
Mulheres de Cinema
Director of Photography
Documentary on famous Brazilian actresses, female directors and the role of women in Brazilian film history.
Choque Cultural
Camera Operator
Paranóia
Director of Photography
Four thieves enter a house and terrorize a family.
Cantos de Trabalho - Cacau
Director of Photography
Between 1974 and 1976, while researching for his filme "S. Bernardo", Leon Hirszman shot three documentary shorts produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Education on the chores of the men who worked in the sugar cane fields in the town of Feira de Santana, in the cocoa fields of Itabuna, and in the efforts of building households in Chã Preta.
Cantos de Trabalho - Cana de Açúcar
Director of Photography
Between 1974 and 1976, while researching for his filme "S. Bernardo", Leon Hirszman shot three documentary shorts produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Education on the chores of the men who worked in the sugar cane fields in the town of Feira de Santana, in the cocoa fields of Itabuna, and in the efforts of building households in Chã Preta.
A Lost Woman
Director of Photography
The story of a poor woman living in the backwoods of Brazil and working as a maid. One day she is unfairly fired from the house where she was working and goes to the big city, facing a cruel and hostile world, working in factories, bars and bordellos.
Cantos de Trabalho - Mutirão
Camera Operator
Between 1974 and 1976, while researching for his filme "S. Bernardo", Leon Hirszman shot three documentary shorts produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Education on the chores of the men who worked in the sugar cane fields in the town of Feira de Santana, in the cocoa fields of Itabuna, and in the efforts of building households in Chã Preta.
Cantos de Trabalho - Mutirão
Director of Photography
Between 1974 and 1976, while researching for his filme "S. Bernardo", Leon Hirszman shot three documentary shorts produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Education on the chores of the men who worked in the sugar cane fields in the town of Feira de Santana, in the cocoa fields of Itabuna, and in the efforts of building households in Chã Preta.
Viagem Pelo Interior Paulista
Director of Photography
"A view of São Paulo's rural architecture, from the remains of a sugar mill from the 1500s to a farm at the height of the coffee cycle in 1822. Documentary illustrating Morada Paulista, book by Luis Saia". (ACPJ/CCM)
Os Condenados
Director of Photography
In São Paulo, during the 1920s, a woman who is loved by a telegraphist and seduced by a slacker ends up in prostitution.
Soul in the Eye
Director of Photography
Inspired by Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver’s book Soul on Ice and dedicated to John Coltrane, Soul in the Eye marks the beginning of Black Brazilian films. The film is a metaphor for the legacy of culture and survival bestowed by enslaved Africans brought to the American continent and the search for freedom through inner transformation, in a game inspired by concretism.
The Suns of Easter Island
Director of Photography
Six people find a mysterious mark in the center of their left hand and all independently go to Easter Island in hopes to uncover the mystery.
The Conspirators
Assistant Camera
The real story of the failed attempt of an independence coup by a group of intellectuals and rich men during Brazil's colonial days, from its beginning to the execution of Tiradentes.
Câncer
Sound
This film shows people with constant psychological and social conflicts: the violence among outlaws, conflicts between man and woman, police and society.
Tatu Bola
Director of Photography
Expedito, after being abandoned by his parents, became Zefa's adopted son until he became a man and started earning his living as an independent fisherman. As soon as he finds out that Zefa is very ill, Expedito runs back home and finds his adoptive mother in agony. At the edge of the bed, a mysterious woman, who claims to be Death, sits.
A Vingança dos Doze
Director of Photography
The Lion Has Seven Heads
Sound
A white-robed preacher wanders and sermonizes across African lands; European communists and CIA spies conspire out of mutual self-interest to engineer the appointment of an African bourgeois to a puppet government presidency; and a revolutionary group marches in exile.
Sem Essa, Aranha
Camera Operator
Spider, a banker, lives with three women. This tycoon is a caricature of Brazil's bourgeoisie, his trajectory is the starting point for an essay on the mental underdevelopment of Brazilian elites, in which black humor sets the tone for sharp criticism.
A Public Opinion
Sound Designer
Documentary about middle-class people in Rio de Janeiro, in the 1960s, when Brazil was going through a hard period in its history, with the military coup and the following dictatorship. Interviews with people in the street disclose their fears, aspirations and political alienation.
The Deceased
Continuity
After visiting a fortune teller, Zulmira is informed that a blonde woman will threaten her peace. After talking to her husband Toninho, she suspects that her cousin Glorinha may be that blonde. In poor health, Zulmira makes all the preparations for the day of her death and asks her unemployed husband to deal with the costs of the coffin and funeral with a man named João Guimarães Pimentel. What Tom doesn't know is that Zulmira and this man hide some secrets that he could never imagine.