Death notice: Rogerio Sganzerla - Director paid tribute to IT'S ALL TRUE

[Harvey Chartrand]

ROGERIO SGANZERLA Died Jan. 9, 2004

Award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Rogerio Sganzerla died of brain cancer at age 57. Mr. Sganzerla directed features, documentaries and shorts. Mr. Sganzerla was a fan of the late Orson Welles. His 1990 documentary "A Linguagem de Orson Welles" dealt with Orson Welles love for the art and culture of Brazil. John Huston was one of the interviewees for that film. The documentary also shed light on Mr. Welles attempt to film a movie in Brazil during the 1940s. Mr. Sganzerla revisited this subject in his last film "O Signo do Caos." "O Signo do Caos" was a dramatization of Welles battles to make his unfinished film "It’s All True." Mr. Sganzerla’s 1986 feature "It’s Not All True" also dealt with Welles’ unfinished film! Mr. Sganzerla’s documentary "HQ" was a 9-minute short covering the history of comic books from the early 1900s through 1969. Mr. Sganzerla’s best known film was "The Red Light Bandit," which dealt with a Brazilian criminal similar to the executed California rapist Caryl Chessman.

[Jeff Wilson]

I saw this the other day, and I'm curious to see Sign of Chaos. I've seen his quasi-documentary ALL IS BRAZIL, which I wrote briefly about in a thread here ages ago. Very odd film, using audio and video clips of Welles from the early 40s to illustrate Welles' time in Brazil.