Karim Aïnouz (born 17 January 1966; Fortaleza) is a Brazilian filmmaker, screenwriter and visual artist. Karim Aïnouz was born to a Brazilian mother and an Algerian father. He is a film director, screenwriter and visual artist. Aïnouz's feature debut, Madame Satã, premiered in 2002 at the Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard. His following films, O Céu de Suely (Love for Sale), and Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te amo (I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You), co-directed with Marcelo Gomes, premiered at the Venice Film Festival – Orizzonti, in 2006 and 2009. In 2011, O Abismo Prateado (Silver Cliff) was presented in the Directors' Fortnight Cannes and won Best Director at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. In television, Aïnouz directed Alice, a 13 episode fiction series for HBO Latin America. His short films and installations have been shown at numerous venues including The Whitney Museum of American Art, the São Paulo Biennial, the Sharjah Biennial and Videobrasil. As creative advisor and lecturer, Aïnouz has been invited to numerous Screenwriters Labs and institutions such as Princeton University, Wexner Center for the Arts, MIT, EICTV among others. Karim Aïnouz has been developing, alongside fellow filmmakers Marcelo Gomes and Sérgio Machado, The Center for Audiovisual Narratives in partnership with State authorities of Ceará, Brazil. Among other activities, they coordinate and work as creative advisors to the Screenwriters Lab, a one year program committed to the development of a new generation of filmmakers, providing support throughout their projects. Since 2017, Aïnouz is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Karim Aïnouz latest feature film, the documentary Zentralflughafen THF, premiered at the 68th Berlinale – Panorama, won the Amnesty International Film Award, and has been screened in over 10 festivals. His previous feature Praia do Futuro (Futuro Beach), had its world premiere at the 64th Berlinale Competition. In 2019 he released Invisible Life, an adaptation of the novel A Vida Invisivel de Eurídice Gusmão written by Martha Batalha, depicting the life of two sisters. The film takes place in the Rio de Janeiro of the 1950s.
