Brazilian director Hector Babenco is seen during a photocall for the film “Carandiru” at the 56th International Film Festival in Cannes, May 19, 2003.
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The Argentine-born Brazilian director nominated for an Oscar for his 1985 film “Kiss of the Spider Woman” has died at the age of 70.
Born in Buenos Aires to a Polish Jewish mother and Argentine father of Ukrainian Jewish origin, Babenco came to Brazil in 1969 and adopted the country as his own.
The film explores the horrors of Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship through the stories of two prisoners jailed by the regime.
Babenco became the first Latin American filmmaker to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Director, which stemmed from 1985’s Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Babenco gained worldwide acclaim with Pixote (1981), a film reminiscent of the work of Luis Buñuel, which chronicles the harrowing, desperate lives of homeless Brazilian children.
Babenco also directed Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep in the 1987 drama Ironweed, both of whom landed Oscar nominations for their lead roles.
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Babenco’s most recent film was last year’s My Hindu Friend, a film about a film director very close to death, starring Willem Dafoe.
