Cao Guimarães

Filmmaker, photographer, philosopher, and installation artist Cao Guimarães defies the artificial distinctions between fact and fiction, just as he ignores the boundaries between artistic genres. His art can be described as an aesthetic meditation on the Portuguese concept "Gambiarra," which loosely means improvisation. For Guimarães, the term encompasses the unassuming and unpretentious openness that enables the constant reinvention of daily truths and the resistance against the ossification of norms and ideas. Guimarães’ poetic approach to observing the world relies heavily on intuition and sensual contemplation, exemplified by his use of the term “kitchen cinema” to describe his vision and process.

His films have been enthusiastically received by both the film and art worlds, evidenced by his participation at major film festivals such as Sundance, Cannes, and Locarno, as well as major exhibitions such as the São Paulo Biennial.