“I have already lived my death and now all that is left is to make a film about it.” So said the filmmaker Hector Babenco to Bárbara Paz when he realized he did not have much time left. She accepted the challenge to fulfill the last wish of her late partner: to be the main protagonist in his own death.
In this tender immersion into the life of one of the greatest filmmakers from South America, Babenco himself consciously bares his soul in intimate and painful situations. He expresses fears and anxieties, and also memories, reflections, and fantasies, in this face-off between his intellectual vigor and physical frailty, which were the hallmarks of his career.
From the onset of cancer at the age of 38 until his death at 70, Babenco made of the cinema his medicine and the nourishment that kept him alive. “Babenco – Tell me when I Die” is Barbara Paz’s first feature film, but is also in a way Hector’s last work: a film about filming so never to die.
Brazil's Official Submission - Foreign Language Film
Festival Internacional de Cine de Viña del Mar
Venice Film Festival
Mumbai International Film Festival
Uma produção HB FILMES em co-produção com GULLANE
Direção: Bárbara Paz
Roteiro: Maria Camargo, Bárbara Paz
Cast: Hector Babenco, Willem Dafoe, Bárbara Paz
Produção: HB Filmes
Co-Produção: Gullane
Empresas de Co-produção: Lusco Fusco, Ava Filmes, Globo Filmes, Globo News, Canal Brasil
Produtores: Bárbara Paz, Myra Babenco, Caio Gullane, Fabiano Gullane
Produtor associado: Willem Dafoe
Produtor associado: Petra Costa
Direção de fotografia: Stefan Ciupek, Carolina Costa, Bárbara Paz
Montagem: Cao Guimarães
Consultoria de montagem: Yael Bitton
Supervisão de Edição de Som: Miriam Biderman, ABC ; Rodrigo Ferrante
Trilha Sonora Original: O Grivo
Música: Radiohead