Lucélia Santos
Actress and Producer

(CLICK HERE FOR PORTUGUESE VERSION)

Maria Lucélia dos Santos was born in Santo André (São Paulo) on May 20, 1957. She discovered her talents for the arts on a school trip when she saw the play "A Moreninha" starring Marília Pêra at the Anchieta Theatre (SP).

She starred in her first play substituting the actress Débora Duarte, at the age of 14 in the children's play "Dom Chicote Mula Manca e seu Fiel Companheiro Zé Chupança". She won all the revelation awards that year. She was discovered by Professor Eugênio Kusnet who invited her to take theatre classes for 2 years. After the classes she was called on to take part in the Brazilian local production of Godspell which was performed at a circus in Botafogo.

She performed a remake of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and, in 1976, was protagonist in the play "Transe no 18" co-starring with Milton Moraes. During this period director Herval Rossano and soap-opera director Gilberto Braga invited her to play the main role in the soap-opera "Escrava Isaura". From then on, it was non stop for Lucélia Santos.

Projects carried out on Television:

· "Escrava Isaura" (1976/1977): Globo TV soap opera, leading role. Currently transmitted in more than 100 countries;
· "Locomotivas" (1977): Globo TV soap opera;
· "Ciranda Cirandinha" (1978/1979): Globo TV serie;
· "Água Viva" (1980): Globo TV soap opera;
· "Romeu e Julieta" (1980): special program for Christmas at Globo TV;
· "Ciranda de Pedra" (1981): Globo TV soap opera;
· "A Dama das Camélias" (1982): adapted from the famous romance novel for Globo TV;
· "Guerra dos Sexos" (1983): Globo TV soap opera;
· "O Inspetor Geral" (General Inspector) (1983): special program for Globo TV;
· "Meu Destino é Pecar" (Born to Sin) (1984): Globo TV serie;
· "Feijão Maravilha" (1985): Globo TV soap opera;
· "Plantão de Polícia" (1985): Globo TV serie;
· "Vereda Tropical" (1985): Globo TV soap opera;
· "Sinhá Moça" (1986): Globo TV soap opera;
· "Carmem" (1987): Manchete TV soap opera;
· "Brasileiros e Brasileiras" (1990): SBT soap opera;
· "Você Decide" (1993): participated in one episode - Globo TV;
· "Sangue Do Meu Sangue" (1995): SBT soap opera;
· "Dona Anja" (1996): SBT soap opera;
· "Malhação" (2001/2002): Globo TV serie;
. Linha Direta Justiça (2004): Episode "As Cartas de Chico Xavier" (Chico Xavier's Letters)
· "Cidadão Brasileiro" (Brazilian Citizen) (2006): TV Record soap opera;
· “Donas de Casas Desesperadas” (Desperate Housewives) (2007): Rede TV short serie;
. Casos e Acasos (2008): Episode "O Celular, A Viagem, O Dia Seguinte" (The Cell Phone, The Trip, The Day After)

Trabalhos Realizados em Cinema

· "Paranóia"
· "Não se Faz mais Amor como Antigamente" (Making Love is not what it used to be)
· "Um Brasileiro Chamado Rosa Flor" (A Brazilian called Rosa Flor)
· "O Ibrahim do Subúrbio" (The Suburban Ibrahim)
· "Bonitinha, mas Ordinária"
· "Engraçadinha, Seus Amores e Seus Pecados dos 12 aos 18 anos" (Engraçadinha, Her Romances and Sins)
· "Álbum de Família" (Family Album)
· "Luz del Fuego"
· "As Sete Vampiras" (The Seven Vampires)
· "Baixo Gávea"
· "Fonte da Saudade"
· "Quarup"
· "Terra para Rose" (Land for Rose)
· "O Sonho de Rose" (Rose's Dream)
· "Moças de Fino Trato" (Sophisticated Ladies)
· "Estórias da Bahia" (Stories from Bahia)
· "Terra de Deus" (God's Land)
· "O Ovo e a Galinha" (The Egg and the Chicken)
· "Destino" (Destiny): A Feature Film (concluded) and a short TV series in 5 episodes (in its final stage)

Trabalhos Realizados em Teatro

· "Don Chicote Mula Manca e Seu Fiel Companheiro Zé Chupança"
· "A Menina que Viu o Brasil Nascer" (The Girl Who Saw Brazil Being Born)
· "Godspell"
· "Rock Horror Show"
· "A Gata Borralheira"
· "Transe no 18"
· "Brecht Segundo Brecht" (Brecht According to Brecht)
· "Rasga Coração" (Break a Heart)
· "Lola Moreno"
· "Agnes de Deus" (Agnes Dei)
· "Tupã, a Vingança" (Tupã, The Revenge)
· "Pluft, o Fantasminha" (Pluft, The Friendly Ghost)
· "No Natal a Gente Vem te Buscar" (We'll come get you at Christmas)
· "As Atrizes" (The Actresses)
· "Floresta Amazônica em Sonho de um Noite de Verão" (The Amazon Rain Forrest in a Summer Evening)
· "L'Aide Memórie" ou "Ajude-me a Lembrar" (Help Me Remember)
· "O Homem sem Qualidades" (The Man with no Qualities)
· "Casa de prostituição de Anais Nin" (Anais Nin's Whore-House)
· "Deus lhe Pague"
· "Felizes Da Vida"
· "Sinais de Vida Inteligente no Planeta"
. "As Traças da Paixão" (grand opening is expected to be in July 2009).

Nhock Produções Artísticas
Producer

Nhock Produções is a 25-year old company. It's main activity for many years was focused on the theatrical production of Lola Moreno/1979; Brecht According to Brecht/1979; and Agnes Dei/1982 and others.

However, its most important production was Floresta Amazônica em Sonho de Uma Noite de Verão of 1992. It belongs to the official agenda of the World Conference for the Environment - ECO 92 - and was honored to bring director Werner Herzog to Brazil. It was probably the biggest Brazilian theatrical production in the past 20 years and employed more than 600 people.

Nhock engaged in the audiovisual production in 1994/1995. It started with the documentary movie The Beautiful Brazil in association with the Sichuan TV from Chengdu, and which was recently shown on theaters for millions of Chinese viewers.

In 1996/1997, a group of Brazilian cinematographers went to China to shoot in Hong-Kong, Tibet and Macau. They produced a series of programs that were aired on TV Manchete, TV Senado, Bravo Brasil - from Abril group (paid TV), and TV Cultura from São Paulo. The programs were: China Hoje - O Ponto de Mutação (China Today - The Mutation Point), a 5-episode program; Pilar de Sangue (Blood Pillar), Um Povo que Come Melhor tem Mais Saúde (A Nation with a Better Diet Is a Healthier One), Nas Águas do Yan Tzê, Um País Dois Sistemas (One Nation Two Systems), and A Morada Das Deidades.

In 2000, Lucélia Santos produced and directed, through Nhock Produções, Timor Lorosae - O Massacre Que o Mundo Não Viu (The Unseen Massacre), a 75-minute documentary about East Timor's history, reaching its highest point with the Indonesian Invasion which lasted for almost 25 years. The documentary was finished in 2001 and was shown in Brazil and Portugal in 2002.

In 2007 Nhock Produções started the production of the movie DESTINO (DESTINY) (coming soon) and short series for TV, which will be aired in Brazil and other countries in 2010.

Brazil-China Relations: Growth Perspectives
By Mauro Couto (Ministry of Industry, Development and Foreign Commerce)

In August 2004, Brazil and China celebrated 30 years of the reestablishment of their diplomatic relations. We have had excellent results in these 3 decades and reached a level of interaction never seen before. This has led to a great development in the market flow, in strategic partnership between the two nations, as well as President Lula's visit to Pequim and President Hu Jintao's visit to Brasilia, both last year. We now have the challenge to deepen and increase the political, cultural and economic dimension of this relationship.

In the 90s, while the Chinese economy was opening to the world and grew at an extremely fast pace, the huge complementarities between the two nations was verified. Since China's accession to WTO in December 2001 up to 2004, the bilateral market relation grew an astounding 183%. If we consider a longer period, the result is even more significant: the commerce between Brazil and China grew 810% from 1991 to 2001, an average of 25% a year.

I have been following Lucélia Santos' effort to promote the accomplishment of this short series, with the Chinese TV collaboration, for many years. I am pleased to say that this effort has yielded great bonuses. It is through an association of many private and public institutions that we shall have the opportunity to aggregate value to this relation and witness this co-production of a story that goes on in Brazil and in China, which will unite the 2 countries culturally.

I hope that the Chinese viewers have the opportunity to better know our cooking; the quality of our products and services, and therefore, have a better understanding of the Brazilian characteristics.

I trust that such a project will stimulate the creation of mutual partnerships and investments, as in the aviation sector where EMBRAER and AVIC united to produce jets in Chinese territory. BaoSteel, world leader in steel, is also extending its partnership with CVRD for the construction of a steel plant in Maranhão, which will export around the world. There are many sectors in high level of completion. There is great potential for business in the construction sector due to the need of expansion of the Chinese infra structure with Brazilian expertise. The alcohol manufacturing sector, which has an environmentally clean technology, also represents a great opportunity due to the Chinese interest of reducing its carbon emission. Therefore, we can have an opening in the Chinese market of vehicles and parts produced in Brazil, and development of partnerships for the production of vehicles that run on the mixture of gasoline and carbureted alcohol or the use of one or the other (Flex Fuel). In the food sector, Brazil can virtually guarantee the supply of food products of quality, especially soy and its byproducts, meat and juice to China.

Moreover, I believe that this short series will have an important role for the growing mutual awareness of benefits that the 2 nations can enjoy with this partnership. Everything indicates that the best strategy for an economical/commercial union is the exposition of both cultures. I wish all the success to this partnership and that it may contribute for the Brazilian/Chinese space in the international political and economic market - a market which corresponds to the nation's economy, size and people.