Films › Directing
City of God
Directed by Fernando Meirelles, 2002
Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund direct City of God by building performance out of a community casting process rather than professional actors, running months of workshops with young people from Rio favelas before assigning roles. That groundwork shows in how the film handles violence: Meirelles keeps the camera mobile and close, often handheld, but stages chaos with tight rehearsal underneath so improvisation reads as spontaneous while remaining choreographed for safety and coverage. Lund's direction of the nonprofessional cast, translating shot lists into exercises the young actors could internalize, is as responsible for the film's texture as any camera decision. Editing by Daniel Rezende compresses years of narrative into a relentless forward pace, using freeze frames and chapter breaks to manage a sprawling timeline without losing momentum. For a director working with nonprofessional or first-time actors, the model here is patience up front: months of trust-building before a single frame is shot, so that performances under pressure remain controlled rather than merely chaotic. It demonstrates that documentary-style urgency can still be tightly engineered.
What to watch for
Watch how scenes of violence stay legible and controlled despite the handheld, chaotic camera style, revealing the rehearsal underneath.
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