Cinemajan-Claude Bernardet, an important Brazilian critic, dies at 88 years old and intellectual dedicated himself to the analysis that mixed aesthetics, politics and sociology; cause of death was not disclosed.

Jean-Claude Bernardetactor, director, screenwriter, writer and one of the main critics of Brazilian cinema, died on Saturday, 12, at the age of 88. The information was confirmed by the filmmaker Fábio Rogériowho accompanied him at the Samaritano Hospital in São Paulo, and the wake will take place on Sunday (13) in Brazilian cinematic.

The cause of death was not revealed, but according to information from friends, the intellectual would have suffered a stroke (via The globe). He was also a carrier of the HIV virus and was in the most fragile health for a recurrence prostate cancer, who chose not to treat chemotherapy.

Trajectory and contributions by Jean-Claude Bernardet

Born in Belgium in 1936, Bernardet He came to Brazil with his family at age 13 and naturalized Brazil in 1964. Here he acted as a professor at the University of São Paulo, where he was compulsorily retired after persecution of the military dictatorship, and helped create the film course at the University of Brasilia.

With works that were moving between criticism and fiction, the intellectual stood out for the original view of Cinema Novo, a movement that became popular in Brazil from the late 1950s and recognized by criticism of social inequality.

Among the references of the work of Bernardetthey are Brazil in film time (1967), an analysis of national cinema of the 1950s and 1960s, and Filmmakers and the image of the people (1985), which investigates documentaries from the 60s and 70s focusing on the relationship of directors with the popular theme.

“The Brazilian situation, in relation to cinema, is a typical example of alienation. Cinematographic activity in Brazil, in the commercial and cultural level, has been to move away from ourselves. The Brazilian reality only and sporadically received cinematic treatment,” he wrote in Brazil in film time.

+++ Read more: the 12 best Brazilian films from 2025 so far, according to Rolling Stone