Affonso Segreto (born 1875) was a Brazilian filmmaker. Segreto was born in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, the son of an Italian immigrant family. His brother Paschoal was also involved in the film industry, opening Brazil's first cinema in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

on 31 July 1897. The

Cinématographe Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the Cin ...

, a film camera and projector invented by the

Lumière brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: * Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People *Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV * Institut Lumière, ...

, was first exhibited in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro on 8 July 1896, under the name "Omnigrapho". In 1898, Segreto travelled to Europe and purchased a Cinématographe, which he brought back to Brazil, where he began producing his first films. This included potentially the earliest cinematic depiction of Brazil, filmed from the ship at the end of his return voyage in June 1898 as it approached

Guanabara Bay Guanabara Bay ( pt, Baía de Guanabara, ) is an oceanic bay located in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói and ...

. Segreto began by shooting

actuality film The actuality film is a non-fiction film genre that, like the documentary film, uses footage of real events, places, and things. Unlike the documentaries, actuality films are not structured into a larger argument, picture of the phenomenon or coh ...

s. He later became known for filming reconstructions of local crimes.

Legacy

According to Luke McKernan, Affonso Segreto was an important figure "in the Brazilian film industry in the first decade of the century, when native production dominated the market". Brazilian cinema developed more slowly than in other countries, due to the poor electricity infrastructure.

References

Brazilian filmmakers 1875 births Year of death missing {{Brazil-film-bio-stub