Filmmaker, editor and teacher, he began working in the cinematographic field at the age of 20, as assistant director of O padre e a moça (1965), by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade. The following year, he directed the documentary Bethânia bem de perto with Julio Bressane. He moved to Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s, where he attended the Cinema course promoted by UNESCO and Itamaraty, and graduated in Political and Social Sciences at PUC-Rio. As an editor, he worked in films by several directors, such as Glauber Rocha, Leon Hirszman, Eduardo Coutinho and José Joffily. In 1969, he directed the documentary short film Visão de Juazeiro, and in 1976, he made his first feature film, Lição de amor. In the 1990s, he focused on documentaries, especially his historical trilogy: 1930 – Tempo de revolução (1990), 32 – A guerra civil (1993) and 35 – O assalto ao poder (2002).