Holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a postdoctorate degree in Cinema from the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3. Started making cinema at age 20 and has written and directed 17 films, including the feature films Tolerância, Sal de Prata, and Menos que Nada. He was a co-founder of cooperative Casa de Cinema de Porto Alegre, in 1987, a major development hub for cinema in Rio Grande do Sul, where people like Jorge Furtado and Giba Assis Brasil first came up. In 2011 he set up his own production company, Prana Filmes, in partnership with Luciana Tomasi. He has been a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul since 1981, and has published tales, novels, and two school books on cinema.