Ody Fraga

A kind of ideologue of Triunfo Street, Ody FRAGA (1927-1987) had one of the most brilliant, varied careers of any São Paulo-based director. Before working in cinema, he directed theater, practiced film criticism, and wrote teleplays. In the 1950s, he ingratiated himself with producers by writing clever scripts. A fierce intellectual whose work criticized the church, state, the middle-class, and prestige production, he wrote more than 60 films. Eventually graduating to directing, he helmed such Boca classics as Caligula’s Daughter, A fêmea do mar, Mulher sensual, and A fome do sexo. When the Brazilian film market turned to porn, Fraga embraced the new trend wholeheartedly, playing with the genre’s conventions as inventively as any director of his day.