Helena Ignez (Salvador, May 23, 1939) is a Brazilian actress and filmmaker. Helena was born in Salvador, Bahia and was attending her second year of law school when she fell in love with theater and decided to study the Dramatic Arts at the Federal University of Bahia. At the time, the Bahian theater scene was breaking with traditional Brazilian theater and experiencing strong influence from the young vanguard. She first appeared on the screen in Glauber Rocha's short film "Pátio". Helena acted in a few films associated with the Cinema Novo movement, such as "A Grande Feira" (1961), "Assalto ao Trem Pagador" (1962), and "O Padre e a Moça" (1966) before playing Janete Jane in O Bandido da Luz Vermelha by Rogério Sganzerla. After this film, she would perform in some most significant films in the Cinema Marginal movement, which directly opposed the critically acclaimed Cinema Novo -- the most remarkable being her role as Ângela Carne e "Osso in A Mulher de Todos" (1969). She also was a financial partner of Rogério Sganzerla and fellow Cinema Marginal filmmaker Júlio Bressane in the short-lived, although prolific, Belair production company. Between 1968 and 1970, Sganzerla and Ignez made almost a dozen films together and were also married and had two children -- one of which would become actress Djin Sganzerla. As a filmmaker, Ignez has directed 7 films, the most notable being "Luz das Trevas" (2010), a sequel to Sganzerla's debut feature "O Bandido da Luz Vermelha" (1968).

Filmography

• 2026América do Sol — Sonia Silk
• 2026As Florestas da Noite
• 2026Cartas Para Rian — Nair de Tefé
• 2026Eclipse — Dona da Kitnet
• 2026Garden of Silences
• 2026Helena! Cinema!
• 2026Pioneiras do Cinema
• 2025Deuses da Peste
• 2025Gravidade
• 2025Message from Sergipe
• 2025Nosferatu
• 2025Not Even God Is As Fair As Your Jeans — Dra. Marina Consiglio
• 2025Trópico de Leão — Medéia
• 2024If I'm Here It Is by Mystery — Arlete
• 2023Helena de Guaratiba — Helena
• 2023Joy Is the Acid Test — Jarda Ícone, Director, Executive Producer, Screenplay
• 2023O Mel é Mais Doce Que o Sangue
• 2023The Long Voyage of the Yellow Bus
• 2022The Mother — Dulce
• 2021Nova Pasta, Antigo Baú — Voiceover
• 2021Subterrânea — Senhora Ônibus
• 2021The Good Cinema
• 2020Benjamim Zambraia e o Autopanóptico — Mother
• 2020Ensaio Sobre o Fracasso
• 2020Esse fim de semana vou me dedicar as paredes
• 2020Fogo Baixo, Alto Astral — Director
• 2020Mulher Oceano — Mulher Caminhando de Costas (uncredited)
• 2020Natureza Morta — Narradora 3
• 2020The Lady Who Died in the Trailer
• 2019Bring me the Head of Carmen M. — Diretora
• 2019Extracts
• 2019Fakir — Narrator, Director, Screenplay, Art Direction, Musical Casting
• 2019Flesh — (voice)
• 2019In Memoriam: O Roteiro do Gravador
• 2019Notícias do Fim do Mundo
• 2018Antes do Fim
• 2018My Calendar Girl — Helena / Palestrante (voz), Director, Screenplay
• 2018O Desmonte do Monte
• 2017All Paulos in the World - Paulo José
• 2017Febre
• 2017Inauditoo — Voice
• 2017Venus – Filly the Lesbian Little Fairy — Narração
• 2016O Cinema Foi à Feira — Ela mesma
• 2016Ralé: The Lower Depths — Sonia Silk, Director, Producer, Writer
• 2014Estátua! — Mãe (voz)
• 2014Ossos — Voz Off, Screenplay, Screenstory, Director, Music, Producer
• 2014Paixão e Virtude
• 2014The End of an Age — (voz)
• 2013Desculpa, Dona Madama — Patroa
• 2013Poder dos Afetos — Ritual Xamânico, Director, Screenplay, Executive Producer, Screenstory
• 2013Sinais de Cinza, A Peleja de Olney Contra o Dragão da Maldade
• 2013Terno — Mãe
• 2013Ugly, Me? — Jarda, Director, Writer, Executive Producer, Associate Producer
• 2012A Balada do Provisório — Provisório's Mother
• 2012Light in Darkness: The Return of Red Light Bandit — Director, Adaptation, Writer
• 2012Mr. Sganzerla: Os Signos da Luz
• 2010Avacalha e se Esculhamba
• 2009A Vermelha Luz do Bandido
• 2009Belair
• 2009Hotel Atlântico — Dona da Pousada
• 2008A Bela P...
• 2008Embodiment of Evil — Cabíria
• 2007Canção de Baal — Director, Screenplay
• 2007Meu Mundo em Perigo — Mãe de Ísis
• 2006Helena Zero
• 2005A Miss e o Dinossauro — Herself (archive footage) / (Voz em Off), Director, Music Supervisor, Camera Operator, Researcher
• 2005Luz-Lux-Lúcia
• 2003Reinvenção da Rua — Herself, Director
• 2003The Sign of Chaos — Guida
• 2001B2
• 1999São Jerônimo — Marcela
• 1994Flying Geraldo
• 1992América: O Grande Acerto de Vespúcio — Editor
• 1992Oswaldianas
• 1992Perigo Negro — Tiafa
• 1992Scent of Gardenias — Bandida
• Tereza Batista — Maricota
• 1990Anônimo e incomum
• 1986It's Not All True
• 1986Spray Jet — Bossy Lady
• 1974A Man and His Cage — Aeromoça
• 1973Um Intruso no Paraíso
• 1971Memoirs of a Strangler of Blondes — Multiple Characters (Archive Footage)
• 1970Baron Olavo, The Horrible — Isabel
• 1970Carnaval na Lama
• 1970Copacabana Mon Amour — Sônia Silk
• 1970No Way, Spider
• 1970The Monsters of Babaloo
• 1970The Rowdy Family — Prostituta
• 1970Watch Out, Madame — Empregada
• Era Preciso Voltar — Regina
• 1969The Woman of Everyone — Ângela Carne e Osso
• 1968The Outsiders
• 1968The Red Light Bandit — Janete Jane
• 1967Face to Face — Luciana
• 1967O Engano — Mulher do médico
• 1966The Priest and the Girl — Mariana
• 1964Grito da Terra — Mariá
• 1962Assault on the Pay Train — Marta
• 1961A Grande Feira — Ely
• 1959O Pátio — The woman, Co-Producer
• Flesh
• Lost Media — A Colecionadora

Appearances as themselves (22)

• 2026A Film to Remind Us of Utopia — Self (archive footage)
• 2026Fernando Coni Campos: Cada um Vive como Sonha — Self
• 2026Nem Tudo é Paz e Amor — Self
• Primavera nos Dentes – A História do Secos & Molhados — Self
• 2024A Última Vanguarda — Self
• 2023Nelson Carneiro: Knight of Democracy — Self
• 2022The Welles Raft — Herself
• 2021Um Documentário Brasileiro — Self
• 2020Candango: Memoirs from a Festival — Self
• 2020Race Antenna — Self
• 2020Rio de Topless — Self
• 2019A Mulher da Luz Própria — Self
• 2019Memórias do Grupo Opinião — Self (archive footage)
• 2017Brazilian Cinema in the 20th Century — Self
• O País do Cinema — Self
• 2014Copacabana, Mon Amour: A Restauração — Self
• 2014Love Film Festival — Herself
• 2004Retrato da Terra — Self
• 2003Abry — Self
• 2003Glauber Rocha - The Movie, Brazil's Labyrinth — Self
• 1997Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional — Self
• 1978Mulheres de Cinema — Self (archive footage)