Esmir Filho graduated from FAAP film school, São Paulo, in 2004. His first feature film "Os Famosos e os Duendes da Morte" (The Famous and the Dead), distributed in Brazil by Warner Bros, was the winner of the Rio Festival 2009; has been selected for Berlinale Generation 14+ and Locarno official competition; and won best film, direction and critics' awards at Havana, Valdivia, Granada and Guadalajara festivals. The film also premiered in theaters in France, Japan and Portugal. His short film "Alguma Coisa Assim" (Something Like That) won the best screenplay award at Festival de Cannes 2006, while "Saliva" was the short film nominated to represent Brazil to run for the Oscars 2008. In 2011, he founded the producer company Saliva Shots, where he's been developing and producing audiovisual content for cinema, TV, and internet. He directed the multimedia piece "Kollwitzstrasse 52", combining cinema and theater, which was on show at the Museum of Image and Sound of São Paulo. He is currently in pre-production of his next long feature "Baleia (Whale)" and developing the script of "Madeira de Lei" (Hardwood), a thriller settled in the Amazon Forest.