Coffin Joe

This is the first feature-length documentary about the life and career of José Mojica Marins, Brazil's most famous horror film director and one of the Third World's most idiosyncratic and radical artists.

Mojica is the creator of the character Zé do Caixão (Coffin Joe), a true icon of horror movies.

In a career that covers half a century, Mojica directed over 40 features, as well as over 100 feature films. He also created comic books, plays, TV shows, radio programmes and even recorded a Samba record.

Mojica is the most censored filmmaker in Brazilian Cinema History. Several of his films were banned by the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1985.

This documentary presents Mojica's version of his story, from his impoverished childhood in the suburbs of São Paulo, to the international recognition as one of the world's greatest horror directors, celebrated in countries such as Spain, France, Germany, Italy and United States.

The film features in-depth interviews with Mojica and his closest associates which reveal for the first time, the bizarre and sometimes tragic stories behind his movies, as well as Mojica's own problems with alcohol, the Military Censorship Board, and tarantulas.

There are dozens of clips from his striking movies, described by Billboard magazine as "cross between Russ Meyer and Luis Bunuel".

This documentary was directed by Andre Barcinski and Ivan Finotti, two Brazilian journalists who published in 1988, Mojica's biography "Maldito" ("The Damned") a best-seller in Brazil.

Year of Production 1999
Duration 66' (available as 52')