“I Have already lived my death and now all that is left is to make a film about it.” So said the filmmaker Hector Babenco to Bárbara Paz when he realized he did not have much time left. She accepted the challenge to fulfill the last wish of her late partner: to be the main protagonist in his own death. Babenco made of cinema his medicine, and the nourishment that kept him alive. Babenco – Tell me when I Die is a film about filming so never to die.
Barbara Paz is a Brazilian actress, director and producer. She graduated from the Macunaíma Theatre School and from the Antunes Centre for Theatre Research (CPT) and is a long-standing member of TAPA, a São Paulo based performing arts group. She has performed in over 25 plays by a wide range of playwrights from Oscar Wilde to Tennessee Williams. In 2013, in recognition of her distinguished acting career, the Ministry of Culture awarded her the Medalha Cavaleiro (Knight’s Medal). Barbara is also under permanent contract to TV Globo and has played in many of their soap operas and mini-series. She is the host of the Canal Brasil TV show ”A Arte do Encontro” (The Art of the Interview) in which she talks to well-known figures in Brazilian culture. She has performed in various feature length and short films, including Hector Babenco’s final film My Hindu Friend in which she played opposite Willem Dafoe. She has also ventured into the area of shorts, producing and directing television shows and other films. The documentary Babenco – Tell Me When I Die is her first feature-length film. Its première was at the Venice Film Festival 2019 where it won Best Documentary in the official Venice Classics competition, and also the Independent Critics Prize – Bisato D’oro.