Director: Claudio Manoel, Calvito Leal, Micael Langer
Producers: Raul Schmidt, Roberto Berliner
Screenplay: Claudio Manoel, Calvito Leal, Micael Langer
Cinematographer: Gustavo Hadba
Editors: Pedro Duran, Karen Akerman
Music: Berna Ceppas
Principal Cast: Ricardo Cravo Albin, Chico Anysio, Boninho, Sergio Cabral

Simonal – No One Knows How Hard It Was, portrays the impressive trajectory of a former army private who reigned in pop culture and ended up being ostracized for a crime where he swore innocence. Through interviews with friends, enemies and mainly, through the images of the exuberant performances of this great artist, the film also answers questions for the first time in history. Was Simonal an informant during the Brazilian dictatorship? Was he friendly with the military? Or, was his greatest crime being black, a millionaire and a sex symbol in a country and time where racism was latent in society?

 

“Simonal - Ninguém sabe o duro que dei” traça a trajetória impressionante do ex-cabo de exército, que reinou soberano e acabou condenado ao ostracismo por um delito que jurava inocência. Através de depoimentos de amigos, inimigos e, principalmente, de imagens das exuberantes performances do grande artista, o filme mostra também as respostas que nunca apareceram. Simonal era informante da ditadura? Era favorável aos militantes? Ou seu maior crime foi ser negro, milionário, símbolo sexual num país e numa época em que existia muito racismo?

Claudio Manoel is one of the 1978 founders of Casseta Popular, a tabloid created by university students that helped to give new life to Brazilian humour for the next decade.

Micael Langer has a degree in Radio and TV, and has worked as an assistant correspondent for The New York Times in Rio de Janeiro. Since 2003, he has worked as a producer, screenwriter, director and researcher for short films, institutional videos, advertising movies, and DVDs.

Calvito Leal has a degree in Advertising from Mackenzie University in São Paulo. Simonal was selected for the San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro and many other film festivals.

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