HELCIO PUGLIESE  -  PRODUCTION DESIGNER
 
I am a production designer from Rio, Brazil. I have been working for over 25 years in the film industry across various formats, feature length projects and TV shows, as well as advertising. I moved to Toronto in 2019, and have since worked on a variety of projects as a production designer and art director, collaborating with directors and creative teams. I’m always learning and excited to dive into new stories and experiences that offer fresh perspectives and inspire my work.

I’ve worked extensively with award-winning production houses in Brazilian  on national advertising campaigns, as well as with international clients and crews filming in Brazil on global commercial campaigns. Over the years, I’ve developed a set of skills and creative abilities that I bring to every project, and gave me a profound understanding of artistic processes and materials, including my formal studies in Set Design, my formative years working as a collaborator to many prominent Brazilian visual artists, and over 20 years experience in various capacities creating artistic interventions for Rio's Carnival  parades.

Some of my recent credits include the Netflix limited series SENNA directed by Vicente Amorim & Julia Rezende, a feature film BALLISTIC(post-production), directed by Chad Faust and stared by Lena Headey, a period drama set in 1943 in World War II, THE BOY IN THE WOODS, directed by Rebecca Snow, starring Jett Klyne and Richard Armitage,  Dear David, directed by John McPhail, produced by Buzzfeed & Lionsgate Films. Brazilian productions such as KARDEC, biographical film set in Paris of the nineteenth century, and a variety of different television projects as Brazil has seen a boom of television production fiction content. My TV credits include VAI QUE COLA, a sitcom comedy series for which I designed a revolving set and which was the highest-rated cable TV show in Brazil in the last 10 years; BLUE BUILDING DETECTIVES, an extremely popular detective series for children which is now in its 21st season.

I believe production design, set design, and art direction have the ability to take us to places we’d never reach as naive tourists. That’s what draws me in, the power of art to invent new worlds, to communicate beyond words, and to bind the senses together. The thrill lies in re-imagining a world so a new story can come alive in its own unique way.