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Rio de Janeiro City Hall inaugurates monument in honor of Cacá Diegues.
Published on 07/03/2026 - 19:13 | Updated
Statue immortalizes filmmaker's career one year after his death - Photo: Marcos de Paula/Rio City Hall The Rio de Janeiro City Hall inaugurated, this Saturday (07/03), the monument in homage to filmmaker Cacá Diegues (1940–2025), in Largo da Flora, in Alto da Boa Vista. The initiative immortalizes the trajectory of one of the greatest names in Brazilian cinema, immortalized in chair 7 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, one year after his death.
The statue was unveiled by Mayor Eduardo Paes, alongside the filmmaker's widow, Renata Magalhães. Also participating in the inauguration were personalities such as Fernanda Montenegro, Fernanda Torres, Miriam Leitão, Betty Faria, and Toni Garrido.
– We are honoring a great Brazilian, the man who revolutionized Brazilian cinema. He understood that cinema has an entertainment and leisure side, but it also has a fundamental role that art and culture bring us, which is reflection on society, social criticism. He was a great Carioca (Rio de Janeiro native), passionate about this city. He lived many years of his life in this neighborhood. And there was no better place where he would have liked to be for all eternity. Cacá Digues lives on – said the mayor.
A founding member of the Cinema Novo movement alongside names like Glauber Rocha, Leon Hirszman, Paulo Cesar Saraceni, and Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Cacá Diegues has built a filmography with over 20 internationally acclaimed feature films, including "Xica da Silva," "Bye Bye Brasil," "Quilombo," and "Deus é Brasileiro."
"It's a very well-deserved tribute. I think Cacá is not only one of the founders of modern Brazilian cinema, but also a lover of Brazil. Of Brazilian culture. A guy who believed that Brazil is worthwhile even though it's not easy. He's here at the gateway to one of the largest urban forests in the world, the Tijuca Forest, at a crossroads. Once again, he has become a reference. He is an eternal reference," said Renata, with whom Cacá was married for over 40 years.
According to the Department of Conservation, the bronze sculpture depicts the artist in life-size next to a filmmaker's chair. Created by the artist Mário Pitanguy, the work is located on Estrada da Gávea Pequena, near where the filmmaker lived.
"A city without memories is a dead city. Celebrating Cacá Diegues is preserving the cultural history of Rio and Brazil," says the Secretary of Conservation, Diego Vaz.
Over the past four years, ten statues of artistic and cultural value have been inaugurated for the city, including those honoring Aldir Blanc, Herbert de Souza (Betinho), filmmaker Breno Silveira, Marielle Franco, and Zico, as well as the Russian navigator Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen and the Kazakh poet Abai Qūnanbaiūly. This year, inaugurations are planned in honor of Martinho da Vila and Tata Tancredo.
