City of God portrays a violent Brazil

But while at the University of Sao Paulo in his native Brazil he began producing experimental videos with friends and went on to set up an independent film production.

Meirelles started to achieve recognition in Brazil by displaying his work at festivals before moving into the arena of television during the 1980s.

Along with colleagues at his production company, he also got involved with shooting commercials making a name for himself as one of the most respected directors in Brazil.

Slums

Along with Paulo Morelli and Andrea Barata Riberiro he launched O2 Filmes while still keeping his hand in television.

In 2000 he moved to Rio de Janeiro to prepare to make City of God, having been drawn to the project after reading the book Cidade de Deus, written by Paulo Lins.

When embarking on the film, Meirelles opted to use a cast of unknown amateur actors to play the slum children of Rio, many of them having experienced the hardship of the streets themselves.

The director said he often found himself involved in domestic troubles with his cast, such as finding them places to live and sorting out family squabbles, but found them all hard-working.

The critically-acclaimed film has been dubbed the Brazilian Goodfellas because of its gritty intensity and violence.

It was put forward by Brazil for competition in the Oscars' best foreign film category in 2003 but was not even nominated.

This year, after being released in the US, the film finds itself competing in the mainstream categories for four awards.