João Lanari was born in São Paulo and currently lives between Brasília and Rio de Janeiro. He has been a professor of cinema at the Faculty of Communications of the University of Brasília (FAC-UNB) since the 1980s. He lived in Tokyo for three years and, upon his return, published the book Cinema Japonês (2016). He contributes to periodicals such as Correio Braziliense and Devires magazine. He is the director and producer of more than 15 films.