Flavio Alves

Flvio Pimenta Alves is a Brazilian writer, screenwriter, and film director resident in America since 1998. His movies consistently feature elderly characters as protagonists. He is best known for the film The Secret Friend, starring Siobhan Fallon and Viola Harris.

Alves was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and served the Brazilian navy for several years before coming to America in 1997. He was granted political asylum in the United States in 1998 based on political opinion and sexual orientation after he wrote the book, Toque de Silncio , describing his life as a gay man in the Brazilian navy. His request was granted because, according to Alves, he received death threats upon publishing his book. Although various human rights organizations, LGBT activists, and former So Paulo mayor Marta Suplicy supported his claim, it has also divided the Brazilian gay community. He attended Columbia University in New York City, where he earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science. In the early 2000s he worked as an assistant for thenCongressman Anthony Weiner and thenNew York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton .

Source: Wikipedia