Trivia

He shares the birthday with another Brazilian director, Jayme Monjardim.

Children with Nara Leão: Isabel Diegues[b. 1970] and Francisco [b.1972].

Father-in-law of journalist, director and presenter Pedro Bial.

He was a good friend of director Glauber Rocha.

Member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1981.

Daughter with Renata: Flora Diegues [b. 1986].

Protested against the arrest of "the great Iranian cinéaste Jafar Panahi," detained on 1 March 2010, "in the name of human right of free opinion and democratic freedom".

Along with Glauber Rocha, Nelson Pereira dos Santos and Walter Salles is one of four Brazilian directors to had three of their movies selected to the Palme D'or at the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2018, Diegues was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

The director of more than 20 films, including "Xica da Silva" and "Bye Bye Brazil," Diegues was a leading figure in Cinema Novo, a movement that emerged in the 1960s and used film to critique social inequality, drawing inspiration from the French New Wave and Italian neorealism.