Ricardo van Steen (São Paulo, Brazil, 1958) graduated with a degree in applied art but shifted his focus to visual communication and film. He has loved films since he was a small boy, thanks to his mother who was the director of the cinema theater in São Paulo, so Ricardo spent his summer holidays watching films. As a professional, he first designed film posters and worked on set designs. Since 1982, he has directed many commercial videos. In 1991, he attended a screenplay workshop in Los Angeles and then moved to Paris, where he lived until 1996, directing commercials for a local production house. During this time, he wrote the first version of his screenplay for the film about a composer Noel Rosa. In Brazil, he directed a short feature about Rosa entitled Com Que Roupa? (1996), followed by the full-length feature Noel, Poeta da Vila (2006). He also made the medium-length documentary Tinta Fresca (2005).