Karim Aïnouz was born in Fortaleza, Brazil. After studying Architecture at the University of Brasilia and Film Studies at New York University, Karim Aïnouz participated in the Independent Study Program of the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1993. From 1989 to 1992, he worked on various feature film projects as assistant to the director Todd Haynes, and from 1992 to 1996 he was an assistant editor in the production of more than 20 feature films. He is co-author of the film "Behind the Sun" (2001) by Walter Salles. In 1992, Aïnouz began to devote himself to his own film projects. He has received numerous promotional awards and fellowships, including from the highly-regarded Hubert Bals Fonds (Netherlands), the New York Foundation for the Arts (USA) and the Fundação Itaú Cultural (Brazil). His documentary film "Seams" (1993) received the Vito Russo Award of the New Festival in New York, his short film "Paixão Nacional" (1994) was shown at festivals including Oberhausen, Rotterdam, Vancouver, Porto and Montreal.