Argentinian screenwriter anddirector Fabian Bielinsky died yesterday in Brazil at 47 of a heart attack. Hewas in Sao Paulo to attend a casting session for a new commercial he was aboutto shoot.

Only last Monday, Bielinskywas named best director of 2005 for his second feature The Aura by the Argentinian Film Critics Association, whichgave the film six Silver Condor awards in total including best film.

Five years before TheAura, Bielinsky made his featuredebut with his breakout hit Nine Queens, which was sold to 32 countries and grossed $15m around the world.

The story of two grifters(Ricardo Darin and Gaston Pauls), Nine Queens was a huge success in Argentina with 1.3m admissionsin 2000, and was remade four years later as Criminal by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh's productioncompany Section Eight.

Last year, Bielinskyrejoined with Darin for The Aura,a psychological thriller about an introverted and epileptic taxidermist whosecretly dreams of executing the perfect robbery. The $3.8m film sold 600.000tickets in Argentina.

One of the most acclaimedand popular filmmakers in Argentina, Bielinsky graduated from the ExperimentalCenter in Cinematographic Production (ENERC) of Argentina's National FilmInstitute in 1983. Among other awards, his graduation short La Espera (The Wait), based on a story by Jorge Luis Borges, won first prize at theInternational Short Film Festival, in Huesca, Spain.

For over 15 years he workedas an assistant director in commercials and feature films with directors suchas Carlos Sorin, Eliseo Subiela, Marco Bechis, Mario Levin and Fernando Spiner.