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FILMS
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 In 1935, disappointed with Hollywood producers after a round of negotiations in New York involving the possible adaptation of his books (probably Marie Antoinette, which eventually would be made into a film) Stefan Zweig decided to withdraw forever from the world of cinema (see quotation).
Despite his supposedly definitive promise, the writer again became involved with cinematographic adventures, working on adaptations of his works (like Burning Secret), new synopses (like Manon Lescaut) and documentaries, one among them about the life of Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism.
Zweig wrote various original movie scripts. Among his projects was a film inspired in the scandal in the Stock Exchange during the construction of the Panama Canal. Short before his second visit to Brazil, on August 9, 1940, he signed a contract with his friend Berthold Viertel to share his rights as an author to a film based on his unfinished novel The Post Office Girl, which was published posthumously. A decade afterwards, the project became a reality with the film The Stolen Year), a German-Austrian co-production, directed by Wilfrid Frass, with Elisabeth Hoberth and Oskar Werner in the principal roles. In November, 1940, in Buenos Aires, Zweig signed a contract with Erwin Wallfisch for the adaptation of two of his works, including The One Ewe Lamb.
In Brazil, between August 1941 and February 1942, short before his suicide, Zweig became involved with Afonso Arinos de Mello Franco and Paul Frischauer in a script about the story of the Marquesa de Santos, the lover of the first Brazilian emperor Dom Pedro I.
Stefan Zweig ended up becoming one of the authors whose works were most adapted to the cinema and TV world. Over twenty of his short stories, some in different adaptations became films. This is not surprising: the author’s descriptions are generally rich in images and most of his dramatic conflicts seem to have been written especially for the cinema. In his autobiography, the author wrote: “time provides images, I only add the words”.
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