João Fernandes is a Brazilian-born cinematographer best known for his work in the adult film industry during the Golden Age of Porn,[2] before his shift toward more mainstream genre cinema.
Born in Brazil, Fernandes studied at New York University under Haig P. Manoogian[3] and began work as a crewman on low-budget pornographic films.
Throughout the 1970s, Fernandes shot many entries in the emerging "porno chic" subgenre, including the seminal Deep Throat and director Gerard Damiano's follow-up feature, The Devil in Miss Jones, a film which Roger Ebert described as being the "best entry" in the entire genre.
[4] In 1978, Fernandes made his first foray into mainstream filmmaking with Land of No Return, a wilderness adventure film directed by Kent Bateman and starring William Shatner.
Mancuso hired Zito direct the series' fourth entry, and Fernandes re-teamed with the director to shoot the film.