New Cinema of Brazil season brings Brazilian film back to London
24 October, 2011Autumn is definitely the season for film festivals, with the new Cinema of Brazil line-up of films following the BFI London Film Festival and Brazilian Film Festival of London. Cinema of Brazil – which takes place in London – sets itself a theme each year, with this edition focusing on “Travel Stories.”
What this means is that we get a series of films with themes such as migration, travelling and distance. There are nine films in total being shown including UK premieres for Silver Cliff, The Midday Sun, Budapest (based on the book by Chico Buarque), Pachamama, Road to Ythaca and Take It Easy and Keep Cool, as well as screenings for Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures, I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You and Jean Charles.
Cinema of Brazil is taking place from 3rd-11th November. Here’s details of all the films being shown:
Thursday 3rd Nov, 6.30pm @ Curzon Soho
Opening Gala | UK Premiere: Silver Cliff + Q&A with director Karim Aïnouz
While at work, Violeta listens to a voicemail left by her husband in which he announces his decision to leave her and move to a new town. Confusion and despair propel her all over the city in a nocturnal odyssey. Densely populated, dark, at times alluring and alienating, the environments she moves through appear to both awaken and soothe her.
Part of the official selection at this year’s “Quinzaine des Realizateurs” at the Cannes Film Festival.
Friday 4th Nov, 6.30pm @ Curzon Soho
UK Premiere: Pachamama + Q&A with director Eryk Rocha
Eryk Rocha, son of the prestigious director Glauber Rocha, embarks on this visually stunning 14,000km journey through the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, Peru and Bolivia, meeting native indigenous tribes along the way, and interviewing them and other communities on their relationship to their country, government and mother-land.
Saturday 5th Nov, 4pm @ Curzon Soho
Jean Charles + Q&A with director Henrique Goldman
A fictional rendering of Jean Charles de Menezes’ story, the Brazilian shot dead at Stockwell tube station by the Metropolitan Police following the 7th of July London bombings. This touching narrative about the electrician from a small town in Minas Gerais who tried to make it in the UK depicts the largely unknown reality of many Brazilian immigrants abroad. With a strong performance by one of the most popular actors of this generation, Selton Mello, the film premiered to great public acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival in 2009 and was a box office hit in Brazil.
Sunday 6th Nov, 4pm @ Apollo Piccadilly
UK Premiere: Take It Easy and Keep Coolproducer Rik Nogueira
In this light-hearted comedy, three friends in search of new paths and excitement decide to spend a weekend by the beach. On the road, they pick up Estrella, a hippie looking for her lost father. The four girls face hilarious, absurd and exciting situations and in search of adventure find themselves quite transformed.
Monday 7th Nov, 6.30pm @ Curzon Soho
UK Premiere: The Midday Sun + Q&A with lead actress Cláudia Assunção
Artur embarks on a journey in search of redemption after committing a crime of passion. Along the way he meets Matuim, the eccentric owner of an old boat. Their journey down the river is short-lived and they are forced to continue by road, where they meet Ciara. A love triangle develops, making Artur confront his past.
Awarded Best Actor (Vasconcelos & Diaz) at the Rio Film Festival and Best Film by Critics’
Choice in the São Paulo Film Festival.
Tuesday 8th Nov, 6.30pm @ Apollo Piccadilly
I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You
José Renato, a geologist, is sent on a fieldtrip to the sertão, a semi-arid isolated region in the Northeast of Brazil. The goal of his survey is to assess possible routes for a water canal from the region’s only voluminous river. Many of the properties through which he passes will be flooded; many of the people and families will be relocated. As the fieldtrip progresses, it becomes evident that José Renato shares with these places the same emptiness – a sense of abandonment and isolation.
Awarded Best Director and Best Photography in the Rio Film Festival and Prize “Coral and
Fipresi” in Havana Film Festival.
Wednesday 9th Nov, 6.30pm @ Apollo Piccadilly
UK Premiere: Road to Ythaca
Four friends – played by the four directors – mourn the loss of a fifth one. After a night of heavy drinking, they decide to travel to the mythical Ythaca. They don’t seem to be looking for a real place, but rather for something that has been with them since the beginning, a spirit of self-discovery and discovery of the origins of mankind. This spirit is reflected in the film’s form, which deliberately escapes from the parameters of a finished piece, emphasizing the erratic as an
aesthetic plan.
Awarded Best film in the Critics’ and Young people juries at the 13th Tiradentes Film Festival;
Best soundtrack at the 20th Cine Ceara; screened at the Ibero-American Film Festival and the
Buenos Aires Film Festival.
Thursday 10th Nov, 6.30pm @ Apollo Piccadilly
UK Premiere: Budapest
José Costa is a Brazilian ghost writer. Returning from a ghost writers’ convention, his aeroplane is rerouted to Budapest where his fascination with the language and people compels him to stay. In Hungary, he meets Krista and with her help, learns “the only language in the world which, according to the tongue-wagers, the devil respects”.
Friday 11th Nov, 6.30pm @ Apollo Piccadilly
Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures
In 1942, Johann travels through the arid country roads in the Northeast of Brazil in his truck selling aspirins in small villages. Attracted by the mobile cinema he sets up to screen his aspirin advertisements, the villagers flock to his truck, having never come across moving pictures before. Along the way, he meets the drifter Ranulpho, on his way to Rio de Janeiro in search of a better life. While traveling together, they develop a close friendship, until on August 31st 1942, Brazil declares war on Germany and Johann has to decide if he should return to his home country and fight in the war, or stay in Brazil.
Awarded the National Education Prize at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
More details including the locations of the venues can be found at cinemaofbrazil.org
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