Brazilian Film Nights
In collaboration with the Honorary Consulate of Brazil,
The Pharos Trust and the Embassy of Brazil in Cyprus
BRAZILIAN FILM NIGHTS
OCTOBER 2007
2 Tue, 8.30 Eliane Caffé: Narradores de Javé / The Storytellers
4 Thu, 8.30 Heitor Dhalia: Nina
9 Tue, 8.30 Miguel Faria Jr.: Vinicius
11Thu, 8.30 Flavio R. Tambellini: O Passageiro: Segredos de Adulto /
The Passenger: Adult Secrets
18 Thu, 8.30 Karim Ainouz: O Ceu de Suely / Suely in the Sky / Love for Sale
25 Thu, 8.30 Carlos Diegues: O Maior Amor do Mundo / The Greatest Love of All
Entrance £3
PROGRAMME
Tuesday, 2 October, at 8.30
Narradores de Javé / The Storytellers
Eliane Caffé, 2004, 102
José Dumont, Nelson Dantas, Rui Resende, Matheus Nachtergaele
It is perhaps the very unpretentious narrative technique of Narradores de Javé that makes it a winner. But that simplicity, straightforwardness even, is only so in appearance. It camouflages layers that are as much cinematic as emotional. Never confusing, always cheerful, director Eliane Caffé’s art of story-telling is here at its most vigorous. But she also jostles our mind about the ways we look at ourselves and at our past.
What is doomed to happen in the village of Javé in Brazil, and what eventually does happen, is what ‘progress’ is all about. A dam is to be built and Javé is to be submerged. What can the people do? Their sole weapon against this awesome official decision is to demonstrate that their valley has enough historical and cultural significance to warrant preservation. But as a matter of fact the valley has no ‘tangible’ riches to show the world. And the people know it. Paradoxically, it is this lacuna which gives the film its brilliance. The inhabitants must turn to their own resources of imagination. And so they recount stories of the origins of Javé, each as he or she sees it, full of punch and drama. So rich is this oral creativity, so immersed are they in their own tales, in their active myth-making, that they identify with the historical personages they speak about and, in one stroke, erase the distinctions between ‘truth’ and ‘fiction’, wipe away linear notions of time, add frills and fancies, and convince you that past wealth resides not only in stone and clay but in individual and collective imagination; that imagination is also what links people to their soil, and is as culturally significant as any item of archaeology. (Latika Padgaonkar, Fipresci)
Portuguese dialogue, English subtitles
Thursday, 4 October, at 8.30
Nina
Heitor Dhalia, 2004, 85
Guta Stresser, Myrian Muniz, Juliana Galdino, Wagner Moura
Set in the hip underground world of Sao Paulo, Nina follows a young girl as she struggles to make ends meet, under the pressure of her roommate and landlord, a sinister old lady who locked the fridge before ultimately threatening to kick her out in the streets without any remorse.
Nina (Guta Stresser) is a lost and lonely soul, a Goth girl with a talent for drawing comics who lives in her own world, disconnected from reality and slightly disturbed. Rebellious, she quits her job as a waitress, but quickly finds out she can hardly survive as her landlady seems determined to crush her without mercy. She has enough self-esteem not to become a prostitute like her best friend but ends up selling her underwear to some creepy street vendor. She doesn't have any soul mate, is somewhat bisexual and can't really connect with anybody, including the girl who has a crush on her. Pushed to the limits by her landlady, she ends up succumbing to her dark inner urges, under the grip of her comic-book self-incarnation.
Nina is visually hypnotic, intertwining an eerie cinematography with some animated sequences inspired by her comics. David Lynch's influence is omnipresent, from Twin Peaks to Mulholland Drive, through emblematic Lynchian ingredients – long corridors, midgets, strange characters, dead bodies and a taste for surreal settings. (Fred Thom, plume-noire.com)
Portuguese dialogue, English subtitles
Tuesday, 9 October, at 8.30
Vinicius (documentary)
Miguel Faria Jr., 2005, 110
Firmly rooted in the tradition of music bios, but with such a unique subject it transcends the genre, veteran Miguel Faria Jr.'s salute to the great Brazilian composer Vinicius de Moraes (1913-1980) is something more than a listing of triumphs pre- and post- "The Girl from Ipanema." The pantheon of Brazilian music, from Caetano Veloso to Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil, parade through a carnival of sassy, innovative tunes that have become evergreens, recounting stories about Vinicius as musician, poet, diplomat and lover of nine wives.
Spending, drinking and marrying wife after wife, Vinicius wrote plays, poems and the music and lyrics to 400 ground-breaking songs, all the while carrying on a diplomatic career until kicked out by the dictatorship in 1969. Working alongside Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto, he created the Bossa Nova; later he paired with Toquinho, Tom Jobim and other lights. Personal commentary is heard from his daughter and film's producer, Susana de Moraes. Actors Camila Morgado and Ricardo Blat provide a pretty frame, reciting Vinicius' poetry. (Deborah Young, Variety)
Portuguese dialogue, English subtitles
Thursday, 11 October, at 8.30
O Passageiro: Secredos de Adulto / The Passenger: Adult Secrets
Flavio R. Tambellini, 2006, 105
Bernardo Marinho, Giulia Gam, Carolina Ferraz, Antonio Calloni
Antonio (Bernardo Marinho) is the son of the wealthy banker Mauro (Antonio Calloni), but has little interest in following in his dad's footsteps. Antonio is a college man studying filmmaking, and doesn't have much interest in Mauro's staid life in finance, while Mauro is wary of his son's seeming lack of interest in women, though he's mistaken Antonio's shyness for apathy. Antonio discovers some paperwork which suggests his father may be guilty of legal improprieties relating to his business, but before he can confront Mauro, the banker is found dead along a busy highway, and the police suspect foul play.
Antonio's mother Angela (Giulia Gam) is distraught at the news, and as he tries to comfort her, Antonio is forced to take over the family's affairs. As Antonio goes through their accounts, he suspects his father's business misdeeds may be connected to his death. While Antonio struggles to determine the truth behind his father's death, he encounters Carmen (Carolina Ferraz), a beautiful woman who knew Mauro and may have shared a ride with him on his fateful night. Through Carmen, Antonio learns about his father's reckless early life and his way with the ladies, which inspires Antonio to gather his courage and try to make time with two of his more attractive classmates, Cristina (Luiza Mariani) and Adriana (Luana Carvalho). O Passageiro: Segredos de Adulto received its North American premiere at the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival. (Mark Deming, All Movie Guide)
Portuguese dialogue, English subtitles
Thursday, 18 October, at 8.30
O Céu de Suely / Suely in the Sky / Love for Sale
Karim Ainouz, 2006, 90
Hermila Guedes, Maria Menezes, Zezita Matos, Georgina Castro
Karim Aïnouz blew away viewers with his first feature, Madame Sãta, a stylized tale of the infamous sexual outlaw. His sophomore effort, Love for Sale: Suely in the Sky, similarly explores Brazil’s fringe dwellers and the ways in which self-expression – physical, sexual, emotional – reveals and masks inner identities and truths.
After living in São Paulo for two years, Hermila returns to the vast and expansive rural landscape of her youth, waiting for her young boyfriend, the father of her newborn son, to follow. Time passes slowly and eagerness fades to sorrow as Hermila realizes that he has no intention of joining her, but she has a feisty, restless spirit and refuses to be crushed. Seizing life on her own terms, Hermila sets up a raffle, first of some whiskey and soon of her own body, taking on the seductive titular name and promising a night of paradise to the winner.
Without any of the moral pandering often found in movies about prostitution, Aïnouz depicts Hermila as a proud and uninhibited non-conformist who willingly explores the breadth and limitations of her own sexuality. In doing so, she blossoms from a dependent girl into a strong and liberated young woman. Beautifully shot, and imbued with nostalgia for real romance, Aïnouz’s stirring film intimately involves viewers in Hermila’s story. Hermila Guedes is sensational in a difficult role that calls for plenty of physical and emotional nakedness. Whether hanging out at a karaoke bar with her friend Georgina, enjoying a quick fling with biker João or trying to calm her crying baby, Hermila (both the actress and the character) is a down-to-earth wonder who lights up the sky. (Robert O’Shaughnessy)
Portuguese dialogue, English subtitles
Thursday, 25 October, at 8.30
O Maior Amor do Mundo / The Greatest Love of All
Carlos Diegues, 2006, 107
Jose Wilker , Sergio Britto , Lea Garcia , Tais Araujo
Born in a favela from an unknown mother, Antonio, an astrophysicist working in the United States, returns to Brazil with the aim of finding his true roots. Suffering from an incurable disease, he discovers the violent reality of Brazil but also the love in the arms of a girl of the favelas. Violent and tragic at the same time, O Maior Amor Do Mundo skilfully combines reflection and lightness.
"The entire Brazil fits in this film and the greatest love is the love for life. It's the work of a mature artist in harmony with his time." (Luiz Carlos Merten, O Estado de São Paulo)
"In a nonstop search for the comprehension of the human soul, the result is a roller-coaster of emotions like in few Brazilian films. A road movie, not only through the heart of the main character, but also through the inside of a city that Diegues knows like the palm of his hand." (Lúcio Flavio, Correio Braziliense)
Awarded Best Film at the Montreal Film Festival.
Portuguese dialogue, English subtitles
BRAZILIAN CULTURE MONTH
OCTOBER 2007
For the fourth consecutive year, the Honorary Consulate of Brazil in Cyprus and the Pharos Trust present the Brazilian Culture Month, a series of events dedicated to the arts and culture of Brazil.
The events which are organised in collaboration with the Brazilian Embassy in Cyprus, showcase aspects of Brazilian culture through art, music, dance, films and books and they have become a very popular part of Cyprus’ cultural life.
Events are taking place throughout the month of October at various venues in Nicosia, including classical and contemporary music, an exhibition by a contemporary Brazilian artist, the launch of an important art publication, Brazilian Film Nights, schools projects, and the Brazilian book month.