Liverpool Has A 'Reel' Brazilica Treat In Store This Summer
By: BWW News Desk Jun. 29, 2017
Film buffs will be able to enjoy 10 films celebrating Brazilian life and culture, which will be screened at various venues across the city started this week and runs until Tuesday 1 August, with all the movies FREE to attend. Just bring your own popcorn.
The films cover all genres and include drama, biography and documentaries - definitely something for all the family.
This year there is a special screening in conjunction with the Liverpool International Slavery Museum, as well as screenings in support of Liverpool Pride.
Brazilica Film Festival started with a screening at Camp and Furnace of Marcel Camus' multi award-winning 1959 film Orfeu Negro or Black Orpheus, which recreated the classic Greek myth of Orpheus and Euridyce, transporting it to the favelas of Rio during the city's famous carnival. Orfeu Negro also introduced Bossa Nova to the world with its soundtrack.
There is also drama aplenty in the award-winning, life-affirming Nise - O Coração da Loucura (Nise: The Heart of Madness) which is sure to prove one of the highlights of this year's festival when it is screened at FACT on Wednesday 19 July. A miracle happened in Brazil in the 1950s. Museums opened their doors to artists nobody had heard of, and critics fell over themselves to praise the work as some of the most important and beautiful paintings to explode on to the Brazilian art scene. But the paintings did not come from acclaimed established artists, but from patients who worked in a studio set up in a mental hospital by a psychiatrist, who persisted with her project despite being ridiculed by her colleagues.
Other dramas in the festival are the romantic thriller Jonas, being shown at Unit 51 in the Baltic Creative on Saturday 22 July, which is set against a backdrop of Sao Paolo at Carnival time and won the Special Jury Prize at Rio Film Festival. It's a love story full of drama, romance and is also a real thriller.
O Som Ao Redor (Neighbouring Sounds) is a thriller covering in a single city block in Recife, where the area's delicate surface calm is threatened when a private security firm is brought in to protect the residents from a spate of petty crime. This will be screened at the Old Edge Hill Library on Friday 28 July.
Mundo Cão (In Dog's Words) is a 2016 film from director Marcus Jorge. Sao Paolo dogcatcher Santana's life is changed forever when the stray Rottweiler he picks up one day turns out to belong to a dishonest former police officer. See it at FACT on Wednesday 26 July.
Film Festival Programmer Moulay Drissi commented: "The Brazilica Film Festival 2017 begins with a classic film and closes with a documentary in support of Liverpool Pride. This year's selection is filled with powerful drama, films, features and documentaries, including UK premieres.
"There is an audience for every film and I am pleased that we are featuring such a high calibre and diverse film line-up. This festival provides the perfect opportunity to enjoy wonderful films celebrating Brazilian cinema in an environment that is all about community."
Meanwhile documentary Black Brazil is being screened at Liverpool International Slavery Museum on Saturday 8 July. Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery in 1888, and many continue to experience racial discrimination in Brazilian society today.
The strong documentary theme continues in this year's Brazilica Film Festival on Friday 21 July with the UK premiere of Pitanga, which explores the aesthetical, political and existential journey of veteran actor Antonio Pitanga and the country's profound social and political revolutions during his 55-year career. It will be shown at Old Edge Hill Library.
During the 1930s, a large group of 50 boys were taken from a Rio orphanage to work as slave labour on a farm whose owners did not hide their Nazi sympathising ideals. Two of the surviving boys, now in their 80s, tell their stories for the first time in Menino 23 (Boy 23), and you can see this important film on Tuesday 25 July at Old Edge Hill Library.
Finally, Brazilica Film Festival is working in association with Liverpool Pride Festival to present two dramas.
Director Marcelo Caetano's debut feature Corpo Elétrico (Electric Body) discusses racial and sexual diversity, with young Brazilians trying to explore their natures and identities in society that is making life increasingly difficult for LGBT+ people. You can watch this drama at Old Edge Hill Library on Thursday 20 July.
The stigma attached to coming out as LGBT+ anywhere in the world remains difficult, and Rio's favelas are no exception. Documentary Favela Gay tells the story of 11 people, living in the slums of Rio. In their own words they tell their stories and highlight finding self-empowerment in the face of a society that does not empower them. The screening will be on Tuesday 1 August at Old Edge Hill Library.
Keep up to date with all Brazilica Festival activity at www.brazilicafestival.co.uk.
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