June - September 2019
New York Botanical Garden
As part of the exhibit “Brazilian Modern: The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx” taking place Saturday, June 8 – Sunday, September 29, 2019 at the New York Botanical Garden, Cinema Tropical has curated an exciting series of award-winning films and documentaries—some of them to be screened for the time in the U.S.—which will explore themes central to Roberto Burle Marx’s creative life and times. Various screenings will feature discussions with directors following the film.
Programmed by Mary Jane Marcasiano, organized by Pilar D. Garrett.
All screenings at
Ross Hall at New York Botanical Garden
2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY
(718) 817-8700 / www.nybg.org
Screenings included in exhibit admission.
LANDSCAPE FILM: ROBERTO BURLE MARX
(Filme Paisagem: Um Olhar Sobre Roberto Burle Marx, João Vargas Penna, Brazil, 2018, 74 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Filmmaker João Vargas Penna in attendance*
The life and works of Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) are portrayed in this documentary. The film presents his ideas and memories through a succession of sensorial landscapes that refer to the trajectory of the painter, sculptor, and landscape architect who designed squares and gardens in cities like Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and Recife - most of them marked by native plants of Brazil that form his signature, undulating patterns.
Sunday, June 9, 2pm* and Sunday, September 29, 2pm
THIS IS BOSSA NOVA
(Coisa Mais Linda: Historias e Casos da Bossa Nova, Paulo Thiago, Brazil, 2007, 126 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
This Is Bossa Nova presents a historical, musical, and informative look into the birth of bossa nova in the 1950s, following the movement to its peak in 1962 when it became a definitively international phenomenon after a Carnegie Hall concert in New York City. Offering exclusive interviews and performances by Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra, João Donato, Alaíde Costa, Johnny Alf, Kay Lira, Leny Andrade, Chris Delano, Joyce, Sergio Ricardo, Billy Blanco - all participants of the era and some contemporary followers—This Is Bossa Nova contains archival images of concerts and international performances of both those Brazilian and foreign artists who participated in the bossa nova movement.
Saturday, June 15, 2pm
REACHING FOR THE MOON
(Flores Raras, Bruno Barreto, Brazil, 2013, 118 min. In Portuguese and English with English subtitles)
Academy Award nominated filmmaker Bruno Barreto returns with a sophisticated tale of an unlikely romance between two extraordinary artists, set against the backdrop of political upheaval and a clash of cultures. Grappling with writer’s block, legendary American poet Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto) travels from New York City to Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s to visit her college friend, Mary (Tracy Middendorf). Hoping to find inspiration on Mary’s sprawling estate, Elizabeth winds up with much more—a tempestuous relationship with Mary’s bohemian partner, architect Lota de Macedo Soares (Glória Pires), that rocks the staid writer to her foundation. Alcoholism, geographical distance and a military coup come between the lovers, but their intimate connection spans decades and forever impacts the life and work of these two extraordinary artists. The attraction of two polar-opposite women has rarely been so volatile and so erotically charged on the big screen.
Friday, June 21 and Saturday, June 22, 2pm
VINICIUS
(Miguel Faria Jr., Brazil/Spain, 2005, 121 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Vinicius de Moraes (1913-1980) was a cultural force—the sublime poet of the quotidien, author of over 400 poems and 400 song lyrics—and a man who married nine times. He co-wrote The Girl from Ipanema and many other samba and bossa-nova standards. His play Orfeu da Conceição was adapted into the Oscar-winning 1958 film Black Orpheus, for which he also co-wrote several classic songs. To celebrate the life and work of a multifaceted creator—playwright, poet, partner of the most important names of MPB and, above all, an enlightened personage of the country's cultural history—director Miguel Faria Jr. has brought together an incomparable cast of partners, interpreters, friends and rare archival images to reconstruct Vinicius' genial simplicity with the spontaneity, humor, and freedom of friends conversing in a bar.
Saturday, July 6, 2pm
THAT MAN FROM RIO
(L'homme de Rio, Philippe de Broca, France/Italy, 1964, 112 min. In French, Portuguese, and English with English subtitles)
A blow dart-wielding thug snatches a rare statuette from the Musée de l’Homme; anthropologist Jean Servais (Rififi) is kidnapped in broad Parisian daylight; serviceman Jean-Paul Belmondo begins his 8-day leave by changing to civvies in a Métro entrance and witnesses fiancée Françoise Dorléac (Catherine Deneuve’s sister, killed in a car accident 3 years later) getting kidnapped herself–and then the chase begins: by motorcycle, shoe leather, flight to Rio de Janeiro sans ticket or passport, airport baggage carrier, cable car, pink car complete with green stars and a rumble seat, water skies, Amazon river boat, seaplane, jungle vine… all shot in breathtaking widescreen and color. Even as Dorléac, rescued, is kidnapped again, Belmondo performs his own blood-curdling stunts against that sugar loaf Rio skyline and across that under-construction unearthly architecture of Brasilia (even parachuting almost into the jaws of a hungry croc).
Saturday, July 20, 2pm
A CASA DO TOM: MUNDO, MONDE, MONDO
(Ana Jobim, Brazil, 2007, 58 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Even the most loyal admirer of Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim, the most internationally-recognized Brazilian artist and the person most responsible for turning bossa nova into a global sensation, cannot imagine the surprises they will encounter in this film. In this extraordinarily personal documentary directed by his wife Ana Lontra Jobim, Jobim speaks about his love for the nature of the Mata Atlantica and its influence on his music. In fact, his Rio home, the title of this film, is built on the edge of Rio’s Botanic Gardens which rise up the slopes of Corcovado. Shot in New York, Rio, and the family ranch in Poço Fundo, and incorporating previously unreleased material, the film shows intimate family moments, the birth of famous songs, parties at home with other musicians, and even Jobim in pajamas leading an “expedition” in the woods.
Saturday, August 3, 2pm
TEMPLO VERDE
(Luiz Eduardo Lerina, Brazil, 2019, 58 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Templo Verde (Green Temple) has at its center a very special garden where thousands of plant species are sheltered, some endangered. Featuring the participation of landscape artist Cecilia Beatriz da Veiga Soares, biologists Gustavo Martinelli and Henrique Rajão, and nature photographer João Quental, the documentary guides us through the diversity and exuberance of the flora and fauna of Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Botanical Garden. The Garden is located between the Floresta da Tijuca (Tijuca Forest) and urban Rio de Janeiro, consequently provoking reflection on the fate of a rainforest surrounded by city, the risks and challenges for its conservation, and the need for public awareness in order to preserve what remains of the native flora and fauna of Rio's Mata Atlantica.
Saturday, August 17, 2pm
MARGARET MEE AND THE MOONFLOWER
(Margaret Mee e a Flor da Lua, Malu de Martino, Brazil, 2012, 78 min. In Portuguese and English with English subtitles)
Discover the work and legacy of botanical illustrator Margaret Mee in Malu de Martino’s documentary Margaret Mee and the Moonflower. The British-born artist spent more than 36 years in Brazil, completed fifteen expeditions into the Amazon rainforest, and produced over 400 illustrations of Brazilian flora, works that are now central to contemporary botanical science research. Drawing on her diaries, interviews, and narratives, the film reveals a tireless advocate for the preservation of Brazilian rainforests and an artist not afraid to command her craft in defense of environmental conservation.
Saturday, August 31, 2pm
AMAZONIA: THE AWAKENING OF FLORESTANIA
(Amazônia: o despertar da florestania, Christiane Torloni and Miguel Przewodowski, Brazil, 2018, 111 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Amazonia: The Awakening of Florestania is a documentary that discusses the ways in which the Amazon rainforest, and nature itself, has been treated in Brazil since the turn of the 20th century. Bringing together testimonies from many different sectors of Brazilian society, including those of indigenous leaders, environmentalists, representatives of the third sector, journalists, artists, intellectuals and many more, Amazonia: The Awakening of Florestania tracks the ideologies of those who have been fighting to preserve one of Brazil’s most precious legacies. The film leads to the rise of the concept of “Florestania," or “forestship” - a word that synthesizes concepts of citizenship and forest rights to speak to something that may be, in many ways, the genetic code of humanity.
Screening with GIANTS NY NATURE ITSELF
(Gigantes pela própia natureza, Rogo de Castro and João Unzer, Brazil, 2019, 3 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
The ‘Xingu Women's Movement’ is one the most relevant and organized feminist groups within Brazil’s indigenous community today. Based in the Parque Indígena do Xingu (Xingo National Park) the group aims to fight for the emancipation of all indigenous women and for greater participation in local and national politics. Produced by Carol Gavazzi and Watatakalu Yawalapiti and directed by Rogo de Castro and João Unzer, the short film and manifesto Gigantes pela própria natureza is a true call to mobilization and justice that shows how important these women are for the protection of the forest they live in. Shot in April 2019 and released during the largest indigenous protest in Brazil’s Federal District that same month, Gigantes pela própria natureza is an invitation for everyone to join forces with them, to make their voices louder and their message heard.
Saturday, September 14, 2pm and Saturday, September 21, 2pm
