By Pilar Dirickson Garrett
Brazilian documentary filmmaker Orlando Bomfim Netto, known in particular for his recordings of everyday life and local popular traditions in the Southeastern state of Espírito Santo, passed away yesterday at age 80 in Rio de Janeiro. The cause of death is said to have been pneumonia.
Born in the interior state of Minas Gerais, Bomfim settled in the coastal state of Espírito Santo in 1980, beginning a lifelong relationship with the region that lasted until this past September when he relocated to Rio de Janeiro to live with his family and receive special medical care. The family has confirmed that Bomfim was not a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic, currently still devastating the South American nation.
“My grandfather spent his last days in serenity and tranquility, next to his family and with so much love. He didn’t stop thinking about cinema for one minute. He was hoping that the pandemic would end soon so that he could return to the movie theaters. He also hoped to return to the coast, to see and feel the ocean,” said his granddaughter Mariana Bomfim Fontoura, with much emotion.
One of the primary symbols of the documentary movement in Espírito Santo, Bomfim started his career in Rio de Janeiro in 1969 with the short film Status 69. In 1980, he moved to Espírito Santo, but five years prior made his most emblematic capixaba film, Tutti Tutti Buona Gente (1975) — a tribute to local cultural memory marking the one hundred year anniversary of Italian immigration to the state. Capixaba is the term used to denote people or things from the state of Espírito Santo.
Tutti Tutti Buona Gente played on the Brazilian film festival circuit, collecting prizes and garnering praise for its director. Bomfim then went on to participate in the production of the feature length films Toda Nudez Será Castigada, A Rainha Diaba, and others for Brazilian director Roberto Farias’ company, which had produced a popular trilogy on Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Among Bomfim’s other notable titles were his projects recognized for their strong iconographic depictions of the cultural and environmental heritage of Espírito Santo, including Canto Para a Liberdade - A Festa do Ticumbi (1978), Augusto Ruschi Guainunbi (1975-1979), and Itaúnas: Desastre Ecológico (1999). Indeed, the director is most recognized now for his significant works of patrimonial importance and contributions to capixaba cinematography, addressing the unique culture, ecology, and folklore of the region.
Part of this body of work was recently restored as part of a project launched by the local production company Pique Bandeira Filmes within a broader archival preservation initiative called “Projeto Acervo Capixaba.” At the start of the 1980s, Bomfilm was a chairman of the State Cultural Department, and later on took over the direction of the Educational TV section for the state, always making sure to prioritize the diffusion of capixaba audiovisual content. In the year 2000, he was the founder and first president of the Brazilian Association of Documentary and Short Filmmakers of Espírito Santo.
Bomfim directed thirteen films in total, both shorts and features, between the years 1975 and 2014. He also had a hand in the development of such important local cinema milestones as the creation of the Cineclube Metrópolis and the Vitória Cine Vídeo Festival at the start of the 1990s.
The director was honored at the 2014 Vitória Film Festival for his contributions to the local film industry and capixaba cinematography, and his death precipitated an outpouring of grief and gratitude from the state’s top cultural and government figures.
The director of the Vitória Film Festival, Lucia Caus, highlighted the influence of the director on the state’s local cinema. “Orlando Bomfim is one of the most important figures of capixaba and also Brazilian cinema,” she stated. “His documentary work is a reflection of the engaged person, who always prioritized popular culture, human rights, and understood the importance of culture in the formation of society.”
The Secretary of Culture of the state of Espírito Santo, Fabricio Noronha, also lamented the loss of Bomfim for the culture of the region: “Orlando Bomfim Netto contributed so much to capixaba and Brazilian culture. Through his lens, he recorded the diversity of our region from our Italian festivals to the legacy of Augusto Ruschi for the environment, as well as the celebrations of Ticumbi, from Congo, and so many other folk celebrations that are emphatically capixaba.”
Even Renato Casagrande, the governor of the state, noted the importance of the director, tweeting that “Capixaba cinema owes so much to Orlando Bomfim Netto.” Casagrande declared a period of official mourning for three days, in remembrance of Bomfilm and his many cultural contributions.
Bomfilm is survived by four children (Monica, Daniel, Guilherme, André, and Pedro) and four grandchildren (Mariana, Pedro, Vinicius, and another Pedro).
