The Museum of Modern Art and the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival have announced the lineup for the 10th edition of their annual collaboration Premiere Brazil!, running July 12–24, which will feature 14 films including six New York premieres, four U.S. premieres and two international premieres.
Highlights of this year Premiere Brazil! includes Eduardo Coutinho's most recent documentary As canções / Songs (pictured) which explores the most intimate meaning of the songs in our lives; Eu receberia as piores notícias dos seus lindos lábios / I’d Receive the Worst News from Your Beautiful Lips by Beto Brant (co-directed with Renato Ciasco), a sensual melodrama set against a steamy Amazonian backdrop; the enchanting tragicomedy Palhaço / The Clown by Selton Mello; À Beira do Caminho / Roadside by Breno Silveira; the biopic Heleno (pictured) by José Henrique Fonseca; and Transeunte / Passerby by Eryk Rocha.
Premiere Brazil! will also feature two films, made by seven young directors, about life in the favelas: 5 x favela – agora por nós mesmos / 5 x Favela: Now By Ourselves, a collection of five fiction shorts about various aspects of favela-dwelling; and 5 x pacificação / Peace in Rio, a documentary about the controversial social policing of the favelas.
In conjunction with Premiere Brazil! and co-presented with Cinema Tropical and VOCES, the Latino Heritage Network of The New York Times Company, a round table discussion, titled “Film and Social Change: The Case of Rio’s Favelas,” focusing on issues raised by these two films, takes place at The New York Times building on Monday, July 16, at 6pm. In addition to the filmmakers, the panel includes Jose Mariano Beltrame, Rio de Janeiro's Security Secretary, and filmmaker/mentor Carlos Diegues.
Talented newcomers are also showcased in Premiere Brazil!, including Kiko Goifman and Claudia Priscilla, whose Olhe pra mim de novo / Look at Me Again is an astonishing documentary about Silvyo Lucio, who was born a woman and became a man.
Another promising newcomer is Vinícius Coimbra, whose Brazilian Western about redemption and revenge, A hora e a vez de Augusto Matraga / Matraga, shows an impressive grasp of period recreation. The film received four jury prizes as well as the popular vote for Best Film at the last edition of the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival.
Additionally and celebrating a masterpiece of the Cinema Novo era, a restored print of Leon Hirszman’s beloved and much-awarded 1972 drama São Bernardo will screen on Monday, July 16.
