For the fourth time Grupo Novo de Cinema e TV, the only distributor dedicated exclusively to the international commercialisation of Brazilian films, is attending the European Film Market. This year the company has brought six recent productions to Berlin including Sergio Rezende's epic drama The Battle of Canudos, the most successful Brazilian film at the box office in 1997.
"It is fundamental that we return and make contacts with distributors from all the countries of the world," explains Tarcíso Vidigal who, along with Antonio Urano, runs Grupo Novo. "Berlin is an important market for us and we hope to close a number of deals while we are here, but mainly we are in Berlin to make new contacts. We think that the presence of
The Battle of Canudos in the Panorama will have an excellent repercussion and focus the spotlight on other Brazilian films."
The rest of the Grupo Novo slate reflects the recent diversity in Brazilian production. Perfumed Ball (Baile Perfumado) is the first feature from the Pernambuco duo of Lirio Ferreira and Paulo Caldas.
With an evident delight in filming and a contagious energy which is driven by the film's outstanding soundtrack, the duo give a modern reading of the story of Lampião, the legendary bandit who lived in the Brazilian North-east in the 1930s.
Another newcomer, Beto Brant, directed Belly Up (Os matadores), a thriller about guns for hire on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. An intelligent screenplay with a series of surprises, the film touches on the questionable ethics of the gunmen and their particular male bonding.
Another factor of recent Brazilian productions is the number of emerging female directors. One such person is 27-year-old Rosane Svartman who directed How To Be Single in Rio (Como ser solteiro), a light and typically Carioca comedy.
Miramar represents the experimental side of Brazilian filmmaking, a characteristic of director Julio Bressane since the beginning of his career in the 1960s. This time he follows the intellectual development of a Rio youth into a filmmaker. Any semblance with Bressane's own life and career is no mere coincidence.
The final film on the Grupo Novo slate is October Moon (Lua de Outubro), a Mercosul co-production which utilised talent from both Brazil and Argentina. Directed by Henrique de Freitas Lima, the film is based around a revolt that took place in the south of Brazil in 1924 and the human conflict involving a captain who is in love with the daughter of his political rival. CP
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