explains why the new emerging crop of Brazilian films and directors deserve the consideration of international film buyers and festivals
Even with the absence of films in the official sections of the recent Cannes Film Festival, Brazil's filmmakers arrived at the world's most important and prestigious festival and market with the highest commercial expectations and with their best crop of films in recent times.
The nomination of Fabio Barreto's O Quatrilho for the best foreign language Academy Award, had been celebrated in Brazil as the dawning of a new era in Brazilian cinema and an important tool when it came to the negotiation of the sale of new and future Brazilian productions to the international buyers.
For a number of reasons 1995 has been heralded as the year of the 'rebirth' of Brazilian cinema after a five-year period of enforced poverty; a direct result of the radical cuts in government fiscal and artistic incentives made at the time of the Collor government.
In 1994, new legislative incentives for the audio-visual industries and a more favourable economic climate produced positive conditions for new productions. The results have already been promising and are being celebrated enthusiastically by Brazilian producers, directors and the general public.
Between 1990 and 1994 the market share for Brazilian films at the country's box-office hit the sad mark of just 0.1%. In 1995, the new crop of films hit a 4% share - with approximately 3.2 million admissions - a result that justifies the general overall optimism.
Of the Brazilian films on offer in Cannes, two were already box-office champs back home.
Carla Camurati's Carlota Joaquina, princesa do Brazil (Carlota Joaquina, Princess of Brazil), was the first Brazilian film to break the million admissions barrier in the 90s, a feat repeated by Barreto's O Quatrilho, whose Oscar nomination was celebrated in Brazil in a manner befitting a World Cup win. Produced by Luiz Carlos Barreto, father of Fabio, O Quatrilho is represented internationally by Pandora, the sales company which helped make Mexico's Like Water for Chocolate an international success.
Carlota Joaquina is part of a large slate of Brazilian-produced films being offered internationally by Brazil's own Grupo Novo de Cinema e TV - International Distribution. Now the major distributor of Brazilian films in the international market, Grupo Novo has been working hard to show that the new crop of films are a viable product for the international film and television markets. As well as films already shown in Brazil, such as O mandarim (The Mandarin) - a profile of Brazilian musician and composer Mario Reis by underground director Julio Bressane, and Loco por cinema (Crazy for Cinema), a personal journey through the 60s by filmmaker André Luiz Oliveira, Grupo Nova also took to Cannes a number of films yet to premier in Brazil.
The company's new titles included O Guarani, directed by actress Norma Bengell, which deals with the confrontation between the Portuguese colonisers of Brazil and the native Indians in an adaptation of José de Alencar's romance. Alencar is considered the most important name in romantic Brazilian literature. The cast includes Gloria Peres, a popular and talented television actress who has already been highly praised this past year for her performance in O Quatrilho. Actress Patricia Pillar, Peres' cousin in Barreto's film, is in the international co-production O Monge e a Filha do Carrasco (The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter), directed by Walter Lima Jr, a name linked to the origins of 'Cinema Novo'.
While Sombras de Julho (Shadows of July), directed by Marco Altberg, tackles the conflict between two families in the interior of Brazil and the submission of justice to the authorities.
The current Grupo Novo slate also includes Fica comigo (Deep Ties), a film about youngsters who live in the streets of a big city, directed by Tizuka Yamasaki who received international acclaim in 1980 for Gaijin, a film about the lives of the Japanese immigrants to Brazil; Rosemberg Cariry's Corisco e Dadá (Corisco and Dada); Paulo Caldas and Lírio Ferreira's Baile Perfumado (Perfumed Ball); João Baptista de Andrade's O Cego Que Gritava Luz (The Blind Man who shouted Light); and Tata Amaral's Um Céu de Estrelas (A Starry Sky).
'Without doubt the nomination of O Quatrilho has reinforced expectations, because in the international market it is important to fix on the name of a country. The nomination was an important plus - Brazil is now on the minds of the buyers,' says Antonio Urano, director of Grupo Novo.
One of Grupo Novo's most visible films in Cannes was Jenipapo (The Interview), directed by first-time feature film director Monique Gardenberg, which dealt with the always explosive and delicate theme of agrarian reform and the position of the church in support of the movement of those 'sem-terra' (without land). With Canada's Henry Czerny and Belgium's Patrick Bauchau in leading roles, the film's subject matter became even more pertinent and timely when, in the middle of April this year, 19 people 'sem-terra' were killed by the police in the state of Pará. In Cannes, Jenipapo, which had been well received in Brazil, was handled by Canada's Malofilms, while Bruno Wainer and Marc Beauchamps' Lumiere was representing Sandra Werneck's romance, O Pequeno Diconario Amoroso (The Little Dictionary of Love).
The theme of Lima Barreto's O cangaceiro - the first Brazilian film known internationally after winning a prize in Cannes in 1953 - is back in three new productions: Cariry's Corsico e Dada and Caldas and Ferreira's Baile perfumado (Perfumed Ball) as well as a pure remake which is being produced by Paris Films, one of Brazil's largest distribution and exhibition companies which recently did well with the big-screen version of TV Globo's popular children's series, TV Colosso (Hot Dog Channel).
The Brazilian productions now on offer to the world are a result of the country's recent economic recovery and have surprised many in the international film community with their diversity of themes and styles - without the commitment to any one movement or tendency, as was the case in the past, for example, with the Cinema Novo. There are historic and romantic themes situated in the past and present, as well as contemporary urban dramas.
The quantity of accents and other languages has also come as a surprise to many: O Quatrilho has a heavy Italian accent; Carlota Joaquina is narrated in English by a Scotsman and spoken in Portuguese; A Monk and the Hangman's Daughter is spoken in English; while Jenipapo is spoken in both English and Portuguese.
Despite the current optimism, producers and directors realise that the continued rhythm and quality of productions and the support of the public are still fundamental to the consolidation of the internal Brazilian market and from that success in the international marketplace.
If 1995 was a good year for Brazilian cinema, 1996 is promising to be even better. Around 30 projects are in various stages of production, of which two are eagerly awaited by many. UGC is handling Carlos Diegues' Tieta do Agreste, a film which brings actress Sonia Braga (Dona Flor and Kiss of the Spider Woman) back to Brazilian cinema in an adaptation of a book by the country's most popular romantic novelist, Jorge Amado. Tieta, which could easily have had a competition berth in Cannes if it had been ready in time, is now scheduled to open in Brazil in August.
The other film is O que é isso companheiro by Bruno Barreto, another son of producer Luis Carlos Barreto, and is inspired by the kidnapping in Rio de Janeiro in 1968 of the American Ambassador (played by Alan Arkin) during the time of the military regime.
Luiz Carlos Barreto, father of Cinema Novo and the most celebrated name in the rebirth of Brazilian filmmaking, took a promo reel of the film, now in production, to Cannes, waging highly on the internationalisation of Brazilian cinema, which finally seems to have found its path to the big screen. A path, that, by necessity, passes through the Cannes Film Festival and the other major markets and festivals such as Venice, Berlin, San Sebastian, the AFM and Mifed.
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