Film festival brings Brazil to Brown
Evan Pelz
Issue date: 3/7/08 Section: Arts & Culture
Brazilian filmmaker Joao Moreira Salles believes that international audiences see only certain themes in Brazilian cinema - think of violence in "City of God." But he's hoping that CineBRASIL, the Brazilian film festival the University is currently holding, will demonstrate the intricacies of his country's films.
The festival, which began Wednesday and runs through Sunday, is presenting 11 feature films, documentary or shorts. Screenings and panel discussions, taking place at the Avon Cinema, MacMillan Hall and the Salomon Center, are free to Brown and Rhode Island School of Design students, faculty and staff, said Student Coordinator Caroline Landau '09.
"Brazilian film is renown for being thoughtful, provocative and filled with beautiful music," Landau said. The films deal with "military dictatorship, samba, soccer, music, Brazilian immigration in the U.S. - all aspects of Brazilian culture."
"Brazil is the largest country in Latin America with a strong and growing economy, interesting political dynamic with social movements that continue to change the country and a vibrant and rich culture with a long tradition of producing excellent internationally acclaimed films, and this is a way to highlight and spotlight that," said Associate Professor of History James Green, director of the Center for Latin American Studies.
CLAS Outreach Coordinator Jose Torrealba said one of the most unique parts of the festival is the presence of two Brazilian documentary film makers - Salles and Tania Cypriano - whose works are being screened on College Hill.
Cypriano will be part of a panel discussion on Brazilian immigration to the United States after the Saturday screening of her film, "Grandma Has a Video Camera."
"I think that one of the main contributions of the film is that it gives a face - or rather, faces - to a family within the abstractness of immigrants," Cypriano wrote in an e-mail. "Whenever people start talking about a population under a larger topic, they forget the human side of the people they are talking about."
The festival, which began Wednesday and runs through Sunday, is presenting 11 feature films, documentary or shorts. Screenings and panel discussions, taking place at the Avon Cinema, MacMillan Hall and the Salomon Center, are free to Brown and Rhode Island School of Design students, faculty and staff, said Student Coordinator Caroline Landau '09.
"Brazilian film is renown for being thoughtful, provocative and filled with beautiful music," Landau said. The films deal with "military dictatorship, samba, soccer, music, Brazilian immigration in the U.S. - all aspects of Brazilian culture."
"Brazil is the largest country in Latin America with a strong and growing economy, interesting political dynamic with social movements that continue to change the country and a vibrant and rich culture with a long tradition of producing excellent internationally acclaimed films, and this is a way to highlight and spotlight that," said Associate Professor of History James Green, director of the Center for Latin American Studies.
CLAS Outreach Coordinator Jose Torrealba said one of the most unique parts of the festival is the presence of two Brazilian documentary film makers - Salles and Tania Cypriano - whose works are being screened on College Hill.
Cypriano will be part of a panel discussion on Brazilian immigration to the United States after the Saturday screening of her film, "Grandma Has a Video Camera."
"I think that one of the main contributions of the film is that it gives a face - or rather, faces - to a family within the abstractness of immigrants," Cypriano wrote in an e-mail. "Whenever people start talking about a population under a larger topic, they forget the human side of the people they are talking about."