Doc no Rio: Brazilian Cinema Online and Offline

Meet an original selection of contemporary Brazilian cinema Doc no Rio which livened up the waterfront of Portugal’s capital but a few days ago. Meet the middle generation of Brazilian filmmakers whose films straddle the fine line between documentary and fiction while seizing their place in the catalogues of prestigious film festivals. Enjoy an online film experience offered in the past days to Lisbon’s viewers by the Doc Alliance festival Doclisboa at DAFilms.com from June 29 to July 5 for free!

Although the fall October days traditionally linked with the documentary feast Doclisboa are still far away as the hot summer is drawing near, the festival definitely does not idle, enlivening Lisbon’s waterfront. On June 26 to 28, the spectacular space of the national monument Gare Marítima de Alcantara in the historical port hosted the first showcase of contemporary Brazilian documentary Doc no Rio. The selection of the most interesting films of the young film scene was prepared by Brazilian curator Maria Mendes, who is associated with the platform for the development of Brazilian documentary Brazil Documenta as well as with the biggest local festival It's All True. The first edition was a big success; what about its online version?

Short Brazilian cinema is represented by two films made by young filmmaker André Novais Oliveira. The thirty-year-old director who has already managed to introduce two of his films at Cannes IFF during his budding film career enters the showcase with his earlier project GHOSTS and his recent work ABOUT A MONTH. Both films capture the ordinary, sometimes even boring everydayness; at the second glance, however, it turns into a clever play with fictional elements. While GHOSTS confronts the viewers with the unpromising lives of two young graduates, a love drama and an economic drama is played out in front of their eyes. While watching the fragile communication rituals of two lovers at the beginning of their relationship, the viewers can reflect on the degree of manipulation captured in ABOUT A MONTH; the protagonists being nobody else but the director and his real girlfriend.

The complicated social situation of contemporary Brazil, afflicted by the economic crisis and cut in two due to its dramatically poor and rich social classes, is captured by director Adirley Queirós. His feature-length documentary draws on the history of Brazil’s capital. The main representative part of the country had a single task at the time of its formation; to present the progress and success of local society. However, how to cope with the poor and unwanted who are coming to touch this success? The film HOOD MOVIE: IS THE CITY ONE ONLY? tells the story of the city of Ceilândia which has served as a “disposal site” since the construction of the new Brasília for all indigent and racially inconvenient citizens who would dare to dream of living inside the metropolis.

The last filmmakers selected for the programme virtually complete the work of their colleagues, completely abandoning the documentary genre and moving on to fiction. The filmmaking duo Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra are represented by their common student film THE WHITE SHEET from 2003. The short oppressive story of coping with the death of an infant has won international renown due to its screening at the prestigious Cannes IFF.

Meet contemporary Brazilian cinema across genres, continents and the online and offline world!

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