"Portraits and excerpts from Brazilian films from all times. Actors, directors and images that affirm cinema."
The lively João Grilo and the sly Chicó are poor guys living in the hinterland who cheat a bunch of people in a small town in Northeastern Brazil. When they die, they have to be judged by Christ, the Devil and the Virgin Mary before they are admitted to paradise.
The story of Father Antonio Vieira, a 17th-century Portuguese priest who lived in Brazil and worked for better treatment of the Indians and to abolish slavery.
With the participation of great stars of television drama, the documentary promotes an emotional journey through the great moments of soap operas, celebrating its seven decades on Brazilian TV.
A family with financial difficulties has a brilliant idea: to make their daughter Lindinha get pregnant of the famous singer Ivan Cláudio to inherit a lot of money and get them out of the choke. They plan the right day that the girl should go out with the star and begin to follow his performance schedule. They just didn't count with one thing: the jealous Jennifer, wife of Ivan, who will not let this story cheap.
A true story that comically depicts the relationship between an ordinary woman and her three husbands, who live in the same house in a poor and arid small village of the Brazilian northeast.
"The Baron" wanted to commit the perfect heist involving 3 tons of money and no violence. For this he would need the right people willing to get 1 million dollars to take part in this job. Based on true events, in 2005, 168,000,000 Brazilian Real (almost 80,000,000 US dollars) were stolen from a Brazilian Central Bank (Federal Reserve), making it the biggest peace-time robbery in history. It was perhaps the most audacious bank heist ever.
This film seeks to rescue the role of filmmaker Neville D'Almeida by using many rare images, numerous interviews, vast archival and audiovisual material.
Theo is living the good life in an upscale Brazilian neighborhood. He’s a hardworking doctor, husband, and father. However, Theo has chosen his career over his family, and little by little he discovers that his world is crumbling around him. His beloved mentor and surrogate father is dying, and his wife announces that she wants a divorce. Yet nothing prepares him for the day when he comes home to discover that his 15-year-old son, Pedro, has disappeared. Theo takes to the road in search of his son. In a journey that leads him throughout Brazil, Theo discovers what really matters to him. Searching for his missing son, Theo finds himself.
Carolina, an aging local grande dame who works at a crossing point on the titular river, marries another late-in-life character, the dredging-boat operator Antonio. Not long after their union, she becomes intensely jealous of Antonio's fondness for their winsome goddaughter, Joana, and insinuates herself into a relationship brewing between Joana and a mystical gypsy gold salesman. Soon, tempers are flaring, mystical secrets are being revealed and death is hovering over the central characters.
Ernesto is 50 years old and carries with him a tragedy from the past, which he hides behind a good-humored smile. He meets 25-year-old Evelina when helping her on the road after her car breaks down. Both are going to the same hotel and, little by little, build a solid friendship based also on the difficulties faced throughout life, since Evelina is emotionally hurt due to her husband's infidelity.
"Kilas" (a Portuguese misrepresentation of the English word "killers") is the nickname of a petty con-man who gets involved with a deadly ring of spies.
At the end of the 19th century, an influential man diplomatically defended the city of Curitiba against the action of revolutionaries in the south of Brazil to depose the country's president.
A road movie that shows the simple things in life in a poetic light through the eyes of three young people with Down syndrome, who love movies and work at the video library of the institution where they have always lived in. One day, inspired by the movie "Thelma & Louise", they decide to run away using the gardener's old car to have a freedom experience. They travel to uncommon places in search for three simple wishes: Stalone wants to see the sea, Aninha looks for a husband and Marcio needs to fly. During this search, they embark on several adventures as if life was just a children's play
An accident at a construction site, resulting in one death, sets one worker off on a struggle for justice that exposes the mechanisms of exploitation and the class relations of a country that had undergone one decade of fast-paced ‘conservative modernisation’ at the hands of the military. As a sort of sequel to the classic The Guns (1964), following the fate of those characters as they move from enforcers of exploitation to exploited, it offers more than a snapshot of the period: the correspondent time lapses in fiction and reality capture the passage of a chunk of Brazilian history between the two films, and, therefore, also the transformations in cinematographic approaches to the social and political between the two moments. Equally daring in content and form, and in the originality of the adequacy of one to the other, it won the Silver Bear at Berlin.
Noronha is a low middle-class civil servant who lives with his frustrated wife Gorda and their four eldest daughters. The youngest one, virginal Silene, is unexpectedly sent back from boarding school after killing a female cat and her seven newborns in a hysterical fit. Many dark family secrets will emerge from that episode leading to tragic events.
A young girl named Marcela lives with her dad, Jose, a lighthouse keeper, and old Daniel on an island. The only contact the girl has with the world outside her home is by a boat with four sailors that pays a visit to the island in order to take them supplies. Daniel, who not only protects her from her dad's strictness but also teaches her how to be literate, is her source of tenderness. Her dad thinks she should be away from the world - though she wishes she could spend a few days in town. Then one day, as she has her first period and becomes a woman, she starts feeling sexuality through the blowing wind, which she talks to.
The dreams and problems of three friends: Malagueta, an inveterate gambler; Perus, former factory worker who abandoned the assembly line to earn his living at the billiards; and Bacanaço, trickster who puts on chic airs, always dreaming of performing the ultimate big swindle.
Dóris is a widow and keeps a small restaurant in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Two of her customers, the old friends Freitas and Otávio, fall in love with her, and start competing for her affection.
Based on Erico Verissimo's masterpiece, O Sobrado follows the Terra-Cambará family during the siege imposed to their house by enemies due to political differences. As the siege goes, the family tensions start to show off.
1920s. Vitalino, a small farmer from São Vicente sees his father die of the epidemic which decimated the country. Some years later, of all the brothers, Vitalino is the strongest and takes his father’s place in the house. But the village is too small for his aspirations and he decides to head to Brazil, leaving his sisters in charge of the household. In parallel with Vitalino’s story, If I Were a Thief… I’d Steal portrays the world of Paulo Rocha rummaging through his films and ghosts over the years.
Person is a documentary about the life and work of filmmaker Luiz Sérgio Person. The documentary brings the reconstruction of the history of the São Paulo filmmaker through the personal journey of his daughter, Marina. Through interviews with friends, family, and people who worked with Person, she seeks to discover more than dates and biographical data.
Hugo Kari is a famous singer who decides to take a break from his schedule to find his father, ambassador Mário Menezes. Together, they try to adjust a relationship shattered by time and conflict.
In the 40s, a sergeant is ordered to escort a political prisoner from Paulo Afonso to Aracaju, Brazil. During the trip, there's a change in the Government and he is ordered to release the prisoner. But he decides to go all the way.
Life and work of brazilian actor, poet and songwriter Mário Lago.
A public appearance from international soccer player Marquinhos at Aurelio's bar launches a series of vignettes which spotlight Brazil's obsession with the round ball game
The ups and downs in the lives of immigrants from post-war Europe, arriving in Brazil in search of a better future.
Comedy in 4 segments. In "Arroz e Feijão" (Rice and Beans), owner of a boarding-house seduces her young countryboy tenant. In "As Três Virgens" (The Three Virgins) three spinsters are influenced by the behaviour of their teenager niece, whom they are lodging. In "O Arremate" (The Purchase) a colonist turns his virgin daughter in to a landowner, to have his debts forgiven. And, finally, in "Vereda Tropical" (Tropical Trail), a man becomes sexually obsessed by a watermelon, to the point of having sexual intercourse with it. The stories are based on prize-winner short stories, from a Playboy contest.
"Impressões" rescues the history of the Brazilian press since 1808, when the "Correio Brasiliense" clandestinely reached Rio de Janeiro after being edited in London by Hipólito José da Costa, and spans until 1986. It's the first documentary to depict the history of the Brazilian journalistic press.
The story of Francisco, a very simple and poor man whose dream was to see his children become country music stars, and who made all the efforts to make it happen.
Manuel is a crafty cowboy and swindler who lives to serve his two great loves – his fiancée Das Dô, and his mule Beija-fulô – and his business of selling unsound horses to suckers. The killer Targino arrives in town looking for a horse. Thinking that he is being clever, Manuel sells a sick horse to the assassin. Targino swears that he is going to kill Manuel, and dishonor Das Dô’s reputation after he’s dead. Under pressure, Manuel calls on the magic of Toniquinho das Pedras to protect his body. However, the witchdoctor demands the mule Beija-fulô as payment. Manuel, sees himself in the dilemma between having to choose between his fiancée Das Dô, and the mule, Beija-fulô.
Tribute to the world of soccer in Brazil. Group of ex-soccer players gather in a bar in São Paulo to remember old stories of their prime.
During the Brazilian military dictatorship, a doctor forged autopsy reports to hide the victims of the regime.
Many stories revolving around a poor couple who, in spite of hating each other, still live together under the same roof.
In the 1930s, a blacksmith is accused of murdering his wife and becomes a hero and political leader.
An anthology divided in three segments, helmed by three of the most important Brazilian directors of the 20th century. A mother becomes involved with black magic and offers a virgin woman to the Devil in exchange for curing the illness of her only son. A poor laborer is the only man in the village with courage to face a group of guerrilheiros ("guerrilla ghosts") that haunt the minds of the locals. A young man is afflicted by fear of reptiles and spiders and the fear of being buried alive. When he undergoes a shocking event, he becomes unresponsive and is mistakenly buried, only to revive in the coffin after burial.
A small group of artists travels the Brazilian backlands presenting a show. Upon arriving in a small village, they find an abandoned city with houses, a church, and a fountain spouting clean water, like a miracle of a biblical desert. Tired of and battered by their life as wanderers, the artists decide to settle in the village and start a new community, assigning themselves different roles from those they have played throughout their lives. This new arrangement, however, will reveal these artists the worst vices of the civilian life.
Small-town trickster Pedro Malasartes has to face two great enemies: Próspero, who will do anything to impede such a lazy, cowardly person like Malasartes from dating his sister, Áurea; and Death incarnated, who wants to take a vacation after two thousand years collecting lives and intends on tricking Malasartes into assuming his tedious job.
Augusto moves with his family to an abandoned farm, inherited from his grandfather, hoping to put his life back on track. The property, however, carries the karma of the betrayal of the slave Couraça who seeks revenge against Augusto's family.
The story of Pelé, from his birth to his rise as one of the most prominent players in both Brazilian and worldwide soccer.
In 1836 Brazil, a hawker arrives in a small village in the State of Rio Grande do Sul to avenge the death of a friend. He becomes friends with an outgoing knight, but they start loving the same woman. Besides, Farrapos War begins, and they take different positions in the conflict, leading to rivalry.
Life in a small Brazilian town is shaken by a crime: somebody stole the money from the selling of a goat.
A retired carpenter waits for his family's visit, but they don't show up. The gardener of the home he lives in, offers him a lift home; but when he gets there, a surprise puts his memories in check.
The life of a famous Brazilian film and television actor, including testimonials from people who knew him and worked with him, as well as excerpts from films and videos in which he acted.
After the coup of 1964, the media conglomerate Diários Associados organized a campaign called "Gold for Brazil," exhorting the people to donate wealth to the military government. The symbol of the campaign was the wedding ring, sealing the union between the people and the State. The film picks up the trail of the millions collected, but never channeled back into society.
Luciano, fresh out of jail, was taken by his brother, Flórido, to serve in the home of wealthy Alfreda. He was surprised when she told him that her greatest desire was to see the Virgin Mary. Now comes this rich land owner with her sublime pretensions. Isn't it enough for her to have an Aston Martin and a Jaguar in the garage and ten different dresses per season? It was all professor Heschel's fault. Or someone else's. Anyway, to go beyond the promise is heresy. Alfreda said that she wouldn't rest until she saw the Virgin and made her some questions. Filipe Quinta, the Forger, says he has a solution. Meanwhile, Bahia, her husband, listens do music.
Third part of Ruy Guerra's trilogy initiated in "Os Fuzis" (1964) and "A Queda" (1978).
After 20 years missing, João Grilo returns to Taperoá to join his old friend Chicó and, after his story of resurrection spreads, he is disputed as an electoral candidate by the two most powerful politicians in the city.
The Life of Mirrors is one of the sections of the exhibition Luis Miguel Cintra - Small Theatre of the World. A commission by Serralves Foundation to Regina Guimarães and Saguenail, and constructed after an unpublished interview with Luis Miguel Cintra, this film is the result of a long and painstaking exercise of selecting and editing excerpts from films by Manoel de Oliveira in which Cintra participates as an actor. In this way, The Life of Mirrors is a reflective, retrospective essay film, which opens the Carte Blanche, thus establishing a gateway to Luis Miguel Cintra's cinematographic and cinephile career.
