Luso-Brazilian Film Screenings: Festivals’ Picks @ the Media Commons Theatre

Luso-Brazilian Film Screenings: Festivals’ Picks @ the Media Commons Theatre



The Department of Spanish and Portuguese in collaboration with the University of Toronto Libraries would like to invite you to the Luso-Brazilian Film Screenings: Festivals’ Picks that will be held on Thursdays of the month of March at the Media Commons Theatre (Robarts Library, 3rd floor).



PLACE    Media Commons Theatre (Robarts Library, 3rd Floor)
DATE    March 5, 12, 19 and 26, 2015
TIME:    7:00 pm
Screening 1 (Mar 5, 2015):

Found Memories (Histórias que só existem quando lembradas, Brazil, 2011) Directed by Julia Murat

Each citizen of Jotuomba plays an integral role in village life. Madalena is responsible for baking bread; each morning she stacks her rolls as Antonio prepares the coffee. The two share a morning ritual of arguments and insults, followed by an amicable cup of coffee on the bench outside Antonio’s shop. At midday the church bells ring, summoning the villagers to mass. In the early evening, they all share a meal together. And so life proceeds in Jotuomba, the days languidly drifting into one another. The only variations seem to be in the weather. One day Rita arrives looking for a place to stay. She came upon the village while traveling through the valley, following the unused railroad tracks. She is a photographer, intent on capturing the village’s special allure. Initially reticent, the townsfolk gradually open up to her, sharing their stories and allowing themselves to be photographed. Rita is comfortable with technologies old and new, and Madalena teaches her to knead dough by the light of an oil lamp. Only the village priest continues to find Rita’s presence worrisome, especially when she begins asking about the locked cemetery. It was awarded in several international film festivals, including San Sebastian, Lima, Reykjavik, and Washington DC.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KX6dfb8lPs

Introduced by Hudson Moura

He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Spanish & Portuguese at the University of Toronto. He teaches Luso-Hispanic literature and cinema. Presently he is working in the post-production of a documentary featuring Brazilian-Canadian dancer Newton Moraes. In addition, he serves as a film programmer and hands-on workshop facilitator in international film festivals in Toronto.

Screening 2 (Mar 12, 2015):

Tabu (Portugal, 2012) Directed by Miguel Gomes
A Portuguese explorer making his wistful way through the wilds of Africa, haunted by ghosts and threatened by crocodiles, is a character in a movie that is watched by Pilar (Teresa Madruga), a middle-aged single woman living in modern Lisbon. Her unadventurous, middle-class euro zone existence is melancholy in its own way. Like the explorer, Pilar is filmed in narrow-screen black-and-white, which casts a glow of nostalgic mystery over her everyday dealings with friends and neighbors. She teams up with her deceased neighbor’s maid to seek out a man who has a secret connection to her past life as a farm owner at the foothill of Mount Tabu in Africa. It has received many prizes, including two awards at Berlin Film Festival.
Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi261072665/?ref_=tt_ov_vi

Introduced by João Pedro Vicente Faustino

He has a Licenciatura degree in Modern Languages and Literatures, specializing in the areas of Portuguese and English, and a post-graduate degree in language and literature teaching, both from the University of Lisbon. He has been visiting lecturer in Portuguese at the universities of Delhi, India, and Granada, Spain. João is interested in the study of Second Language Teaching/Learning and of Contemporary Literature.

Screening 3 (Mar 19, 2015):

City of God (Cidade de Deus, Brazil, 2002) Directed by Fernando Meirelles

Cidade de Deus is an overwhelming film about the life of the notorious outer suburb of Rio de Janeiro of the same name, based on a book by Paulo Lins. The streets of the world’s most notorious slum are a place where combat photographers fear to tread, police rarely go and residents are lucky if they live to the age of 20. In the midst of the oppressive crime and violence, a frail and scared young boy will grow up to discover that he can view the harsh realities of his surroundings with an artistic eye. In the face of impossible odds, his brave ambition to become a professional photographer becomes a window into his world and ultimately his way out. Nominated for 4 Oscars, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3639516697/?ref_=tt_ov_vi

Introduced by Abigail Friendly

She is a planning scholar and urban researcher. She obtained a Ph.D. in Planning from the University of Toronto and a Masters in Global Politics from the London School of Economics. She studies issues of participatory planning and practice, governance and state-society relations, social justice, civil society and urban politics in the context of planning in Brazilian cities. She has lectured on Latin American geographies and given guest lectures on the Brazilian urban context. She has also worked in the public sector and as a consultant on public and urban policy including social housing and urban agriculture, both in Canada and Brazil.

Screening 4 (Mar 26, 2015):

Neighboring Sounds (O Som ao Redor, Brazil, 2012) Directed by Kléber Mendonça Filho

Meandering past the residents of a wealthy street in Recife, where private security guards ply their trade, this self-assured debut portrays the two sides of the Brazilian Dream. Filho scratches the varnish of a culture that revolves around paranoia, fear and revenge. In Neighboring Sounds, the director builds soundscapes not with pulverizing sonic waves but with a dog’s insistent bark, the faraway chatter of children playing, the sudden crash of cars at an intersection. Rather than a global apocalypse, the events depicted here are little more than a languid handful of days at an affluent block in the northeast city of Recife. Under Mendonça Filho’s wily direction, however, this seemingly low-key stroll through upper-class Brazilian streets and apartments turns out to be just as chocked with anxiety. Won many prizes around the world, including in the festivals of Rotterdam, São Paulo, Manila, Porto and Toronto Film Critics.

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3490030105/?ref_=tt_ov_vi

Introduced by Mike Filippov

He was born in Montreal, raised in Rio de Janeiro and educated in Ontario. He is an all around sound guy. He free-lanced in recording studios, was the technical director of CIUT FM and mixed music at Toronto’s Downtown Jazz Festival before taking on the film business. He currently works as a production sound recordist, post production sound editor/mixer and documentarian.

Language

All movies are in Portuguese with English subtitles. Each movie will be introduced and contextualized by a specialist and a Q&A session will follow each screening.

Free Admission

Admission to this event is free, but please take the time to complete our event registration form:

http://goo.gl/forms/14mdFUXNGs

Organizers

Hudson Moura (Department of Spanish & Portuguese)

Fabiano Rocha (University of Toronto Libraries)



Support

General Consulate of Brazil in Toronto

 

Contact

For further information regarding this event, please contact: fabiano . rocha @ utoronto . ca

Enrique Diaz @ UofT

Yesterday, Brazilian actor Enrique Diaz visited UofT. He shared with students enrolled in the course Brazilian Puzzle: Culture & Identity his experience working at the same time in television (Felizes para Sempre?) and theatre (Cine Monstro). His critically acclaimed adaptation into Portuguese of Canadian playwright Daniel McIvor’s trilogy will be presented this week in Toronto at Progress International Festival of Performance and Ideas.

Enrique Diaz talking to students at the Brazilian culture course

Knowledge helps and directs human beings to develop while understanding the meaning of life. Knowledge is passed down from our ancestors to new generations through different medium. One of the most common and easy ways is through stories; this is because story telling is more accessible to people, stories can reach uneducated people as opposed to books. Theatre is another form of communication that derives from story telling. It is very effective because when the events are being portrayed, the viewers can relate easier than a book. I believe theatre is a great media for the Brazilian people to get educated about their past and create a sense of national identity throughout Brazil, including the rural and humble areas.

Artists and filmmakers in Brazil want to create an effective connection between the public and their national identity, this is done so by reworking social problems like identity, politics, national roots and reenacting history; these scenarios are brought back to life through the use of film, novels, paintings, songs, plays, and even the popular telenovelas. Enrique Diaz is one of the artists that have helped the Brazilian people engage with their identity. We were fortunate to have him as a guest during our lecture. He explained that he loves his work so much that it is difficult for him to draw the lines between his life and his job. He didn’t go to university and created a theatre company with his friends in 1988. He was fascinated with theatre and wanted to be able to play around with the elements of theatre, and perhaps be able to reach more people while at the same time allowing them to participate in theatre. The focus of the company was to allow people to play with theatre without strict guidelines, and it worked very well since the company has a strong presence in the world of theatre. He said that the amounts of people you reach with theatre are many but it is a specific type of people.

Moreover, he explained how he likes to be open to different ideas, that is why he can do experimental theatre, Television and film. When he is working he likes to be related to desire, but he also has a strong ethic sense. He never talks about desire in a non-ethic way and he is concerned about the public, at the same time, he does not know whom they are, so he does not feel like he is responsible for them, nonetheless, he tries to show ethic sense in his work. He tries to take prejudice to show that desire is what moves the world. Additionally, he told us how he wants to go back to studying, he loves to read, that’s why he is going back to university to study literature. He explained that human beings get tired of patterns and literature is simple yet, stories are very important, and it can nourish him in terms of sensibility. Thus expanding his knowledge, as an actor and therefore he will be able to reach more people in Brazil. When I asked him what he believed was more influential in terms of reaching people he responded that theatre is more influential than television because it is where actors can show who they are the most.

I believe it is fascinating how acting and theatre can reach people who are illiterate and don’t have the means to become literate. It allows those who have nothing; still have access to knowledge and history, which I think is very important for the people of Brazil. Social issues are also expressed and explored through theatre, allowing the public who do not access to education, to still learn about them and get informed. As I said before, stories are passed down through generations enabling societies to strive and evolve. Theatre is a great resource to reach people in the most personal ways as well as it makes the information accessible to the masses, and makes stories easier to understand.

Review written by Veronica Salazar 

(Student — PRT255 Brazilian Puzzle: Culture & Identity)

Students of the course PRT255 Brazilian Puzzle

Brazilian actor and director Enrique Diaz talking to students @ UofT

Documentary Screening: “Vote of Faith" by Maya Mayblin

Latin American Studies Presents: Vote of Faith Documentary Screening

by Maya Mayblin from Edinburgh University and Katherine Clough from Oxford University

Date: Thu. 5 Mar, 2015 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Location: Anthropology Building Room 246

Debate post-screening with director Maya Mayblin and professor Hudson Moura.

Vote of Faith follows the final, chaotic weeks of a mayoral election in the dusty interior of northeast Brazil. But this is in no ordinary election: a Catholic priest, Padre Jorge, is pitting his all against the incumbulent elite, a wealthy family which has ruled the town for decades, During their tenure, roads have crumbled, schools and health posts deteriorated, and water is in short supply. As an ordinary citizen, but also ‘Man of God’, Padre Jorge struggles to embody both secular and religious values. His odyssey offers an intimate window onto the complex intersection of radical hope and small-town politics.

Film Duration: 50 minutes

To view the trailer please visit: Vote of Faith
There is no registration for this event. All are welcome

Conversa com Enrique Diaz

Brazilian actor, Enrique Diaz (Carandiru and House of Sand), is coming to Toronto in two weeks to perform in Portuguese his adaptation to Canadian play-writer Daniel MacIvor trilogy.

Enrique will talk to our students on February 10th at 3pm at NF332. All are welcome!