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 film's portrayal of Cypriano's own grandmother makes this current issue more real, Cypriano wrote, as the audience sees a story of a transnational immigrant and understands "how it is not easy to make that final decision of where one really wants to live."
Salles, whose films "Entreatos" and "Santiago" were screened Thursday evening, said one of the great aspects of the festival is presenting the Brown community with Brazilian film normally unnoticed by the international community.
"Brazilian cinema is not really well known," Salles said. "You have a couple of examples, but it's really rare to have Brazilian films to be able to transcend Brazilian borders."
As a documentary filmmaker, Salles said he finds a lot of value in showing these films as a complement to other types of Brazilian cinema.
"There's a very strong documentary movement in Brazil," Salles said. "Documentary was always underneath Brazilian cinema. ... It's a joy to know ... that universities in the States are interested in the films."
Salles is also pleased with the variety of cultural themes present in the films at the festival.
"What I hope is that Brazilian cinema is not confined to a certain kind of niche," Salles said. He explained that usually, Americans are only exposed to films that portray certain themes of Brazilian culture, violence being the most recent.
"I have a sense that outside Brazil, Brazilian cinema is only about violence and a certain aspect of Brazilian society," he added. "Suddenly, American audiences are seeing another kind of Brazilian cinema, making it more complex than a certain kind of film that only shows one kind of things."
The festival is sponsored by CLAS, the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies and the Creative Arts Council.
In addition, it is also receiving support from Cinemateca Brasileira, a Brazilian film preservation group, the Renaissance Providence Hotel and Oliver Kwon '87, whose made a "generous donation" for the festival, according to the CLAS Web site.
"I chose to donate the money for this festival to continue a vision I had five years ago, which was to promote the development and preservation of Latin American film as a cultural and historical resource," Kwon wrote in an e-mail, provided to The Herald by International Advancement Officer Joshua Taub '93.
Celina Pedrosa '11, who holds citizenship in both Brazil and the United States, said she is glad that Brown is holding such a festival.
Pedrosa said that a flaw with many Latin American studies programs is that many overlook Brazil and its vibrant culture, which includes "not just samba and beaches, but art, literature and politics." This culture is present in the upcoming film festival, giving students like Pedrosa "an opportunity to see these films I normally wouldn't have been able to see."
Pedrosa commends the University on its ability to emphasize nations not normally spotlighted at other universities.
"It's a big deal," Pedrosa said. "My mom's coming up (from Massachusetts), which is exciting."
