The Brazilwood Man

Gordos e Magros

After staying the day at the gym, eating and drinking, Carlos, a fat man, go meet his parents, Helena and Jorge, at the party they are throwing. He is drunk and end up having a fight and leaving home.

Rebelião em Vila Rica

Five Times Favela

Five segments about the hardships faced by people living in slums on hills in Rio de Janeiro.

O Aleijadinho

O Aleijadinho, a study of the work of Antonio Francisco Lisboa, the architect whose cathedral de Andrade had assisted in the restoration of more than 20 years earlier. de Andrade dedicated the film to his father, who had sent him on the expedition.

Brasilia, Contradictions of a New City

In 1967, de Andrade was invited by the Italian company Olivetti to produce a documentary on the new Brazilian capital city of Brasília. Constructed during the latter half of the 1950s and founded in 1960, the city was part of an effort to populate Brazil’s vast interior region and was to be the embodiment of democratic urban planning, free from the class divisions and inequalities that characterize so many metropolises. Unsurprisingly, Brasília, Contradições de uma Cidade Nova (Brasília, Contradictions of a New City, 1968) revealed Brasília to be utopic only for the wealthy, replicating the same social problems present in every Brazilian city. (Senses of Cinema)

Improvised and Purposeful: Cinema Novo

Originally produced for German TV, Improvised and Purposeful is a firsthand look at the "Cinema Novo" movement (otherwise known as the 'Brazilian New Wave'). Director Joaquim Pedro de Andrade focuses on six Cinema Novo filmmakers working in Rio in 1967.

Cat Skin

A few weeks before Carnival, slum boys organize huntings for stray cats, whose leather can be used in Samba percussion instruments, like the Tamborim, a small drum.

The Priest and the Girl

In a small town in Minas Gerais, the arrival of a young priest causes a commotion in the conservative atmosphere of the place, aggravated by the sudden attraction this priest feels for a beautiful girl. This forbidden love affair soon turns into an unbridled passion.

Macunaima

Born a fully grown black man in a village in the Brazilian jungle, Macunaíma later magically transforms into a white man before making an adventure-filled trip to the city of São Paulo. Once there, he becomes something of a dandy, falling in love with Ci, a revolutionary who dies in an accidental bombing. After robbing a ruthless industrialist, Macunaima returns to his village where he finds his newly acquired knowledge and possessions of little use.

The Conspirators

The real story of the failed attempt of an independence coup by a group of intellectuals and rich men during Brazil's colonial days, from its beginning to the execution of Tiradentes.

The Poet of the Castle

A 10-minute portrait of modernist poet and de Andrade’s godfather, Manuel Bandeira, is clear in its affection for it subject, though like many New-Waveish films of the time, depicts the modern urban landscape as an ominous and alienating force.

Garrincha: Joy of the People

Documentary about the most famous dribbler in Brazilian Soccer (some say in Soccer's history!) at the zenith of his career, showing classic scenes of 1958 and 1962 World Cup. Garrincha was a very original and talented player, having curved legs. Women and alcohol were his passion, and the cause of his later decadence. After a glorious career, he died in financial misery, forgotten.

The Master of Apipucos

Documentary about influential Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre, made in his country house in Apipucos, Pernambuco (Northeast Brazil).

Cinema Novo

A deep investigation, in the way of a poetic essay, on one of the main Latin American movements in cinema, analyzed via the thoughts of its main authors, who invented, in the early 1960s, a new way of making movies in Brazil, with a political attitude, always near to people's problems, that combined art and revolution.

Erotic Stories

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.

The Language of Persuasion

Short documentary about the ideology of publicity and mass medias.