The very first Brazilica Film Festival launched last week with the first film in the programme, Looking For Rio which showed at The Brink on Wed 1 July.
Building on the success of the film screenings throughout Brazilica in previous years, the stand-alone Brazilica Film Festival, in association with Fazenda Rodizio Bar & Grill, will present twelve films celebrating Brazilian life and culture; screened at various venues across the city between Wed 1 – Sun 19 July, with the majority of films free to attend.
The whole film spectrum will be covered with everything from comedy and drama features as well as some of the very best Brazilian documentaries and biographies.
Documentary Looking for Rio opened the Film Festival on Wed 1 July at The Brink. In Rio de Janeiro, four football clubs share the Brazilians’ hearts: Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco de Gama and Botafogo. For more than a century they have been fighting in various tournaments to win and pile up titles. On the eve of the 20th Football World Cup, Eric Cantona goes back in time to focus on the legend of the Carioca Football.
Lovers of samba music will not want to miss the music documentary O Samba on Tue 7 July at FACT in which composer and singer Martinho da Vila guides audiences through the world of Samba showing that it cannot be reduced simply to dance and lascivious hip movements but is also word, language, text, lyrics and simply said a way of life.
Other documentaries throughout the festival include Waste Land (Lixo Extraordinário) on Wed 8 July at A Small Cinema which follows renowned artist Vik Muniz over three years as he travels to the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho. Collaborating with the catadores—self-designated recyclable pickers, as they begin to re-imagine their lives, the film offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit. Then Cidade Cinza (Grey City) on Wed 15 July at FACT which documents a new way of graffiti painting born in Sao Paulo – receiving adoration from the public but scorn from city officials. Soon a new visual pollution combat act made the City Hall cover their paintings in grey in their hometown.
There iss also a double bill of drama, which started with Clenched Fists (Com Os Punhos Cerrados) on Thu 2 July at Brazilica Barracão which shows Eugenio, Joaquim and João’s hunger for freedom and revolution. From a clandestine radio they hack the traditional radio stations, overwhelming them with poetry, rebel music, quotes, sound archives and provocations, attacking the bourgeois and capitalistic society.
Then on Thu 9 July Oscar-nominated City of God (Cidade de Deus) will be screened at St Luke’s Bombed Out Church. Depicting the growth of organized crime in the Cidade de Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1980s, the film follows a young boy’s brave ambition to become a professional photographer in the face of impossible odds, which becomes a window into his world and ultimately his way out.
This will be followed by City of God 10 Years Later (Cidade De Deus 10 Anos Depois) on Mon 13 July at Frederiks. Filmed 10 years after the Oscar-nominated movie’s release, in this documentary co-directors Cavi Borges and Luciano Vidigal catch up with the film’s cast and re-visit the legacy of the film on the communities and question whether culture and art can be a driver for social changes.
Next on the line-up is a double dose of comedy capers. Firstly, the charming comedy-drama The Ballroom (Chega de Saudade) on Sun 5 July at Brazilica Barracão where lust, love, desire and disappointment are all put to the test on the dance floor of the local San Paolo neighbourhood dance hall – let the dance battle commence. Then the family comedy Cine Holliúdy on Sun 12 July at Brazilica Barracão which centres around storyteller and kung fu movie maniac Francisgleydisson who must fight to keep his passion for cinema alive when the arrival of television in the countryside of Ceará, in the 70s, puts into question his small movie theatre business.
Two musical movie classics will also be screened at the festival including That Night in Rio on Sat 11 July at Museum of Liverpool. Larry Martin entertains crowds with his skilful impersonations of airline czar Baron Manuel Duarte. When Duarte and his wife see his act, they’re so impressed they hire him to impersonate Duarte to save his airline and ward off his competition. However, Larry finds himself drawn to Duarte’s wife, much to the chagrin and confusion of his girlfriend. Starring Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda.
Then 1933’s Flying Down to Rio on Tue 14 July at St Luke’s Bombed Out Church. In this musical romance starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, choreographer and musician Fred Ayers labours to help his friend and band leader Roger Bond romance gorgeous Brazilian Belinha De Rezende. Along the way, Ayers and singer Honey Hale stage marvellous dance numbers and conspire to make sure the shows go on, including a breathtaking dance number on the exterior of a formation of airplanes flying over the audience.
Closing the Film Festival on Sun 19 July is the exciting crime adventure Trash showing at The Brink. Set in Brazil, three kids who make a discovery in a garbage dump soon find themselves on the run from the police and trying to right a terrible wrong.
There will also be a special Graffiti Art Exhibition at FACT running throughout the festival from Wed 1 – Sun 19 July which compliments the screening of Cidade Cinza. Inspired by the work of graffiti artists Os Gemeos, Cranio and others, the exhibition presents the style of graffiti shown in the documentary that has made the bohemian suburb of Vila Madalena in Sao Paulo a tourist attraction, and brought some of the artist’s worldwide fame.
Brazilica Film Festival is brought in association with Fazenda Rodizio Bar & Grill which is based in Exchange Flags in Liverpool City Centre.
So grab your popcorn, take your seat and enjoy a Brazil-iant evening at the movies with these fantastic additions to this year’s jam-packed programme of events. With further music and event announcements to come, 2015 is certain to be the best Brazilica Festival ever.
For further information on the film festival visit www.brazilicafestival.co.uk/brazilica-film-festival or follow on www.facebook.com/brazilicafilmfest or twitter @BrazilicaFilm
Keep up to date with all Brazilica Festival activity at:
www.facebook.com/brazilicafestival
Twitter @BrazilicaFest
Film Festival Listings
Looking For Rio (PG)
Wed 1 July
The Brink, 21 Parr Street, Liverpool, L1 4JN
8:30pm
Tickets: Free
Clenched Fists (18)
Thu 2 July
Brazilica Barracão, Old Edge Hill Library, Lodge Lane, Liverpool, L8 0QH
7:30pm
Tickets: Free
The Ballroom (15)
Sun 5 July
Brazilica Barracão, Old Edge Hill Library, Lodge Lane, Liverpool, L8 0QH
7:30pm
Tickets: Free
O Samba (PG)
Tue 7 July
FACT, 88 Wood Street, Liverpool, L1 4DQ
7:30pm
Tickets: Free
Waste Land (PG)
Wed 8 July
A Small Cinema, Carlisle Building, 67-69 Victoria Street, Liverpool, L1 6DE
7:30pm
Tickets: Suggested Donation £3 / no one turned away
City of God (18)
Thu 9 July
St Luke’s Church (Bombed Out Church), Berry Street, Liverpool, L1 2TR
9:00pm
Tickets: £3
That Night in Rio (U)
Sat 11 July
Museum of Liverpool, Liverpool Waterfront, Pier Head, L3 1DG
4:00pm
Tickets: Free
Cine Holliúdy (PG)
Sun 12 July
Brazilica Barracão, Old Edge Hill Library, Lodge Lane, Liverpool, L8 0QH
7.30pm
Tickets: Free
City of God – 10 Years Later (15)
Mon 13 July
Fredericks
32 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BX
7:30pm
Tickets: Free
Flying Down to Rio (U)
Tue 14 July
St Luke’s Church (Bombed Out Church), Berry Street, Liverpool, L1 2TR
9:00pm
Tickets: £3
Cidade Cinza (PG)
Wed 15 July
FACT, 88 Wood Street, Liverpool, L1 4DQ
7:30pm
Tickets: Free
Trash (15)
Sun 19 July
The Brink, 21 Parr Street, Liverpool, L1 4JN
8:30pm
Tickets: Free