Premiere Brazil!
July 1–10, 2005

This third annual presentation introduces recent Brazilian films and the three principal award-winners from the 2004 Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival: Lúcia Murat’s
powerful debut Almost Brothers, which will have a week’s run at MoMA; the engrossing documentary Estamira, made by the talented team behind Bus 174 (2003); and Helena Solberg’s Audience Award–winner, Diary of a Provincial Girl. Toni Venturi’s politically astute thriller Playing in the Dark further attests to the accomplishments of an emerging generation of Brazilian filmmakers. Two illuminating documentaries on Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the popular Brazilian president, are screened, and one of the most recognizable and popular men in the world, Pelé, will present a recent documentary on his life and times. In celebration of the centennial of actress Carmen Miranda’s birth, we screen Alô Alô Carnaval (1936), introduced by codirector Adhemar Gonzaga’s daughter Alice and independent curator Fabiano Canosa. All films are in Portuguese with English subtitles. Most screenings are introduced by the directors.

Organized by Jytte Jensen, Curator, Department of Film and Media, and Ilda Santiago, Director, the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. This exhibition is made possible by George Gund III and Iara Lee; Varig Brazilian Airlines; The Global Film Initiative; and Beleza Pura Premium Cachaça.

Quase dois irmãos (Almost Brothers). 2004. Brazil. Written and directed by Lúcia Murat. With Caco Ciocler, Flavio Bauraqui. This film about two friends, a present-day senator and a powerful drug dealer, beginning with their childhood in the 1950s and following their shared time in prison in the 1970s, provides a fascinating portrait—marked by popular music and recent political history—of the relationship between Rio de Janeiro’s middle class and its favelas. 103 min.
Friday, July 1, 7:15; Saturday, July 2, 4:15; Sunday, July 3, 1:00; Monday, July 4, 6:00. T1; Wednesday, July 6, 8:00; Thursday, July 7, 6:00; Friday, July 8, 8:00. T2

Entreatos (Intermissions). 2004. Brazil. Directed by João Moreira Salles. Salles and his crew followed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the months leading up to his presidential election in the fall of 2002. Granted astonishing access, the filmmakers uncover behind-the-scenes details, including Lula’s unguarded conversations and private moments. 107 min.
Saturday, July 2, 2:00. T1; Thursday, July 7, 8:15. T2

Alô Alô Carnaval. 1936. Brazil. Directed by Adhemar Gonzaga, Wallace Downey. With Carmen Miranda, Aurora Miranda, Jayme Costa. Carmen Miranda’s only Brazilian film, and the one that made her famous. Screened to celebrate the centenary of her birth, this musical displays what came to define the actress: lively, clever eyes, a sexy look, a beautiful voice…. And who can forget those costumes! 96 min.
Saturday, July 2, 6:45. T1; Saturday, July 9, 4:45. T2

Cabra-cega (Playing in the Dark). 2004. Brazil. Directed by Toni Venturi. With Leonardo Medeiros, Debora Duboc, Michel Bercovitch. A political thriller depicting Brazil in the 1970s as a violent dictatorship opposed by a handful of idealistic but doomed revolutionaries, one of whom is holed up in a claustrophobic apartment. 102 min.
Saturday, July 2, 8:45. T1; Saturday, July 9, 8:45. T2

Houve Uma Vez Dois Verões (Two Summers). 2002. Brazil. Written and directed by Jorge Furtado. With André Arteche, Ana Maria Mainieri, Pedro Furtado, Júlia Barth. Chico, a teenager on vacation at the "biggest and worst beach in the world," in Rio Grande do Sul, meets Roza at a pinball arcade and falls head over heels in love. They have sex on their first night, but she vanishes, only to turn up again later. Until the following summer she will appear in and out of his life many times over. A breezy summer charmer of a film about young people and their silly yet serious games of love and leisure. In Portuguese with English subtitles. 75 min.
Sunday, July 3, 3:15. T1; Sunday, July 9, 2:30. T2

Peões (Metalworkers). 2004. Brazil. Directed by Eduardo Coutinho. Interviews with workers who participated in the 1979–80 strikes in the metallurgic region called ABC in the State of São Paulo. The union was led by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the man who was to become president of Brazil in 2002, and the film offers a fascinating document of the movement, its leaders, and the origins of political commitment. 85 min.
Sunday, July 3, 5:15. T1; Friday, July 8, 6:00. T2

Vida de menina (Diary of a Provincial Girl). 2004. Brazil. Directed by Helena Solberg. With Ludmila Dayer, Daniela Escobar, Dalton Vigh. Based on a popular book that was translated into English by Elizabeth Bishop, this film reveals the universe of Helena Morley as she grows up in the remote mining town of Diamantina, and a country that grows up with her at a time when slavery has just been abolished and Brazil has been declared a republic. 101 min.
Monday, July 4, 3:30. T1; Sunday, July 10, 3:30. T2

Estamira. 2004. Brazil. Written, photographed, and directed by Marcos Prado. An evocative portrait of Estamira, who at sixty-three years of age began treatment at a public clinic for schizophrenia. For three years the filmmaker followed this charismatic, philosophical woman at her home: an enormous garbage landfill, where for over two decades she had headed a small community of outcasts. 121 min.
Monday, July 4, 8:15. T1; Sunday, July 10, 5:45. T2

Pelé eterno (Pelé Forever). 2004. Directed by Anibal Massaini. The life of the universally admired and beloved soccer genius, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pelé, is revisited through testimonials by old colleagues, friends, and celebrities. Scenes of the main events of Pelé’s life and career are interspersed with footage of his most improbable soccer goals. 120 min.
Saturday, July 9, 6:30. T1; Sunday, July 10, 1:00. T2

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