Brazil
O ano em que meus pais saíram de ferias – The Year That My Parents Went on Vacation. (Brazil), 2007.
A boy is left alone in a Jewish neighborhood in the year of 1970 by his revolutionary parents at the height of political repression in 1970, at the same time that Brazil is competing in the World Cup in soccer.
Brazil: A Report on Torture (United States), 1971.
Documentary with former Brazilian political prisoners in exile in Chile about their experience while imprisoned by the political police.
Brazil in Black and White: Skin Color and Higher Education (United States), 2007.
New affirmative action quotas for higher education in Brazil launch a controversial dialogue about race and identity. Five college candidates from diverse backgrounds compete for a spot at the University of Brasilia
Bus 174 (Brazil), 2002.
A powerful, award-winning examination of the tragic series of events that followed a desperate bus hijacking in Rio de Janeiro in 2000 that turned deadly when a SWAT team took evasive action against the drug-addled hijacker.
Bye bye Brasil (Brazil), 1980.
Film follows a troupe of carnival-type entertainers in a land caught up in an avalanche of social change
Carandiru (Brazil), 2003.
A reconstruction of the October 2, 1992, prison riot known as the Carandiru Massacre and set in Sao Paulo’s House of Detention, an oncologist arrives at the jail to test patients for HIV infection. Seeing the disease, overcrowding, and rampant circulation of drugs, the doctor comes to realize the internal power structure among the prisoners.
Carlota Joaquina, Princesa do Brazil (Brazil), 1994.
A comic parody of the history of early nineteenth-century Brazil, as the Portuguese Royal family flees Napoleon’s troops and set up the capital of the Portuguese empire in Rio de Janeiro.
Carmen Miranda: Bananas is my Business (Brazil), 1994.
Using archival footage, film fragments, interviews, and dramatic re-enactments, acclaimed director Helena Solberg goes behind-the-scenes to convey the true life story of the “Brazilian Bombshell,” Carmen Miranda.
Os carvoeiros (Brazil), 1999.
Documentary about the life of charcoal producers and the desperately poor lives that they endure.
Entreatos: Lula a 30 dias do poder (Brazil), 2004.
The movie was filmed during the presidential elections in 2002, both first and second turn. The president appears in a way that he had never shows up before. He smokes his cigarillos and always has a beer in hand when he is not working.
Grandma Has a Video Camera: “Life in the U.S. is good but it is bad. Life in Brazil is bad, but it is good.” (United States), 2007.
Documentary about the use of home video by a family of Brazilian immigrants, which portrays their lives in the United States for over twenty years. From enchantment to disillusionment, from idealization to conformity, first-hand images and voices depict how newly arriving immigrants see their new world, and struggle to establish their final home.
La guerra dos canudos — The Battle of Canudos (Brazil), 1997.
Epic film about the conflict between a poor community in Northeast Brazil at the turn of the twentieth century led by a charismatic religious leader that ends up being attacked and destroyed by the federal government.
Iracema: uma transa amazônica (Brazil, 1974).
In contrast to the government’s official propaganda, this film documents the social problems and deforestation of the Amazon Region during the Brazilian dictatorship. It dcuments the lives of a young prostitute in the Amazonas, Iracema, and a truck driver, Tião, who travel the Amazon area through the Transamazonic Road.
It’s All True (United States, France), 1993.
Orsen Welles’ ambitious film project in Brazil for the United States’ anti-Nazi “Good Neighbor Policy” was shelved by RKO. This documentary features the story of the film’s making and unmaking and features undiscovered footage.
Lula’s Brazil (Brazil), 2005.
When Luiz Inácio da Silva, a former metalworker known as ‘Lula,’ won the Brazilian presidency in 2002 on a campaign promising agrarian reform and an end to hunger, popular hopes for social change galvanized the nation. This film examines his failures and successes within the context of his election promises.
Macunaíma (Brazil), 1969.
An adaptation of a masterpiece of Brazilian modernism that reflects the simultaneous triumph of tropicalismo and onset of the military dictatorship. Pure essence of 1969, the movie is a funny, freewheeling mélange of primitive myth and Busby Berkeley, hippie street theater and cabaret star Grande Otelo, glamorized urban guerrillas and documented candomblé rituals.
Madame Satã (Brazil), 2002.
Born to slaves in Northern Brazil and sold at the age of 7 by his mother for the price of a mule, João Francisco dos Santos battled all stereotypes on the mean streets of Lapa, Rio de Janeíro. Jailed for 27 of his 76 years, dos Santos was an explosive figure prone to excessive bouts of violence and moments of extreme tenderness the next. His world was filled with violence and raw desire, while desperate dreams spring from poverty and squalor. João Francisco dos Santos, also known as Madame Satã, is one of the most famous drag queen of 1930s.
Olga (Brazil), 2005.
Drama based on the life of German-born Olga Benário Prestes, wife of Brazilian communist leader Luís Carlos Prestes and revolutionary militant, who is deported from Brazil to a German concentration camp.
O que é isso companheiro — Four Days in September (Brazil), 1997.
Political drama based on the 1969 kidnapping of the U.S. ambassador in Rio de Janeiro by a group of young revolutionaries demanding the released of political prisoners being tortured by the political police.
A opinião pública (Brazil), 1967.
Documentary about middle-class people in Rio de Janeiro, in the sixties, when Brazil was going through a hard period in its history, with the military coup and the following dictatorship. Interviews with people in the street disclose their fears, aspirations and political alienation.
O pagador de promessas (Brazil), 1962.
This political and social commentary is a drama about a peasant farmer who vows to carry a cross into the local church if his injured donkey is cured. When the miracle happens, he attempts to carry out his promise but everything starts to go wrong.
Preto contra branco (Brazil), 2004.
The film discusses the racial preconception in Brazil, using as a point of reference, a soccer game played between two neighborhood in São Paulo, divided up into the “black’ team and ‘white’ team.
Quilombo (Brazil), 2005.
In 17th century Brazil groups of runaway black slaves escaped to mountainous jungle strongholds, where they formed self-governing communities known as quilombos. This film chronicles the most famous, the Palmares, and their legendary chieftain Ganga Zumba.
Quilombo Country (United States), 2005.
This documentary provides a portrait of rural communities in Brazil that were either founded by runaway slaves or began from abandoned plantations. This type of community is known as a quilombo, from an Angolan word that means “encampment.” As many as 2,000 quilombos exist today.
Terra em transe (Brazil), 1967.
This political allegory is about a young poet and journalist who is persuaded by his lover Sara to become involved in the politics of his country. He fights against two corrupt politicians, a populist governor and a conservative president, both who were at one time his friends.
Tropa de elite (Brazil), 2007.
Drama about BOPE (Special Police Operation Battalion) a elite corps of the military police designed to fight drug lords and police corruption in Rio de Janeiro.
O velho: a história de Luiz Carlos Prestes — The Comrade, the Life of Luiz Carlos Prestes (Brazil), 2008.
Documentary about the controversial leader of the Brazilian Communist Party for over 35 year, the film covers seventy years of Brazil‘s chaotic contemporary history, of which Prestes was one of the principal protagonists. Includes commentary by journalists, historians, family members, and former PCB activists interwoven with rare historical film footage.
Veias e vinhos: uma história brasileira (Brazil), 2006.
A Brazilian family living during the political turmoil during the 1950s and the two decades that followed, from the suicide of the president to the establishment of martial law, tries to find hope in the tragedy of everyday life.
Vlado: thirty years later (Brazil), 2005.
This documentary tells the story of journalist Vladimir Herzog, who was tortured and murdered during the repression years of the Brazilian military dictatorship.
Vidas sêcas (Brazil), 1963.
Based on the novel by Graciliano Ramos, a family and their dog struggle to survive in drought-stricken Northeast.