If all you know about Brazilian film is the recent Academy Award-winning film, “City of God,” or perhaps Michael Caine in the 1980s hit, “Blame It on Rio,” then treat yourself to a movie feast with eight Brazilian films in the next four days at The Second Brazilian Film Festival.
The festival opened Friday with a performance of capoeira, the traditional martial arts dance, and a showing of “Meu Nome N?°o ?• Johnny” (“My Name Is Not Johnny”), starring Brazilian actor Selton Mello in a true story about a middle-class youth from Rio de Janeiro who becomes an international drug dealer only to be arrested and sent to a psychiatric institution. The film will be shown again Thursday.
Brazilian businesswoman Fernanda Bulhões started the festival last year after she was continually told during visits to Russia about the dream of con man Ostap Bender in Ilf and Petrov’s “Twelve Chairs.” “I wanted to show that Brazil was more than that dream about Copacabana from the Russian character in ‘Twelve Chairs,’” she said.
Back in Brazil, Bulh??es suggested the idea to the Brazilian government, and with the support of the Brazilian Embassy in Moscow, the first festival took place at the Library of Foreign Literature in Moscow as part of celebrations commemorating 180 years of diplomatic relations between Brazil and Russia. This year, the festival has moved to the 35MM movie theater, the home of nonmainstream foreign movies in the city.
Curator Ederaldo Kosa has put on a wide range of films, including dramas, comedies and documentaries. A huge hit in its home country, the comedy, “Se eu Fosse Voc?µ 2” (“If I Were You 2”), is the story of a couple who switch bodies, as in the Russian blockbuster, “Lyubov Morkov.”
“Tempos de Paz” (“Times of Peace”) tells of Rio de Janeiro in 1945 and an actor who gets swept up in the battle to stop Nazis, fleeing justice in Europe, from entering the city. Actor Dan Stulbach took part in a discussion about the film Sunday at 35MM. The film will be shown again Tuesday.
Bruna Lombardi, writer and star of “O Signo da Cidade” (“The Sign of the City”), a film about what happens to listeners of an astrology program on a Sao Paulo radio station, will be on hand to answer questions after her film’s screening Wednesday.
“I’m touched because we achieved our goal: to put in the soul of a people a little bit of our Brazilian culture. Look, what is Brazil: It’s not Ostap Bender,” Bulh??es said.
All films are shown in Portuguese with Russian subtitles.
The Second Brazilian Film Festival plays at 35MM till Nov. 26. 47 Ulitsa Pokrovka. Metro Kurskaya. (495) 917-5492, Kino35mm.ru. Russian subtitles.
Monday: “Se eu fosse voc?µ 2” at 7:30 p.m. and “Copacabana” at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday: “Bossa Nova” at 7:30 p.m. and “Tempos de Paz” at 9:30 p.m.
Wednesday: “Os normais” at 7:30 p.m. and “Signo da Cidade” at 9:15 p.m. Thursday: “Mulher Invisivel” at 7:30 p.m. and “Meu Nome Nao E Johnny” at 9:30.