Thursday, October 27, 2011

Brazil Film Fest in Toronto, Oct 27-30


Tonight the 5th Brazil Film Fest in Toronto begins tonight with a gala screening of Ó Paí, Ó by Monique Gardenberg. This is the sister festival to Montreal's Festival du Film Brésilien de Montréal in November and is not affiliated with last month's Brazilian Film & TV Festival of Toronto.

Other features screening during the festival will be Into the Blue (João Rodrigo Mattos), 5X favela, now by ourselves (Wagner Novais,) So Hard to Forget (Malu de Martino) and Beyond the Road (Charly Braun), as well as the documentaries Memórias do Recôncavo: Besouro and Other Capoeiras (Pedro Abib), Gisele Omindarewa (Clarice E. Peixoto) and Rio Sonata: Nana Caymmi (Georges Gachot).

After tonight's opening gala at TIFF Bell Lightbox, the festival moves to the Royal Cinema on College Street for the remaining screenings.

The festival continues until Sunday October 30 in Toronto.


http://www.brazilfilmfest.net/2011/index.htm

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4 DAYS UNDER THE MAGICAL SUN OF BAHIA

Over the past few years, slowly but steadily, Brazil has been climbing the heights to become the 5th biggest economy in the world, and now it’s even preparing to host two of the most important global events: the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 2014 World Cup. All this has inspired the 5th Brazil Film Fest in Toronto to begin a celebration of the diverse and rich culture of Brazil’s many states, starting in 2011 with the theme of Bahia, a place for everybody.

Bahia is the cradle of Brazil. The first Portuguese explorers arrived there in 1500 and, years later, Salvador was chosen as the first capital of the colony. This area has always had a fundamental role in the Brazilian economy, actively participating during the sugar, rubber and cocoa cycles until turning itself into a powerful site for the petrochemical industry and a hot tourist destination.

The state is also a major cultural reference for the nation. During the slave trade, 37% of all African slaves bought and sold were brought to Brazil, usually landing in Salvador before being dispatched to other locations. This made Bahia a unique place, with a strong African influence. giving rise to special cultural phenomena like the Candomblé religion, stemming from Yoruba origins; the Brazilian martial art, capoeira; the samba de roda traditional dance and also the afoxé musical instrument and the axé music genre; plus a rich cuisine with a strong flavour of the West African coast.

Bahia is also the hometown of famous artists like the revolutionary film director Gláuber Rocha; singer/composer Dorival Caymmi; poet Castro Alves; the mastermind behind bossa nova, João Gilberto; the folks from Tropicalismo, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia and Gal Costa; poet Gregório de Matos; screenwriter Dias Gomes; writer João Ubaldo Ribeiro; the internationally acclaimed singer Daniela Mercury; actor Lázaro Ramos; singer Ivete Sangalo; actor Wagner Moura; the creative musical genius of Carlinhos Brown; actor Vladimir Brichta; and of course, the great writer Jorge Amado. But the state also welcomed and fed the creativity of French photographer Pierre Verger; the Portuguese writer Padre Antônio Vieira and Carybé, the Argentinian visual artist.

Now it’s time to bring this rich and unique culture from Bahia to Canada, to show off the Afro-Brazilian style of life on the big screen at the 2011 Brazil Film Fest.

FEATURES

Ó Paí, Ó by Monique Gardenberg 2007 //96 min // Comedy // Musical // English subtitles Exhibition on October 27th - Thursday - 7pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox
“Ó paí, ó!”, as the title indicates via a "dialect of Bahia" ("Look at that, look"), turns the lenses on a slum where iconic characters from the cultural scene of Bahia will emerge. Lacking money but not desire for amusement, they get by on creativity, irony, sensuality, and music.
Malu on a Bicycle, by Flávio R. Tambellini 2010 //90 min // Romance // English subtitles Exhibition on October 28th - Friday - 7pm at the Royal Awards : Paulínia Festival 2010 Prize for best direction - Award for Best actor and Actress

Luiz Mario, from São Paulo, falls head-over-heels for the carioca Malu, who practically runs him over on her bike in Rio. The couple's fervent romance is abruptly thrown into disarray when an enigmatic love letter is discovered....

Into the Blue, by João Rodrigo Mattos 2010 // 90 min // Drama // English subtitles Exhibition on October 28th - Friday - 9pm at the Royal The street life is not easy. When Felizardo, 11, comes across a gang, he finds himself at a crossroads between good and evil and has to make a decision. Déo, 12 years old, ends up involved in a dangerous plot with his friend, the beautiful Tetéia and the dreaded Tadeu, also known as the King of Little Children…

5X favela, now by ourselves , by Wagner Novais, Luciano Vidigal, Cacau Amaral, Manaíra Carneiro, Luciana Bezerra, Cadu Barcellos and Rodrigo Felha 2010 // 103 min // VOSTF // English subtitles Exhibition on October 29th - Saturday - 7pm at the Royal Awards : 2010 Paulínia Film Festival : Best Picture - Supporting Actress - Actor - Screenplay - Editing - Music. 19th Festival Biarritz: Best Film – Audience Award

This film is a low-key production composed of five short films : Source of Income, Rice and Beans, Concert for Violin, Let If Fly and Let There Be Light. They are all written, directed, and acted by promising artists from the favelas of Rio, premiered as part of the Official Selection of Cannes Film Festival.

So Hard to Forget, by Malu de Martino 2010 // 100 min // Drama // English subtitles Exhibition on October 29th - Saturday - 9:15pm at the Royal Julia tries to get her life back together again after her long love affair with Antonia. Feeling totally abandoned, Julia is thrown into a painful process. Her inner turmoil and conflicts hamper a process now made necessary - that of readapting to her new life.

Beyond the Road, by Charly Braun 2010 // 85 min // Drama // English subtitles Exhibition on October 30th - Sunday - 8:15pm at the Royal Festival de Rio - 2010: Award for best director
Santiago, from Argentina, meets Juliette, a young Belgian woman, on their way to Uruguay. The two travelers hit the road together. Both are looking to make a change in their lives.

DOCUMENTARIES

Memórias do Recôncavo: Besouro and Other Capoeiras, by Pedro Abib 2008 //60 min // English subtitles Exhibition on October 29th - Saturday - 5pm at the Royal This documentary discusses capoeira and its many stories, in one of the places that it started in Brazil: the Recôncavo, in the North-Est Region of Bahia.

Gisele Omindarewa, by Clarice E. Peixoto 2009 // 71 min // English subtitles Exhibition on October 30th - Sunday - 4pm at the Royal Gisele Cossard Omindarewa, 86, is French and coming from the Parisian bourgeoisie. Today, she’s the holy mother of Candomblé. The film tries to reconstruct its history and her role as the holy mother of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Rio de Janeiro. These are times of the individual history that intersect with the collective and religious life.

Rio Sonata: Nana Caymmi, by Georges Gachot 2010 // 85 min // brazilian music // English subtitles Exhibition on October 30th - Sunday - 6pm at the Royal Festivals in 2010 – 2011: Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Israel, USA, Canada, Uruguay, Switzerland.

This film is dedicated to Nana Caymmi, one of Brazil'smost sophisticated singers and her leading role in the Brazilian music world in the last 50 years.

How to go to the 5th Brazil Film Fest: Opening night at TIFF Bell Lightbox, on October 27th - 7pm Reitman Square, 350 King Street West, Toronto M: St Andrew Station - Southbound Platform
Other screenings at THE ROYAL (from October 28th to October 30th) 608 College at Clinton, 5 blocks West of Bathurst at Little Italy M: College or Queen’s Park

Box Office:

Tickets (all tickets are tax inclusive) General Admission $10.00 Special Partnerships, Senior and Students $8.00 Festival pass (includes all 9 films) $65 Ticket sales phone: 1-888-222-6608 Or Ticketweb : www.ticketweb.ca

To keep in touch on Facebook and Twitter

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brazil-Film-Fest-Toronto/152775141483987
http://twitter.com/#!/brazilfilmfest


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