Directed by Oliver Stone (and co-directed by Rob Wilson), the 90-minute political portrait “Lula” covers a vast amount of historical and contemporary ground. However, despite its handful of rousing moments, the documentary — about Brazil’s current pro-worker president, Lula da Silva — comes from a limited perspective that prevents a fuller examination of the man, his myth and the people who believe in him.
The film is constantly torn between holding U.S. policy to account for decades of interference on South American governments and coming at Lula’s story primarily from a U.S. perspective. Stone, whose sit-down interview with Lula forms the movie’s narrative launchpad, is a mildly inquisitive and happily reverential on-screen interviewer — he clearly admires Lula, perhaps to a fault — but his blinkered understanding of his own subject matter shackles the movie to surface-level readings of Brazilian politics and of the various left-wing Latin American labor...
The film is constantly torn between holding U.S. policy to account for decades of interference on South American governments and coming at Lula’s story primarily from a U.S. perspective. Stone, whose sit-down interview with Lula forms the movie’s narrative launchpad, is a mildly inquisitive and happily reverential on-screen interviewer — he clearly admires Lula, perhaps to a fault — but his blinkered understanding of his own subject matter shackles the movie to surface-level readings of Brazilian politics and of the various left-wing Latin American labor...
- 5/27/2024
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Variety Film + TV
Brainy political lightning rod Oliver Stone isn’t making feature films anymore. Sure, he’d love to add a 21st to his 20 films to date; he just can’t find backers. His alternate route, like many other directors today, from fellow Cannes entrant Ron Howard (“Jim Henson: Idea Man”) to Martin Scorsese, is documentaries.
Stone has churned out a career total of ten, including recent 2021 Cannes entry “JFK Revisited” (Showtime) and 2022 eco-doc “Nuclear” (Abramorama). His latest, “Lula,” marks a move to the left from his much-criticized recent portraits of dictators such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro (HBO’s “Comandante”) and Russia’s Vladimir Putin (Showtime’s four-part “The Putin Interviews”).
Since his start as a filmmaker in the 1970s, the Yale-grad-turned-Vietnam-vet, now 77, has leaned into political fiction, from “Salvador,” “Wall Street,” and “W.,” to Best Director Oscar-winners “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July.” His last Oscar nomination came in 1996, for “Nixon,...
Stone has churned out a career total of ten, including recent 2021 Cannes entry “JFK Revisited” (Showtime) and 2022 eco-doc “Nuclear” (Abramorama). His latest, “Lula,” marks a move to the left from his much-criticized recent portraits of dictators such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro (HBO’s “Comandante”) and Russia’s Vladimir Putin (Showtime’s four-part “The Putin Interviews”).
Since his start as a filmmaker in the 1970s, the Yale-grad-turned-Vietnam-vet, now 77, has leaned into political fiction, from “Salvador,” “Wall Street,” and “W.,” to Best Director Oscar-winners “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July.” His last Oscar nomination came in 1996, for “Nixon,...
- 5/24/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Those look for a libido-juicing kick at this year’s Cannes Film Festival surely found it in “Motel Destino,” the sexually explicit erotic thriller from Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz.
Competing in the main competition once again after “Invisible Life” and “Firebrand,” Aïnouz returned to his native Brazil to shoot this perverse psychosexual triangle about the owners of a sex motel along the country’s northeastern Atlantic coast, and the criminal drifter who disrupts their lives. The wild-haired Dayana (Nataly Rocha) operates the Motel Destino with her abusive husband Elias (Fábio Assunção), where she takes up an unhinged affair with Heraldo (Iago Xavier), and amid nonstop sucking and fucking, plot to kill Elias in the grand tradition of the great noirs. Except it’s a noir with a post-Hays Code, liberated twist that has rocked Cannes with its strong, pervasive sexual content, to use the language of the American Motion Picture Association’s ratings board.
Competing in the main competition once again after “Invisible Life” and “Firebrand,” Aïnouz returned to his native Brazil to shoot this perverse psychosexual triangle about the owners of a sex motel along the country’s northeastern Atlantic coast, and the criminal drifter who disrupts their lives. The wild-haired Dayana (Nataly Rocha) operates the Motel Destino with her abusive husband Elias (Fábio Assunção), where she takes up an unhinged affair with Heraldo (Iago Xavier), and amid nonstop sucking and fucking, plot to kill Elias in the grand tradition of the great noirs. Except it’s a noir with a post-Hays Code, liberated twist that has rocked Cannes with its strong, pervasive sexual content, to use the language of the American Motion Picture Association’s ratings board.
- 5/23/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Shot between his directing Alicia Vikander in “Firebrand” and Kristen Stewart in “Rosebushpruning,” “Motel Destino,” which bows in Cannes Competition on May 22, can be seen as a return by Brazil’s now most international director to his Brazilian roots.
This axis between international and local, plays out in “Motel Destino” and Aïnouz insists, in now his whole career.
An erotic thriller, “Motel Destino” turns on Dayana, the young wife of a roadside sex hotel owner who seduces on-the-run minor mobster Heraldo for great sex. But she soon conceives the idea of his helping her to kill her terrifyingly abusive older husband.
“I was really interested in a kind of Brazilian interpretation of melodrama and noir cinema, how to take genre, which begins in Hollywood, and appropriate it make it local and ours,” Aïnouz tells Variety.
“Motel Destino” is melodrama “in the sense these characters that are trying to survive, by any means.
This axis between international and local, plays out in “Motel Destino” and Aïnouz insists, in now his whole career.
An erotic thriller, “Motel Destino” turns on Dayana, the young wife of a roadside sex hotel owner who seduces on-the-run minor mobster Heraldo for great sex. But she soon conceives the idea of his helping her to kill her terrifyingly abusive older husband.
“I was really interested in a kind of Brazilian interpretation of melodrama and noir cinema, how to take genre, which begins in Hollywood, and appropriate it make it local and ours,” Aïnouz tells Variety.
“Motel Destino” is melodrama “in the sense these characters that are trying to survive, by any means.
- 5/21/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Oliver Stone has always had one eye pointed south of the U.S. border.
It began with his phenomenal script for Brian De Palma’s Scarface, which transformed the famous Chicago gangster into a hardened Cuban refugee. After that, Stone directed the photojournalist saga Salvador, about the deadly civil war that gripped El Salvador in the 1980s. And later on he made a handful of documentaries about Latin American leaders, two of them featuring Fidel Castro and another one including such leftist figureheads as Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales.
Stone’s fascination with the dirty politics and violent class struggles of the southern hemisphere seems to perfectly align with the dramatic twists and nonstop conspiracies present in much of his other fictional work, from J.F.K. to Nixon to W to Snowden. In the director’s world, which he argues is ours as well, leaders are either corruptible or taken down by the corrupt,...
It began with his phenomenal script for Brian De Palma’s Scarface, which transformed the famous Chicago gangster into a hardened Cuban refugee. After that, Stone directed the photojournalist saga Salvador, about the deadly civil war that gripped El Salvador in the 1980s. And later on he made a handful of documentaries about Latin American leaders, two of them featuring Fidel Castro and another one including such leftist figureheads as Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales.
Stone’s fascination with the dirty politics and violent class struggles of the southern hemisphere seems to perfectly align with the dramatic twists and nonstop conspiracies present in much of his other fictional work, from J.F.K. to Nixon to W to Snowden. In the director’s world, which he argues is ours as well, leaders are either corruptible or taken down by the corrupt,...
- 5/21/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
While often lacking in depth, there remains a value to a documentary like Oliver Stone’s “Lula.” This is not just because of its subject, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who went from being imprisoned to holding the country’s highest office, but because of who he defeated to do so.
Jair Bolsonaro, the former president who is currently under investigation over whether he incited a failed coup after losing in 2022, is but one of the more recent sore loser right-wing authoritarians to gain power and then be rather unwilling to let it go when ultimately voted out.
Making a documentary about this upheaval of politics in Brazil, how it was that we got here and what it means for the future of the country as well as the world writ large, is a worthwhile pursuit. Stone doesn’t always get there as robustly or as comprehensively as one would hope him to,...
Jair Bolsonaro, the former president who is currently under investigation over whether he incited a failed coup after losing in 2022, is but one of the more recent sore loser right-wing authoritarians to gain power and then be rather unwilling to let it go when ultimately voted out.
Making a documentary about this upheaval of politics in Brazil, how it was that we got here and what it means for the future of the country as well as the world writ large, is a worthwhile pursuit. Stone doesn’t always get there as robustly or as comprehensively as one would hope him to,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Chase Hutchinson
- The Wrap
Oliver Stone is in Cannes today for a Special Screening of Lula, a documentary he co-directed with Rob Wilson about the unbelievable comeback of Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva. The film chronicles his extraordinary journey in 2022 to regain the Brazilian presidency after spending 19 months in prison. This happened after a hacker exposed a conspiracy meant to take down the labor leader in a corruption scandal that tied back to Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and the most powerful judge in the country. It’s a story you have to see to believe.
Here, Stone discusses his film, and how the four-time Oscar winner hopes to mount one final major drama after a career spanning Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Wall Street, JFK, Natural Born Killers and so many others. He also revisits his position on Vladimir Putin, whom he interviewed extensively several years ago, in light of...
Here, Stone discusses his film, and how the four-time Oscar winner hopes to mount one final major drama after a career spanning Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Wall Street, JFK, Natural Born Killers and so many others. He also revisits his position on Vladimir Putin, whom he interviewed extensively several years ago, in light of...
- 5/19/2024
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Oliver Stone is talking about “Lula,” his new documentary about Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, when the conversation turns to American politics. The conspiracy-minded director, who’s never seen a grassy knoll without glimpsing a second gunman on it, is drawing an analogy between Lula’s political travails, involving a corruption investigation that led to a 580-day prison stint, and those of Donald Trump. That’s when the film’s publicist interjects and politely tries to steer the topic back to the documentary. But Stone waves him off and plunges ahead.
“The charges on both sides of the Trump-Biden election are pretty wild — that Biden is corrupt and Trump is corrupt,” he says. “It’s a new form of warfare. It’s called lawfare. And that’s what they’re using against Trump. And I think there’s interesting parallels here in America,...
“The charges on both sides of the Trump-Biden election are pretty wild — that Biden is corrupt and Trump is corrupt,” he says. “It’s a new form of warfare. It’s called lawfare. And that’s what they’re using against Trump. And I think there’s interesting parallels here in America,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Documentary pitches about alleged crimes against humanity by the former Brazilian government led by Jair Bolsonaro and queer encounters in Mexico’s hypermasculine rodeo culture are among the line-up at the 25th edition of Hot Docs Forum running April 30-May 1 in Toronto.
The forum will award two cash prizes: a minimum of C$25,000 funded by members of Hot Docs first look, the select access programme for investors in documentary film; and the C$10,000 Cmf-Hot Docs Forum Canadian Pitch Prize in partnership with the Canada Media Fund to support production and completion of the best Canadian pitch.
Twenty-one filmmakers, 15 of whom...
The forum will award two cash prizes: a minimum of C$25,000 funded by members of Hot Docs first look, the select access programme for investors in documentary film; and the C$10,000 Cmf-Hot Docs Forum Canadian Pitch Prize in partnership with the Canada Media Fund to support production and completion of the best Canadian pitch.
Twenty-one filmmakers, 15 of whom...
- 3/13/2024
- ScreenDaily
Brazil’s film industry hits Berlin with a new stride in its step, bringing 46 producers and 80-plus films and projects, according to promotional org Cinema do Brasil, led by chairman André Sturm and manager, Maria Marta.
It is also in the process of receiving part of Brazil’s Paulo Gustavo Law funding, which is pouring RS2.8 billion ($571.1 million) into Brazil’s audiovisual sector, from rich states such as São Paulo to small town video stores.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s box office is beginning to return to pre-covid levels, as regional industries fire up in its Northeast and South.
At Berlin, São Paulo City film-tv agency Spcine, which has worked closely with Cinema do Brasil in recent years, is participating in a slew of activities, including AfroBerlin, aimed at bolstering Brazilian-African cooperation, the EFM’s Co-Production Market and Toolbox, a program focusing on diversity and inclusion, says Luiz Toledo, Spcine director of investments and strategic partnerships.
It is also in the process of receiving part of Brazil’s Paulo Gustavo Law funding, which is pouring RS2.8 billion ($571.1 million) into Brazil’s audiovisual sector, from rich states such as São Paulo to small town video stores.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s box office is beginning to return to pre-covid levels, as regional industries fire up in its Northeast and South.
At Berlin, São Paulo City film-tv agency Spcine, which has worked closely with Cinema do Brasil in recent years, is participating in a slew of activities, including AfroBerlin, aimed at bolstering Brazilian-African cooperation, the EFM’s Co-Production Market and Toolbox, a program focusing on diversity and inclusion, says Luiz Toledo, Spcine director of investments and strategic partnerships.
- 2/16/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Shortly before a momentous vote takes place in Argentina, Deadline spoke with leading film professionals about how “devastating” reforms could derail the country’s movie sector.
On Wednesday, the country’s new far-right President Javier Milei will try to push through a legislative program in Congress that aims to deregulate industries, expand presidential powers, silence dissenters and reimagine or do away with decades-old institutions.
Often dubbed “El Loco” (The Madman) by his critics, Milei, a self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist,” only entered politics in 2021 after a colorful career as an economist and TV pundit. His election win late last year was seen by many as an anti-establishment vote fueled by anger over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
Argentina’s economy, the second largest in South America, has been in a semi-permanent state of crisis since 2018. The country’s economic woes deepened over the past year, with inflation at a record...
On Wednesday, the country’s new far-right President Javier Milei will try to push through a legislative program in Congress that aims to deregulate industries, expand presidential powers, silence dissenters and reimagine or do away with decades-old institutions.
Often dubbed “El Loco” (The Madman) by his critics, Milei, a self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist,” only entered politics in 2021 after a colorful career as an economist and TV pundit. His election win late last year was seen by many as an anti-establishment vote fueled by anger over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
Argentina’s economy, the second largest in South America, has been in a semi-permanent state of crisis since 2018. The country’s economic woes deepened over the past year, with inflation at a record...
- 1/24/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Charming’, ‘Lovers Fare Goodbye’, ‘Memories Of A Burning Body’ win big at Buenos Aires market.
The 15th edition of Ventana Sur wrapped over the weekend with record attendance of more than 3,500 as prizes were handed out and deals concluded. However there was concern over the future of market co-host Incaa following inflammatory comments about public arts funding by incoming Argentinian president Javier Milei.
The president-elect, a fan of firebrand second term US presidential hopeful Donald Trump and ousted Brazilian premier Jair Bolsonaro, takes office next week (December 10) and has promised to undo decades of stagnation.
President-elect alarms industry
Milei has...
The 15th edition of Ventana Sur wrapped over the weekend with record attendance of more than 3,500 as prizes were handed out and deals concluded. However there was concern over the future of market co-host Incaa following inflammatory comments about public arts funding by incoming Argentinian president Javier Milei.
The president-elect, a fan of firebrand second term US presidential hopeful Donald Trump and ousted Brazilian premier Jair Bolsonaro, takes office next week (December 10) and has promised to undo decades of stagnation.
President-elect alarms industry
Milei has...
- 12/4/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
Ventana Sur’s coveted Paradiso Wip Award, made up of a $10,000 cash prize, went to Brazil’s “The Cuban Doctor.” Its director, Bernard Lessa, reflected on the significance of the award: “It’s a very important initiative and a partner in the cause of Brazilian cinema,” he said, as he expressed his joy at receiving the accolade.
Lessa’s story turns on Akin, a Cuban doctor working in Brazil during former President Jair Bolsonaro’s controversial tenure, who faces political headwinds while he’s simply trying to do his job with the respect and kindness his patients deserve.
“In January of 2019, when Bolsonaro started his presidency I was filming ‘The Night’s Substance,’ my last film. It was made with a very low budget and the sensation left after we ended the production was that we were doing what we were supposed to do, as well as we were not...
Lessa’s story turns on Akin, a Cuban doctor working in Brazil during former President Jair Bolsonaro’s controversial tenure, who faces political headwinds while he’s simply trying to do his job with the respect and kindness his patients deserve.
“In January of 2019, when Bolsonaro started his presidency I was filming ‘The Night’s Substance,’ my last film. It was made with a very low budget and the sensation left after we ended the production was that we were doing what we were supposed to do, as well as we were not...
- 12/2/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente and Callum McLennan
- Variety Film + TV
Jointly organized by Cannes’ Marché du Film with a Thierry Fremaux Cannes Film Week adding star auteur glamor, Ventana Sur turns 15 this week unspooling Nov. 27-Dec.1 at its usual venue of the Universidad Católica Argentina in Buenos Aires’ Puerto Madero, its most modern and most chic of districts.
Founded with Argentina’s Incaa film-tv agency in 2009, Ventana Sur has proved a modern addition to Latin America’s film landscape, adding international edge to national film industries then lifting off from Mexico City to Bogotá, São Paulo and Rio, Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires, energized by new film laws modeled on Europe and a wave of new filmmakers: Think Chile’s Pablo Larraín, Mexico’s Carlos Reygadas, Pablo Trapero and Santiago Mitre.
As an arthouse industry worldwide experienced ever more challenges in clinching substantial theatrical sales abroad, Ventana Sur with forward-looking zeal launched sub-markets focusing on still remaining growth axes:...
Founded with Argentina’s Incaa film-tv agency in 2009, Ventana Sur has proved a modern addition to Latin America’s film landscape, adding international edge to national film industries then lifting off from Mexico City to Bogotá, São Paulo and Rio, Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires, energized by new film laws modeled on Europe and a wave of new filmmakers: Think Chile’s Pablo Larraín, Mexico’s Carlos Reygadas, Pablo Trapero and Santiago Mitre.
As an arthouse industry worldwide experienced ever more challenges in clinching substantial theatrical sales abroad, Ventana Sur with forward-looking zeal launched sub-markets focusing on still remaining growth axes:...
- 11/27/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
This year, Ventana Sur has turned its spotlight on Brazil, showcasing the impactful efforts of São Paulo’s film-tv commission, Spcine, alongside Cinema do Brazil and Projeto Paradiso. In a concerted effort to signal Brazil’s resurgence after the challenging era under Jair Bolsonaro, Spcine has curated a series of panels and events to mark the country’s return to normalcy.
With President Lula da Silva back in the saddle since his stunning re-election in October 2022, confidence in Brazil as a partner in film and TV investments is awakening large expectation.
As part of its Vs agenda, Spcine will be promoting São Paulo city’s 20%-30% cash rebate for foreign shoots and international co-productions in a bid to attract new investments to São Paulo’s audiovisual sector and expand relations with international companies and institutions.
Attending the Buenos Aires confab organized by Cannes’ Festival and Marché du Film and Argentine...
With President Lula da Silva back in the saddle since his stunning re-election in October 2022, confidence in Brazil as a partner in film and TV investments is awakening large expectation.
As part of its Vs agenda, Spcine will be promoting São Paulo city’s 20%-30% cash rebate for foreign shoots and international co-productions in a bid to attract new investments to São Paulo’s audiovisual sector and expand relations with international companies and institutions.
Attending the Buenos Aires confab organized by Cannes’ Festival and Marché du Film and Argentine...
- 11/26/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
In a wordless paean to Belo Horizonte, this film celebrates the graffiti found throughout the streets as an act of resistance against Jair Bolsonaro
Like large-scale tattoos, colourful murals and graffiti adorn the urban body of Belo Horizonte, a densely populated city in southeastern Brazil. Composed largely of static shots, Marcos Pimentel’s poignant documentary conjures an awe-striking tapestry of artistic expression and revolutionary resistance.
Imposing in terms of size, these sprawling street artworks range from kaleidoscopic portraits to fabulously surreal tableaux vivants. For some passersby, these majestic images amount to nothing more than a cool selfie backdrop. Pimentel’s film, however, takes a closer look, lingering on painted words that speak of a yearning for love and intimacy. These utterances of private desire exist side by side with protest slogans calling for Jair Bolsonaro’s resignation and condemning the police. Weaving together the personal and political, Pimentel’s film...
Like large-scale tattoos, colourful murals and graffiti adorn the urban body of Belo Horizonte, a densely populated city in southeastern Brazil. Composed largely of static shots, Marcos Pimentel’s poignant documentary conjures an awe-striking tapestry of artistic expression and revolutionary resistance.
Imposing in terms of size, these sprawling street artworks range from kaleidoscopic portraits to fabulously surreal tableaux vivants. For some passersby, these majestic images amount to nothing more than a cool selfie backdrop. Pimentel’s film, however, takes a closer look, lingering on painted words that speak of a yearning for love and intimacy. These utterances of private desire exist side by side with protest slogans calling for Jair Bolsonaro’s resignation and condemning the police. Weaving together the personal and political, Pimentel’s film...
- 11/6/2023
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
Argentina, 2023. Presidential election year. In the midst of a deep economic and social crisis, a new voice appears, a political figure who convinces a large part of the Argentinean population with his shouts and insults. He is Javier Milei, an outsider who claims to speak to his dead dog and believes he is God's chosen one. He is applauded by Jair Bolsonaro, branded a mini-Trump and an option to face the ruling party of Sergio Massa in the second round of the country's elections. But what are his proposals, what country does he have in mind, and why is his emotional stability being questioned? To provide answers, El PAÍS Audio presents Sin control. El universo de Javier Milei - a podcast about Argentina's controversial presidential candidate.
The programme has a documentary format and consists of four 30-minute episodes, the first two of which are already available on El PAÍS and all audio platforms: Podium,...
The programme has a documentary format and consists of four 30-minute episodes, the first two of which are already available on El PAÍS and all audio platforms: Podium,...
- 11/6/2023
- Podnews.net
Anita Rocha da Silveira’s genre-bending tale of masked religious vigilantes is a genre film with something to say
With its squishy synth soundtrack, candy-coloured teen environs and role-playing girl-gang violence, this second feature from Brazilian writer-director Anita Rocha da Silveira feels like a time-warped precursor to Heathers, Clueless and The Neon Demon. It’s a satirical nightmare inspired by the giallo of Dario Argento, fired by the rise of former president Jair Bolsonaro’s reactionary populism and campily refracted through the televangelising aesthetic of The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Having racked up a string of international festival prizes since premiering at Cannes in 2021, Medusa builds on the promise of Da Silveira’s genre-subverting 2015 feature debut, Kill Me Please, confirming its creator as a killer talent to watch.
We open with a video of spider-walking strangeness; a writhing dance watched on a phone by a black-fingernailed figure who is promptly...
With its squishy synth soundtrack, candy-coloured teen environs and role-playing girl-gang violence, this second feature from Brazilian writer-director Anita Rocha da Silveira feels like a time-warped precursor to Heathers, Clueless and The Neon Demon. It’s a satirical nightmare inspired by the giallo of Dario Argento, fired by the rise of former president Jair Bolsonaro’s reactionary populism and campily refracted through the televangelising aesthetic of The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Having racked up a string of international festival prizes since premiering at Cannes in 2021, Medusa builds on the promise of Da Silveira’s genre-subverting 2015 feature debut, Kill Me Please, confirming its creator as a killer talent to watch.
We open with a video of spider-walking strangeness; a writhing dance watched on a phone by a black-fingernailed figure who is promptly...
- 7/16/2023
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Anita Rocha da Silveira has dreamed up an unconventional, shaky but interesting swipe at Bolsonaro’s authoritarianism
It’s flawed and all over the place in conventional script terms, but there’s real interest in this freaky, peculiar, interestingly directed psychodrama satire from Rio-born artist and film-maker Anita Rocha da Silveira, which takes aim at the conformist-authoritarian patriarchy of Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil.
Mari (Mari Oliveira) is a member of an evangelical Christian young women’s singing group called Michele and the Treasures of the World, who (like the Barden Bellas in Pitch Perfect) sometimes squabble when one of their number does some unrehearsed freestyling in performance; their leader Michele (Lara Tremouroux) is impossibly glamorous and blond with a YouTube channel, discussing topics such as “How to take the perfect Christian selfie”.
It’s flawed and all over the place in conventional script terms, but there’s real interest in this freaky, peculiar, interestingly directed psychodrama satire from Rio-born artist and film-maker Anita Rocha da Silveira, which takes aim at the conformist-authoritarian patriarchy of Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil.
Mari (Mari Oliveira) is a member of an evangelical Christian young women’s singing group called Michele and the Treasures of the World, who (like the Barden Bellas in Pitch Perfect) sometimes squabble when one of their number does some unrehearsed freestyling in performance; their leader Michele (Lara Tremouroux) is impossibly glamorous and blond with a YouTube channel, discussing topics such as “How to take the perfect Christian selfie”.
- 7/10/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
O2 Play, the distribution-sales arm of Brazil’s O2 Filmes group, co-owned by “City of God” director Fernando Meirelles, has boarded “Broken” (“Partido”), which is co-directed by Oscar-nominated “City of God” Dp César Charlone.
O2 Play has acquired Brazilian and world sales rights to the doc feature. O2 Play founder Igor Kupstas will introduce “Broken” to buyers at Locarno Pro, which runs Aug.3-9.
Charlone, also “The Two Popes” Dp and director of “3%,” South America’s first Netflix series, has directed alongside Sebastián Bednarik and Joaquim Castro (“Máquina do Desejo – 60 Anos do Teatro Oficina”).
Produced by Uruguay’s Coral Cine, in co-production with Brazil’s Opy Filmes, “Broken” covers Brazil’s 2018 general election from the point of view of Fernando Haddad, currently Brazil’s minister of economy and then the candidate of Brazil’s now ruling Workers’ Party put up to face off with Jair Bolsonaro.
“Broken” will have its...
O2 Play has acquired Brazilian and world sales rights to the doc feature. O2 Play founder Igor Kupstas will introduce “Broken” to buyers at Locarno Pro, which runs Aug.3-9.
Charlone, also “The Two Popes” Dp and director of “3%,” South America’s first Netflix series, has directed alongside Sebastián Bednarik and Joaquim Castro (“Máquina do Desejo – 60 Anos do Teatro Oficina”).
Produced by Uruguay’s Coral Cine, in co-production with Brazil’s Opy Filmes, “Broken” covers Brazil’s 2018 general election from the point of view of Fernando Haddad, currently Brazil’s minister of economy and then the candidate of Brazil’s now ruling Workers’ Party put up to face off with Jair Bolsonaro.
“Broken” will have its...
- 7/6/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Lightning strikes twice. Having won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in 2018 with “The Dead and the Others,” filmmaking duo Renée Nader Messora and João Salaviza scooped a Un Certain Regard Ensemble Prize on Friday night, including the collective crew and creative team, for “The Buriti Flower.”
The couple, whom across the years have developed what they describe as a profound relation with the Krahô Indigenous community, have delved once again into a unique production process resulting in a portrait of strong, sensorial visuals, while tabling an urgent dialogue on the means of resistance in a modern world.
Produced by Karõ Filmes, Entrefilmes and Material Bruto and sold by Films Boutique, the film tackles the impact of policies pursued by former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s on the life of Indigenous communities, eloquently shifting between fiction and documentary as it registers their own political discourse.
Shooting the previous film required...
The couple, whom across the years have developed what they describe as a profound relation with the Krahô Indigenous community, have delved once again into a unique production process resulting in a portrait of strong, sensorial visuals, while tabling an urgent dialogue on the means of resistance in a modern world.
Produced by Karõ Filmes, Entrefilmes and Material Bruto and sold by Films Boutique, the film tackles the impact of policies pursued by former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s on the life of Indigenous communities, eloquently shifting between fiction and documentary as it registers their own political discourse.
Shooting the previous film required...
- 5/29/2023
- by Emiliano Granada
- Variety Film + TV
Brazil’s on fire, and rapidly putting into place the policies that will rebuild its film and TV industries, which look set to transform it into the film-tv powerhouse of Latin America.
That cuts several ways.
Under Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian president over 2019-2022, ApexBrasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Agency, saw its funding for Brazil’s audiovisual sector almost entirely nixed.
Often working together, promotion agency Cinema do Brasil, backed by Audiovisual Industry Syndicate of the State of São Paulo (Siesp), Projeto Paradiso, a philanthropic org focusing on new talent and project development, and Sp Cine, the energetic São Paulo City film commission, did an extraordinary job to support and promote Brazilian filmmakers and companies’ presence at festivals, drawing on highly contained resources.
That was then. “When President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office [on Jan. 1] and appointed new ApexBrasil head Jorge Viana, who is highly supportive of the creative industries,...
That cuts several ways.
Under Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian president over 2019-2022, ApexBrasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Agency, saw its funding for Brazil’s audiovisual sector almost entirely nixed.
Often working together, promotion agency Cinema do Brasil, backed by Audiovisual Industry Syndicate of the State of São Paulo (Siesp), Projeto Paradiso, a philanthropic org focusing on new talent and project development, and Sp Cine, the energetic São Paulo City film commission, did an extraordinary job to support and promote Brazilian filmmakers and companies’ presence at festivals, drawing on highly contained resources.
That was then. “When President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office [on Jan. 1] and appointed new ApexBrasil head Jorge Viana, who is highly supportive of the creative industries,...
- 5/25/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Henry Ford’s failed industrial town in the Amazon rainforest is the backdrop of a supernatural Brazilian TV drama.
Fordlândia — Battle Between Worlds is in development at Diosual Entertainment ahead of production in 2024. Brazilian screenwriter Paula Richard is attached alongside Emmy winner Rogério Gomes, who directs. Diosual CEO Guto Colunga is the executive producer. We understand a U.S. co-production agreement is close to being signed.
Casting is at early stages, with at least one high-profile U.S. actor being linked, as are several Brazilian stars. Three child actors will play the lead roles of Ceuci, Jovita and Emily.
We hear the plan is shoot Fordlândia in English with a Brazilian and American cast, with filming also taking place in Portuguese and Munduruku, the local language of the indigenous Brazilians living by the Amazon River basin. Colunga said it was planned as “an...
Fordlândia — Battle Between Worlds is in development at Diosual Entertainment ahead of production in 2024. Brazilian screenwriter Paula Richard is attached alongside Emmy winner Rogério Gomes, who directs. Diosual CEO Guto Colunga is the executive producer. We understand a U.S. co-production agreement is close to being signed.
Casting is at early stages, with at least one high-profile U.S. actor being linked, as are several Brazilian stars. Three child actors will play the lead roles of Ceuci, Jovita and Emily.
We hear the plan is shoot Fordlândia in English with a Brazilian and American cast, with filming also taking place in Portuguese and Munduruku, the local language of the indigenous Brazilians living by the Amazon River basin. Colunga said it was planned as “an...
- 5/22/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
When his agent first suggested that Karim Aïnouz direct an adaptation of Elizabeth Fremantle’s “Queen’s Gambit,” a historical novel about Katherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, he thought she was joking. The Brazilian director of “The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão” wasn’t a natural choice to bring 16th century England to life on screen. For one thing, Aïnouz didn’t really know anything about the oft-married monarch.
“I could barely identify who Henry VIII was, and I’m not into the monarchy,” he says on the eve of the Cannes premiere of “Firebrand,” the movie he made from Fremantle’s book. “I’m not into British history. I was very puzzled.”
But he started to read up on Tudor history and on Parr and he became captivated by the queen who outmaneuvered her husband to survive his tumultuous final days on the throne.
“I could barely identify who Henry VIII was, and I’m not into the monarchy,” he says on the eve of the Cannes premiere of “Firebrand,” the movie he made from Fremantle’s book. “I’m not into British history. I was very puzzled.”
But he started to read up on Tudor history and on Parr and he became captivated by the queen who outmaneuvered her husband to survive his tumultuous final days on the throne.
- 5/22/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Brazil is back.
Brazilian President’s Lula Inácio Lula da Silva’s new government, which took office on Jan. 1, looks set to invest just under $1 billion in 2023 into the country’s audiovisual sector.
It’s one of the biggest upticks in government film and TV aid in history, and comes after Lula predecessor Jair Bolsonaro slowed state aid to a glacial pace. The new financial injection should turn Brazil into the film and TV powerhouse of Latin America.
Brazilian audiovisual secretary Joelma Gonzaga told Variety that regulation of global streaming services operating in Brazil, which foreseeably will introduce quotas for Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video and other players, is also on Lula’s government agenda.
Possible steamer investment quotas represent “an urgent question that is a priority for the country’s audiovisual industry: Brazil needs to regulate VOD . Platforms must invest in audiovisual production, and Brazil needs to have control of this intellectual property,...
Brazilian President’s Lula Inácio Lula da Silva’s new government, which took office on Jan. 1, looks set to invest just under $1 billion in 2023 into the country’s audiovisual sector.
It’s one of the biggest upticks in government film and TV aid in history, and comes after Lula predecessor Jair Bolsonaro slowed state aid to a glacial pace. The new financial injection should turn Brazil into the film and TV powerhouse of Latin America.
Brazilian audiovisual secretary Joelma Gonzaga told Variety that regulation of global streaming services operating in Brazil, which foreseeably will introduce quotas for Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video and other players, is also on Lula’s government agenda.
Possible steamer investment quotas represent “an urgent question that is a priority for the country’s audiovisual industry: Brazil needs to regulate VOD . Platforms must invest in audiovisual production, and Brazil needs to have control of this intellectual property,...
- 5/18/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Rita Lee, the legendary Brazilian musician at the forefront of the Tropicália movement as the co-founder and lead singer for Os Mutantes, died Monday, May 8. She was 75.
Lee’s family confirmed her death in a statement shared on Instagram. In 2021, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, jokingly nicknaming her tumor “Jair” after Brazil’s former, and much loathed president, Jair Bolsonaro.
In their statement, Lee’s family said the musician died at her home in São Paulo surrounded by family. As per Lee’s wishes, she will be cremated. A...
Lee’s family confirmed her death in a statement shared on Instagram. In 2021, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, jokingly nicknaming her tumor “Jair” after Brazil’s former, and much loathed president, Jair Bolsonaro.
In their statement, Lee’s family said the musician died at her home in São Paulo surrounded by family. As per Lee’s wishes, she will be cremated. A...
- 5/9/2023
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
A few months ago, on Jan. 1, more than 150 thousand people swarmed the savannah-based, landlocked city of Brasília — an unusual flock since beach cities like Rio are usually top destinations around the holidays. Yet Brazil’s capital was busy as ever, starting with its buzzy main avenue: By the Esplanada area, a massive crowd watched a series of concerts featuring dozens of artists from all over the country. Hip-hop heads with soccer jerseys stood next to old-school Tropicalia fans, couples holding babies shouted along to baile funk hits with groups of kids,...
- 3/28/2023
- by Felipe Maia
- Rollingstone.com
Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey are among the celebrities to respond to Donald Trump’s new book which includes letters they wrote to him in the past.
The former US president will release a new book next month that features letters from celebrities and politicians written to him through the years.
The book titled Letters to Trump includes private correspondence with former presidents including Barack Obama, George W Bush, and Richard Nixon, along with celebrities such as Winfrey, Leno, and Michael Jackson.
There are also letters from the late Princess Diana, as well as foreign leaders, including former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
During a CBS interview on Tuesday (14 March), Winfrey spoke about the letter she wrote to trump in 2000.
Winfrey wrote at the time: “Too bad we’re not running for office,” according to Axios. “What a Team!”
“I think he’d written...
The former US president will release a new book next month that features letters from celebrities and politicians written to him through the years.
The book titled Letters to Trump includes private correspondence with former presidents including Barack Obama, George W Bush, and Richard Nixon, along with celebrities such as Winfrey, Leno, and Michael Jackson.
There are also letters from the late Princess Diana, as well as foreign leaders, including former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
During a CBS interview on Tuesday (14 March), Winfrey spoke about the letter she wrote to trump in 2000.
Winfrey wrote at the time: “Too bad we’re not running for office,” according to Axios. “What a Team!”
“I think he’d written...
- 3/15/2023
- by Peony Hirwani
- The Independent - TV
The Conservative Political Action Conference is taking place this week at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Cpac is the year’s most biggest gathering of conservative thought leaders, serving as a kind of Coachella for misinformation, bigotry, religious zealotry, and veneration of a twice-impeached president who lost the 2020 election. The 2023 edition will feature speeches from likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump, and others, although big names like Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are skipping the conference,...
- 3/3/2023
- by Ryan Bort
- Rollingstone.com
In subscription terms, Brazil rates as the Netflix’s second-biggest market in the world, with a 2022 year-end estimate of 16.4 million subscribers, says Ampere Analysis’ Guy Bisson. “The market is huge and the talent outstanding,” agrees Fremantle’s Manuel Marti.
As Brazil shapes up as Latin America’s ground zero for streamer wars, where do you find new talent and how do you nurse it? Some answers are given by Brazil’s philanthropic org Projeto Paradiso.
Launched in March 2019 by heiress Olga Rabinovich, it initially focused on new talent and project development, especially screenwriting, the industry’s direst need. Also, in this discipline, Projeto Paradiso’s limited finding could go furthest.
After Jair Bolsonaro took office as Brazilian president in 2019, export funding — for national cinema promotion agency Cinema do Brasil, for example — steadily wilted. In December 2019, Projeto Paradiso held an extraordinary board meeting. “We decided we had to jump in and not let this window close,...
As Brazil shapes up as Latin America’s ground zero for streamer wars, where do you find new talent and how do you nurse it? Some answers are given by Brazil’s philanthropic org Projeto Paradiso.
Launched in March 2019 by heiress Olga Rabinovich, it initially focused on new talent and project development, especially screenwriting, the industry’s direst need. Also, in this discipline, Projeto Paradiso’s limited finding could go furthest.
After Jair Bolsonaro took office as Brazilian president in 2019, export funding — for national cinema promotion agency Cinema do Brasil, for example — steadily wilted. In December 2019, Projeto Paradiso held an extraordinary board meeting. “We decided we had to jump in and not let this window close,...
- 2/18/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Paris-based Loco Films has released the tense, terrifying trailer for “Property,” Brazilian director Daniel Bandeira’s survival thriller that’s set to have its world premiere Feb. 23 in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival.
Lensed by veteran cinematographer Pedro Sotero, the Dp behind Kleber Mendonça Filho’s 2019 Berlinale player “Bacurau,” “Property” follows a woman who flees her family estate in an armored car after local workers rise up to occupy it. Trapped inside the vehicle, she refuses to negotiate, prompting a collision between the competing worlds of haves and have-nots that speaks to a growing schism taking shape in societies across the globe.
Bandeira’s sophomore effort is a timely and explosive portrait of a society on the brink. “Brazil is a time bomb,” the director told Variety. “We’re running toward a point where this bomb will eventually blow up.” He added: “A reckoning is on the way.
Lensed by veteran cinematographer Pedro Sotero, the Dp behind Kleber Mendonça Filho’s 2019 Berlinale player “Bacurau,” “Property” follows a woman who flees her family estate in an armored car after local workers rise up to occupy it. Trapped inside the vehicle, she refuses to negotiate, prompting a collision between the competing worlds of haves and have-nots that speaks to a growing schism taking shape in societies across the globe.
Bandeira’s sophomore effort is a timely and explosive portrait of a society on the brink. “Brazil is a time bomb,” the director told Variety. “We’re running toward a point where this bomb will eventually blow up.” He added: “A reckoning is on the way.
- 2/16/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
For Brazilian director Vladimir Seixas the sun is rising anew for filmmakers in his country after the end of years of Jair Bolsonaro rule.
The helmer known for his searing investigative work on Brazil’s urban, social and cultural transformations, says that now is the time for documentary makers in his country to step forward and make the films about “the lots of stories” waiting to be told.
After four years without a culture ministry – a government department that president Bolsonaro gutted and dissolved in 2019, and which was only reinstated this year by the new Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration – Seixas says a new day is finally dawning for filmmaking in Brazil.
Seixas’ searing documentary expose “Rolê: Histórias dos Rolezinhos” provides an insider look at Brazil’s widespread and growing shopping mall protests and movement. Known as “rolezinhos” the movement crystalized between 2000 and 2020 – the social revolt a result of ongoing,...
The helmer known for his searing investigative work on Brazil’s urban, social and cultural transformations, says that now is the time for documentary makers in his country to step forward and make the films about “the lots of stories” waiting to be told.
After four years without a culture ministry – a government department that president Bolsonaro gutted and dissolved in 2019, and which was only reinstated this year by the new Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration – Seixas says a new day is finally dawning for filmmaking in Brazil.
Seixas’ searing documentary expose “Rolê: Histórias dos Rolezinhos” provides an insider look at Brazil’s widespread and growing shopping mall protests and movement. Known as “rolezinhos” the movement crystalized between 2000 and 2020 – the social revolt a result of ongoing,...
- 2/6/2023
- by Thinus Ferreira
- Variety Film + TV
Jon Stewart has cautioned Americans against mistakenly treating US Representative George Santos in the same way they did former US President Donald Trump.
The newly elected congressman from New York’s Long Island has been at the centre of recent controversy for telling several lies, with many home state Republicans and Democrats calling for his resignation.
“Everything about him just screams of mediocrity,” Stewart said of Santos on the latest episode of his podcast, The Problem with Jon Stewart.
Trying to understand why “nobody really cares” about Santos’s mounting scandals, the former Daily Show host reasoned: “He’s not obese, he’s not skinny, he’s everything in the middle.”
Stewart compared the disgraced Santos to a “fresh meat” inmate who can’t decide between joining the “Aryan gang” or the “Spanish gang”.
He and his co-hosts and writers Henrik Blix and Maria Randazzo continued making jokes about Santos,...
The newly elected congressman from New York’s Long Island has been at the centre of recent controversy for telling several lies, with many home state Republicans and Democrats calling for his resignation.
“Everything about him just screams of mediocrity,” Stewart said of Santos on the latest episode of his podcast, The Problem with Jon Stewart.
Trying to understand why “nobody really cares” about Santos’s mounting scandals, the former Daily Show host reasoned: “He’s not obese, he’s not skinny, he’s everything in the middle.”
Stewart compared the disgraced Santos to a “fresh meat” inmate who can’t decide between joining the “Aryan gang” or the “Spanish gang”.
He and his co-hosts and writers Henrik Blix and Maria Randazzo continued making jokes about Santos,...
- 1/18/2023
- by Inga Parkel
- The Independent - TV
Berlin-based Black Forest Films has boarded “Milk Powder,” the upcoming feature of rising Brazilian talent Carlos Segundo, Oscar shortlisted for his short “Sideral.”
“Milk Powder” is selected to participate in the Berlin Film Festival’s Script Station Lab. Run by Christoph and Josune Hahnheiser, Black Forest joins Segundo’s O Sopro do tempo and France’s Les Valseurs as co-producers. “Milk Powder’ will be Les Valseurs’ second collaboration with Black Forest after the feature documentary “Los nombres propios,” by Fernando Dominguez, which starts shooting in a month’s time, said Les Valseurs producer Justin Pechberty. The project has also secured development support from the Hubert Bals Fund.
In “Milk Powder,” Segundo “deploys a cinema of wandering, sprinkled with rock hits and absurd humor,” says the synopsis. It follows Vicente, a wannabe rocker, in his quest for love and most of all, for meaning to life. His own personal crisis exemplifies...
“Milk Powder” is selected to participate in the Berlin Film Festival’s Script Station Lab. Run by Christoph and Josune Hahnheiser, Black Forest joins Segundo’s O Sopro do tempo and France’s Les Valseurs as co-producers. “Milk Powder’ will be Les Valseurs’ second collaboration with Black Forest after the feature documentary “Los nombres propios,” by Fernando Dominguez, which starts shooting in a month’s time, said Les Valseurs producer Justin Pechberty. The project has also secured development support from the Hubert Bals Fund.
In “Milk Powder,” Segundo “deploys a cinema of wandering, sprinkled with rock hits and absurd humor,” says the synopsis. It follows Vicente, a wannabe rocker, in his quest for love and most of all, for meaning to life. His own personal crisis exemplifies...
- 1/12/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
There has been a huge tone shift for indigenous communities across Brazil since Alex Pritz completed filming his documentary, “The Territory.” This has come specifically from former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeating the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in last October’s election. “While it’s not an overtly political film, you see the effects of Bolsonaro’s policies and his political speech has on these people and how that is converted into violence really quickly,” Pritz tells Gold Derby during our recent Meet the Experts: Film Documentary panel (watch the exclusive video interview above).
Lula has made many promises to the indigenous communities of Brazil and he’s already started a new Ministry of Indigenous Affairs along with having a record number of indigenous women in the new Congress. “We’re really looking to the future and looking for ways that we can support the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau in building something better for the next generation.
Lula has made many promises to the indigenous communities of Brazil and he’s already started a new Ministry of Indigenous Affairs along with having a record number of indigenous women in the new Congress. “We’re really looking to the future and looking for ways that we can support the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau in building something better for the next generation.
- 1/12/2023
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
If you told me that the director Gabriel Martins thought exclusively in images, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Mars One, his gracefully composed observation of a working-class Brazilian family, is littered with arresting shots. Take the one of Tércia, the matriarch played by Rejane Faria, cleaning a window: Her curly mop of bleached blonde hair remains static as her right hand slides across the glass, her back muscles flexing in response to the laborious task. Or the scene of her daughter Eunice (Camilla Damião) consummating her love with her girlfriend on the floor of an empty penthouse apartment. Her dark skin gleams against the sharp, white-tiled floor as the baby-blue colored braids of her lover slither across her skin. These scenes are occasions — charged flashes of the director’s loving preoccupation with his story. And who wouldn’t be obsessed with such a humane, well-calibrated tale?
Mars One, which premiered...
Mars One, his gracefully composed observation of a working-class Brazilian family, is littered with arresting shots. Take the one of Tércia, the matriarch played by Rejane Faria, cleaning a window: Her curly mop of bleached blonde hair remains static as her right hand slides across the glass, her back muscles flexing in response to the laborious task. Or the scene of her daughter Eunice (Camilla Damião) consummating her love with her girlfriend on the floor of an empty penthouse apartment. Her dark skin gleams against the sharp, white-tiled floor as the baby-blue colored braids of her lover slither across her skin. These scenes are occasions — charged flashes of the director’s loving preoccupation with his story. And who wouldn’t be obsessed with such a humane, well-calibrated tale?
Mars One, which premiered...
- 1/10/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Twitter account of QAnon conspiracy theorist Ron Watkins has been restored to the platform after being banned in 2020 as part of an effort to curb the reach of the conspiracy on the website. Watkins’ return is the latest in a series of account reinstatements for extremists under the administration of Twitter owner Elon Musk.
The son of Jim Watkins, owner and administrator of the extremist message board 8kun (previously known as 8chan), Watkins was an instrumental figure in the proliferation and growth of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Serving as...
The son of Jim Watkins, owner and administrator of the extremist message board 8kun (previously known as 8chan), Watkins was an instrumental figure in the proliferation and growth of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Serving as...
- 1/10/2023
- by Nikki McCann Ramirez
- Rollingstone.com
An event of cataclysmic proportions has captured the attention of Fox News. Something so egregious, horror-inducing, and shocking that it has even prompted the network to deprioritize coverage of an attempted coup in Brazil. Sensitive readers please close this article now: The girl M&m’s got their own publicity campaign.
I know. Absurd.
Mars Wrigley is featuring their delectable chocolate mamasitas on new limited-edition “Flipping the Status Quo” packages. The company even introduced a new purple M&m (she’s really cute). A portion of proceeds from the campaign will...
I know. Absurd.
Mars Wrigley is featuring their delectable chocolate mamasitas on new limited-edition “Flipping the Status Quo” packages. The company even introduced a new purple M&m (she’s really cute). A portion of proceeds from the campaign will...
- 1/9/2023
- by Nikki McCann Ramirez
- Rollingstone.com
On Sunday, Brazilian supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the presidential palace, the country’s seat of Congress, and various other federal buildings. The scenes, which echoed the Jan. 6 riot in the United States Capitol almost exactly two years ago, shared a similar motivation: claims of a stolen election.
Since Bolsonaro’s October loss to former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s right-wing factions have taken a leaf out of Donald Trump’s playbook and baselessly claimed foul play and election fraud. Those claims have proliferated on social media platforms like Twitter,...
Since Bolsonaro’s October loss to former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s right-wing factions have taken a leaf out of Donald Trump’s playbook and baselessly claimed foul play and election fraud. Those claims have proliferated on social media platforms like Twitter,...
- 1/9/2023
- by Nikki McCann Ramirez
- Rollingstone.com
U.S. President Joe Biden has condemned an “assault on democracy” in Brazil, calling the destruction and chaos that followed supporters of former President Jair Bolsanaro’s storming key state buildings “outrageous.”
Leaders around the world have united in condemnation of the shocking developments in the capital Brasilia, which are eerily similar to the scenes in Washington DC that followed after Biden defeated Donald Trump in a race to the White House two years ago.
Brazilian security forces have now regained control of Congress, the Supreme Court and Presidential Palace, according to the BBC, and Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vowed to punish the rioters responsible for the damage with the “full force of the law.”
Bolsanaro’s supporters invaded the Brazilian state buildings on Sunday after the far-right leader was defeated by left-wing candidate Lula in a closely fought election at the end of 2022. Lula was...
Leaders around the world have united in condemnation of the shocking developments in the capital Brasilia, which are eerily similar to the scenes in Washington DC that followed after Biden defeated Donald Trump in a race to the White House two years ago.
Brazilian security forces have now regained control of Congress, the Supreme Court and Presidential Palace, according to the BBC, and Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vowed to punish the rioters responsible for the damage with the “full force of the law.”
Bolsanaro’s supporters invaded the Brazilian state buildings on Sunday after the far-right leader was defeated by left-wing candidate Lula in a closely fought election at the end of 2022. Lula was...
- 1/9/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
San Francisco, Jan 9 (Ians) Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Monday said that he hopes Brazilians will be able to solve matters amicably, as supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country’s Supreme Court, Congress and the presidential palace in protest against Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva taking over the helm of the country after narrowly defeating his predecessor.
Musk tweeted: “I hope that the people of Brazil are able to resolve matters peacefully.”
The presidential election, whose results were announced on October 31, 2022, were marred by outrageous online disinformation spread by allies of both candidates.
Reports had surfaced in November last year that Musk personally moderated posts related to the Brazilian election.
“He is constantly calling balls and strikes,” the reports said.
Musk met Bolsonaro during a trip to Brazil in May last year.
According to the New York Post, the right-wing president had called Musk’s Twitter takeover...
Musk tweeted: “I hope that the people of Brazil are able to resolve matters peacefully.”
The presidential election, whose results were announced on October 31, 2022, were marred by outrageous online disinformation spread by allies of both candidates.
Reports had surfaced in November last year that Musk personally moderated posts related to the Brazilian election.
“He is constantly calling balls and strikes,” the reports said.
Musk met Bolsonaro during a trip to Brazil in May last year.
According to the New York Post, the right-wing president had called Musk’s Twitter takeover...
- 1/9/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
On Sunday, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in the capital of Brasília in opposition to the results of its October runoff election, which they falsely believe was stolen. In a scene terrifyingly echoing the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, videos depicted protesters overwhelming police barricades and breaking glass to enter Congress.
To someone who cares about the rule of law, this looks like an attempted coup. But the U.S. far-right has since 2020 made it clear that the only...
To someone who cares about the rule of law, this looks like an attempted coup. But the U.S. far-right has since 2020 made it clear that the only...
- 1/9/2023
- by Althea Legaspi
- Rollingstone.com
Images eerily evocative of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol came out of Brazil as thousands of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in the capital of Brasília on Sunday. According to The New York Times, protesters breached Brazil’s Congress, presidential offices, and Supreme Court believing Bolsonaro’s baseless claims that the recent presidential election was stolen from him.
Hours later, authorities reported that the military police had regained control of Brasília’s Three Powers Square, where the Presidential Palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court are located.
Hours later, authorities reported that the military police had regained control of Brasília’s Three Powers Square, where the Presidential Palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court are located.
- 1/9/2023
- by Peter Wade and Althea Legaspi
- Rollingstone.com
There’s a strange synchronicity in watching writer-director Gabriel Martins’ latest feature “Mars One” as Brazil rejoices in the recent re-election of Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva for a third term. The bittersweet film, in theaters and on Netflix now via Ava DuVernay’s distribution label Array, begins just as rightwing politician Jair Bolsonaro was elected in late 2018.
But for the working-class family at its center, the macro changes in the spheres of government don’t much register while they struggle to stay financially afloat. Bolsonaro’s election and inauguration play in the background of their everyday lives without any of the characters ever acknowledging or engaging with the results. Not only are they from a lower socioeconomic status, but they are Black in a still racist society, like most in Latin America.
By slowly introducing each of the four family members’ individual concerns in a mostly seamless manner (even...
But for the working-class family at its center, the macro changes in the spheres of government don’t much register while they struggle to stay financially afloat. Bolsonaro’s election and inauguration play in the background of their everyday lives without any of the characters ever acknowledging or engaging with the results. Not only are they from a lower socioeconomic status, but they are Black in a still racist society, like most in Latin America.
By slowly introducing each of the four family members’ individual concerns in a mostly seamless manner (even...
- 1/6/2023
- by Carlos Aguilar
- The Wrap
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Il Buco (Michelangelo Frammartino)
With Il Buco, Michelangelo Frammartino returns to the Calabrian countryside 12 years after Le Quattro Volte. Oscillating between a shepherd slowly dying and a nearby cave-diving expedition, Frammartino and cinematographer Renata Berta capture the movement inside their static frames with elegance. A soccer ball is kicked back and forth over the cave entrance, upping the stakes of an errant kick, burning magazine pages float down into the darkness illuminating the cave depths for the explorers and the audience—Il Buco is an experiential ode to death as the final frontier. – Caleb H.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Contemporary Japan
A new series focusing on recent(ish) Japanese cinema features exclusive streaming homes for films by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hirokazu Koreeda,...
Il Buco (Michelangelo Frammartino)
With Il Buco, Michelangelo Frammartino returns to the Calabrian countryside 12 years after Le Quattro Volte. Oscillating between a shepherd slowly dying and a nearby cave-diving expedition, Frammartino and cinematographer Renata Berta capture the movement inside their static frames with elegance. A soccer ball is kicked back and forth over the cave entrance, upping the stakes of an errant kick, burning magazine pages float down into the darkness illuminating the cave depths for the explorers and the audience—Il Buco is an experiential ode to death as the final frontier. – Caleb H.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Contemporary Japan
A new series focusing on recent(ish) Japanese cinema features exclusive streaming homes for films by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hirokazu Koreeda,...
- 1/6/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Sometimes, the simplest stories are the most monumental. A boy wants to be an astronaut, a girl falls in love, a father lives out his dreams through his son. This is the stuff of life — nothing more, nothing less. Watching a film like “Mars One,” from Brazilian filmmaker Gabriel Martins, is a humbling experience. Why over-complicate this storytelling business when a gifted storyteller can make such moving magic out of everyday experiences?
Set in the wake of the election of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, “Mars One” follows a single working-class family as they long for more, love each other, self-reflect, and struggle to make ends meet. Where a lesser film might pick one character to focus on, “Mars One” All relatable, flawed, and charming in their own ways, they antagonize each other without anyone losing their humanity.
Martins strikes a delicate balance that’s unusually satisfying from a narrative perspective.
Set in the wake of the election of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, “Mars One” follows a single working-class family as they long for more, love each other, self-reflect, and struggle to make ends meet. Where a lesser film might pick one character to focus on, “Mars One” All relatable, flawed, and charming in their own ways, they antagonize each other without anyone losing their humanity.
Martins strikes a delicate balance that’s unusually satisfying from a narrative perspective.
- 1/6/2023
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
How do you create suspense in a movie built around Super Bowl Li, the legendary 2017 matchup between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons, which saw the Patriots trail the Falcons 28-3 in the third quarter only to rally and win 34-28 in overtime? That was one of the challenges facing Kyle Marvin when he agreed to direct 80 for Brady, which will have its world premiere Jan. 6 as the opening-night film at the 34th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Marvin — who, along with his writing and producing partner Michael Angelo Covino, starred in 2019’s The Climb, which explored male friendship — tackles a different sort of friendship in Brady. It follows four old friends, spry octogenarians played by Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sally Field and Rita Moreno, traveling to the Super Bowl to cheer on their hero, then-Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
As for the big game, Marvin says: “We knew...
Marvin — who, along with his writing and producing partner Michael Angelo Covino, starred in 2019’s The Climb, which explored male friendship — tackles a different sort of friendship in Brady. It follows four old friends, spry octogenarians played by Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sally Field and Rita Moreno, traveling to the Super Bowl to cheer on their hero, then-Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
As for the big game, Marvin says: “We knew...
- 1/5/2023
- by Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Brazil’s newly elected President, Inácio Lula da Silva, has said his government will re-establish the country’s Ministry of Culture after it was disbanded by his right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, in 2019.
In a series of widescale pledges published on his first day in office, Lula said his government will reopen the ministry “with the ambition to resume more intensely the policies of incentive and access to cultural goods” that he said was “interrupted by obscurantism in recent years.”
“A democratic cultural policy cannot fear criticism or elect favorites,” he said.
Lula, who is serving his third term in office, added: “May all the flowers sprout and all the fruits of our creativity be harvested, may everyone enjoy it without censorship or discrimination.”
Estamos refundando o Ministério da Cultura, com a ambição de retomar mais intensamente as políticas de incentivo e de acesso aos bens culturais, interrompidas pelo obscurantismo nos últimos anos.
In a series of widescale pledges published on his first day in office, Lula said his government will reopen the ministry “with the ambition to resume more intensely the policies of incentive and access to cultural goods” that he said was “interrupted by obscurantism in recent years.”
“A democratic cultural policy cannot fear criticism or elect favorites,” he said.
Lula, who is serving his third term in office, added: “May all the flowers sprout and all the fruits of our creativity be harvested, may everyone enjoy it without censorship or discrimination.”
Estamos refundando o Ministério da Cultura, com a ambição de retomar mais intensamente as políticas de incentivo e de acesso aos bens culturais, interrompidas pelo obscurantismo nos últimos anos.
- 1/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, died on Thursday at 82.
According to a statement from Albert Einstein Hospital, where he was first admitted in late November, Pelé’s death was caused by multiple organ failure from the progression of his colon cancer.
Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has declared three days of mourning and called Pelé “a great citizen and patriot, raising the name of Brazil wherever he went.”
In Memoriam 2022: 100 Great Celebrities Who Died This Year!
The renowned soccer player became the first and only person ever to win three World Cups. In 1967, Nigeria famously called a ceasefire during a civil war so he could play a match there. Thirty years later, Queen Elizabeth II knighted the athlete.
Pelé was quietly Brazil’s first black national hero. As biographer Angelica Basthi explained, “He is key for black people’s pride in Brazil, but never wanted to be a flag-bearer.
According to a statement from Albert Einstein Hospital, where he was first admitted in late November, Pelé’s death was caused by multiple organ failure from the progression of his colon cancer.
Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has declared three days of mourning and called Pelé “a great citizen and patriot, raising the name of Brazil wherever he went.”
In Memoriam 2022: 100 Great Celebrities Who Died This Year!
The renowned soccer player became the first and only person ever to win three World Cups. In 1967, Nigeria famously called a ceasefire during a civil war so he could play a match there. Thirty years later, Queen Elizabeth II knighted the athlete.
Pelé was quietly Brazil’s first black national hero. As biographer Angelica Basthi explained, “He is key for black people’s pride in Brazil, but never wanted to be a flag-bearer.
- 12/30/2022
- by Ilana Frost
- Uinterview
Spike Lee attended the first-ever public screening in Saudi Arabia of “Malcolm X” on Saturday during the Red Sea Film Festival. The film shot key scenes in Mecca, over 30 years ago, but has never been screened in the kingdom, due to the 35-year ban on cinemas that only ended in December 2017.
On Sunday, at a press conference, Lee gave his take on filmmaking, while often referencing the Soccer World Cup, currently underway in neighboring Qatar. “Everything for me is about sports,” he quipped.
He added that in addition to rooting for the recently-eliminated U.S. team in the World Cup, he “desperately wanted Cameroon to win,” because of his family roots, since his father’s family side is from Cameroon, and his mother’s side from Sierra Leone – “My ancestors were stolen from Africa. They weren’t slaves. They were enslaved.”
He explained why it was so important to film...
On Sunday, at a press conference, Lee gave his take on filmmaking, while often referencing the Soccer World Cup, currently underway in neighboring Qatar. “Everything for me is about sports,” he quipped.
He added that in addition to rooting for the recently-eliminated U.S. team in the World Cup, he “desperately wanted Cameroon to win,” because of his family roots, since his father’s family side is from Cameroon, and his mother’s side from Sierra Leone – “My ancestors were stolen from Africa. They weren’t slaves. They were enslaved.”
He explained why it was so important to film...
- 12/4/2022
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
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