SATURDAY SCREENING SERIES
A sequence of films and video selected by Marcelo Cidade upon reflection of his project, Somewhere, Elsewhere, Anywhere, Nowhere . Saturday May 10, on view during gallery hours Ilha das Flores (Island of Flowers, 1989) Documentary directed by Jorge Furtado 13 minutes, Portuguese with English subtitles The first political film Cidade ever watched in primary school, Ilha das Flores (Island of Flowers, 1989) depicts the life of a tomato as it journeys from a Japanese-run plantation, to a supermarket, a middle-class ‘Roman Catholic’ kitchen, a garbage-can, and finally to the ominous Brazilian island of garbage, Ilha das Flores. This short filmic parable presents “The ironic, heartbreaking and acid “saga” of a spoiled tomato” as a metaphor for the stark realities that delineate the various social fields imbricated in the consumerist landscape of the last century. Saturday May 17 screening at 2pm and 5pm À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma (At midnight I’ll take your soul, 1964) Horror film directed by José Mojica Marins 84 minutes, Portuguese with English subtitles At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul is regarded as Brazil’s first horror film and marks the beginning of a cult series featuring Coffin Joe, a sadistic undertaker who strikes fear into the hearts of devout townspeople. What makes Coffin Joe uniquely frightening as a villain is based less on what he does, and more on what he protests – Coffin Joe spends most of this movie abusing the beliefs of Roman Catholicism, getting drunk, and taunting God. José Mojica Marins, the Brazilian horror auteur, both directs and stars in the film, and uses the horror genre to address political issues in Brazil. Saturday May 24 screening at 2pm and 5pm Notícias de uma Guerra Particular (News from a Personal War, 1999) Documentary directed by Kátia Lund, João Moreira Salles 57 minutes, Portuguese with English subtitles The battle between Rio de Janeiro ‘s police force and the drug dealers who rule the city’s favelas is an ongoing conflict of power relations between the state and organized crime, revealing a failed social order. In Notícias de uma guerra particular João Moreira Salles and Kátia Lund trace the roots of Rio’s cocaine trade, and explore prison conditions through interviews with policemen and teenage drug dealers who are equally resigned to kill each other. Saturday May 31 screening at 2pm and 5pm Pixo (2009) Documentary by João Wainer and Roberto T. Oliveira 61 minutes, Portuguese with English subtitles “Pixo” or “pixação” is the name of the particular style of Brazilian graffiti and vandalism in São Paulo. This documentary presents the cultural impact of pixo as an illegal form of expression on the streets of São Paulo created predominantly by young people from marginalized areas. Saturday June 7 screening at 2pm and 4:30pm O Som ao Redor (Neighboring Sounds, 2012) Drama-thriller directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho 131 minutes, Portuguese with English subtitles The final film in the series, O Som ao Redor was selected for the peculiar tensions that make Brazilian society tick, dramatizing life in a middle-class neighborhood in present day Recife, Brazil and reflecting upon the weight and look of its local architecture. It is a story of a culture that feeds on fear, from the set of characters that play part of a social landscape of masters and servants to the widespread use of steel grates, electric fences, and high perimeter walls to delineate urban space.