Artlog

Premiere Brazil, a collaboration between MoMA and the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, takes its title from a sidebar featured at the festival, where many of these films premiered. This annual series continues to introduce New York audiences to original and accomplished recent films by both new and established Brazilian filmmakers.

This year’s opening-night films are Marcos Jorge’s debut feature Est√ɬ¥mago: A Gastronomic Story, a smartly constructed tale of food, power, and sexual betrayal, and veteran director Walter Lima Jr.’s Out of Tune, a seductive recreation of the 1960s music scene in Rio de Janeiro and New York that traces the birth of bossa nova through the ups and downs of a fictional band. Other highlights include Basic Sanitation, The Movie, a delightfully old-fashioned tale about the intersection of social activism and filmmaking; My Name Ain’t Johnny, in which the by-now-familiar perils of drug dealing and drug abuse are explored in a new light through expressive camera movement and inspired direction; and Sign of the City, an evocative ode to S√ɬ£o Paulo in which a few lonely strangers’ paths converge in the night.

The flourishing Brazilian documentary scene is represented by a hauntingly gorgeous portrait of human transience (Drifter); the story of the Xavante tribe’s courageous and emotionally wrenching attempts to keep their culture relevant (The Xavante Strategy); and the amazing story of the seven dwarfs of the Pindorama circus, which tours the poorer reaches of northeastern Brazil (Pindorama: The True Story of the Seven Dwarfs). The exhibition also includes a rich variety of vibrant films about Brazilian music and musicians, including the international premiere of The Mystery of Samba and the world premiere of The Man Who Bottled Clouds, director Lirio Ferreira’s engrossing portrait of popular songwriter Humberto Teixeira.

All films are from Brazil and in Portuguese with English subtitles. Most filmmakers are present to introduce the first screening of their film.

Organized by Jytte Jensen, Curator, Department of Film; and Ilda Santiago, Director, the Rio Janeiro International Film Festival. This exhibition is made possible by George Gund III and Iara Lee, and the Ministry of Culture, Brazil; with additional support from the Consulate General of Brazil in New York, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, and Marjorie Andrade.

Upcoming related screenings:

Est√ɬ¥mago (Est√ɬ¥mago: A Gastronomic Story). 2007. Brazil. Directed by Marcos Jorge. With Jo√ɬ£o Miguel, Fabiula Nascimento. In a dog-eat-dog world, Raimundo Nonato has found an alternative way to move ahead: he cooks. No matter what social strata this deceptively innocent young man inhabits, he hones his skills and sharpens his knives√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùand then he falls in love. Jorge’s nimble comic fable provides a smartly constructed gastronomic allegory for ambition and survival. In Portuguese; English subtitles. 111 min. Thursday, July 17, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Theater 1, T1 Monday, July 21, 2008, 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 26, 2008, 2:30 p.m., Theater 2, T2

Os Desafinados (Out of Tune). 2008. Brazil. Directed by Walter Lima Jr. With Rodrigo Santoro, Claudia Abreu, Selton Mello. A seductive “biography” of the sublime musical art of bossa nova, as dramatized through the fate of a fictive band, Os Desafinados. The band’s success reaches its apex with the discovery of Gloria, an ex-pat singer living in New York, who becomes the band’s star√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùand their downfall. The band’s ensuing decline coincides with the political events in Brazil that brought the junta to power, and Lima’s film deftly integrates documentary stock footage into the narrative√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùwhile adding plenty of bossa nova classics for audiences to groove to. In Portuguese; English subtitles. 138 min. Thursday, July 17, 2008, 8:15 p.m., Theater 1, T1 Sunday, July 27, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2 Friday, July 18, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Theater 1, T1 Sunday, July 27, 2008, 2:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2

O homem que engarrafava nuvens (The Man Who Bottled Clouds). 2008. Brazil. Directed by Lirio Ferreira. Written by Ferreira, Denise Dummont. A host of personalities reminisce about the life and work of songwriter, lawyer, and congressman Humberto Teixeira√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùaka “Bai√ɬ£o Doctor”√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùthe author of such classic Brazilian popular songs as “Asa Branca (White Wing).” This beautifully produced film brilliantly captures the feel of Brazilian life in the 1940s with musical performances, archival footage, and lively conversations. In Portuguese; English subtitles. 110 min. Friday, July 18, 2008, 8:15 p.m., Theater 1, T1 (World premiere) Saturday, July 26, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2 (World premiere) Monday, July 28, 2008, 6:00 p.m. (World premiere) Saturday, July 19, 2008, 4:00 p.m., Theater 1, T1 Sunday, July 27, 2008, 4:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2

O signo da cidade (Sign of the City). 2007. Brazil. Directed by Carlos Alberto Riccelli. Screenplay by Bruna Lombardi. With Bruna Lombardi, Juca de Oliveira, Malvino Salvador. Gil is married but alone, Lydia flirts with danger, Josialdo was born to be a woman, and M√ɬ¥nica only wants to be successful; on her late-night call-in radio program, astrologer Teca ties these disparate lives to her own. Actor-turned-filmmaker Riccelli’s second feature, in which richly evocative steadi-cam shots linger over both the Altmanesque ensemble cast and the city spaces they inhabit, is a valentine to S√ɬ£o Paulo and its lonely denizens. In Portuguese; English subtitles. 95 min. Saturday, July 19, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Theater 1, T1 Thursday, July 24, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2 Saturday, July 19, 2008, 8:00 p.m., Theater 1, T1 (North American premiere) Saturday, July 26, 2008, 8:00 p.m. (North American premiere)

Estratégia Xavante (The Xavante Strategy). 2007. Brazil. Directed by Belisario Franca. The film portrays the attempts by the indigenous Xavante nation to preserve their territory and traditions, following the touching personal stories of young men sent to study the customs of urban Brazilian society in order to become spokespersons for their people. In Portuguese; English subtitles. 86 min. Sunday, July 20, 2008, 2:00 p.m., Theater 1, T1 Thursday, July 24, 2008, 8:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2 Sunday, July 20, 2008, 4:00 p.m., Theater 1, T1 Friday, July 25, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2

Meu nome n√ɬ£o √ɬ© Johnny (My Name Ain’t Johnny). 2007. Brazil. Directed by Mauro Lima. With Selton Mello, Cleo Pires, Julia Lemmertz. Lima’s morality tale chronicles the true story of Jo√ɬ£o Guilherme Estrella’s descent into the clich√ɬ©d excesses of drugs and drug trafficking. Lima’s camera movements brilliantly reflect Estrella’s travails√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùimages float and roam as if complicit in the bohemian abandon of the drug lord’s lifestyle, only to quietly change pace as he embraces self-reflection and rehabilitation. In Portuguese; English subtitles. 124 min. Sunday, July 20, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Theater 1, T1 Friday, July 25, 2008, 8:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2