Brazilian filmmakers have left their mark on cinema for years. The country’s most recent Oscar entry, this year’s A vida invisível de Eurídice Gusmão (Invisible Life), is particularly poignant in its exploration of the patriarchy and sisterhood. Cinema Tropical, the New York-based nonprofit that is the leading presenter of Latin American films in the U.S., and Film at Lincoln Center are honoring Brazilian directors at an upcoming event.
Veredas: A Generation of Brazilian Filmmakers will take place December 6 to December 11 at Lincoln Center and will showcase “the range of boundary-pushing works” of Brazilian cinema. The 14 films selected “challenge boundaries of genre, form, gender, class, race, identity and even how films are distributed.” Included in the list is Brazil’s submission for Best International Film, as well as a spate of other titles worth seeking out.
But there are plenty of must-see movies being played. Sinfonia da necrópole (Necropolis Symphony) is a comedy-horror-musical directed by Juliana Rojas that tells the story of a gravedigger and his apprentice who, to increase their profits, start taking bodies out of old burial plots to resell them. Suffice to say, strange things start happening when the pair begin messing with the dead. Divino Amor (Divine Love) takes place in a futuristic Brazil and follows a relationship therapist with her own issues to contend with. Sete anos em maio (Seven Years in May) is an examination of the nation’s own history, as told through Rafael, who is evading unknown captors. Júlio Bressane’s Beduíno (Bedouin) is a surrealistic mosaic about two people whose role-playing antics cannot be properly explained.
Short films will accompany several features, including Ava Yvy Vera: A terra do povo do raio, a quasi-documentary of the murder of indigenous chief Nisio Gomes and multimedia short Swinguerra about dancers butting heads with a rival troupe.
Veredas: A Generation of Brazilian Filmmakers runs December 6 – 11, 2019, at Lincoln Center.
