Brazilian cinema was introduced early in the 20th century but took some time to consolidate itself as a popular form of entertainment. The film industry of Brazil has gone through periods of ups and downs, a reflection of its dependency on state funding and incentives.
A couple of months after the Lumière brothers' invention, a film exhibition was held in Rio de Janeiro. As early as 1898, Affonso Segreto supposedly filmed the Guanabara Bay from the ship Brésil on a return journey from Europe, though some researchers question the veracity of this event as no copy of the film remains. He would go on to make documentaries with his brother Paschoal Segreto.
From the early beginning of the 20th century, as early as 1900 to the year of 1912, Brazilian films had made a major impact on the internal market, which saw an annual production of over one-hundred films.[5] In 1908, during a period coined Brazil's "golden age" of Cinema, the country saw its first widely popular film, titled Os Estranguladores, by Antonio Leal.[5]
An ad of a May 1987 issue of Gazeta de Petrópolis, as shown in 1995 by Jorge Vittorio Capellaro and Paulo Roberto Ferreira, was introduced as the new "birth certificate" of Brazilian cinema, as three short films were advertised: Chegada do Trem em Petrópolis, Bailado de Crenças no Colégio de Andarahy and Ponto Terminal da Linha dos Bondes de Botafogo, Vendo-se os Passageiros Subir e Descer.
During this belle epoque of Brazilian cinema, when black and white silent films were less costly to produce, most work resulted from the effort of passionate individuals willing to take on the task themselves rather than commercial enterprises. Neither is given much attention by the state, with legislation for the sector being practically non-existent. Film theaters only become larger in number in Rio and São Paulo late in the following decade, as power supply becomes more reliable.
Foreign films as well as short films documenting local events were most common. Some of the first fictional work filmed in the country were the so-called "posed" films, reconstructions of crimes that had recently made the press headlines. The first success of this genre is António Leal and Francisco Marzullo's Os Estranguladores (1908). "Sung" films were also popular. The actors would hide behind the screen and dub themselves singing during projection. During the 1920s film production flourished throughout several regions of the country: Recife, Campinas, Cataguases, Juiz de Fora and Guaranésia.
Also in the early 20th century of Brazilian cinema, there was a major lack of Black presence in films that were being made. Brazilian and American films are common in this aspect, as both countries had endured similar types of European colonization, and how the colored were not given any time or recognition on film. Many of the early films being produced in Brazil were also made by Italian Brazilians, with respect to the likes of Affonso Segreto.[6] Another way Brazil and America had similar aspects in their films is the idea of "blackface" in America, and the "redface" in Brazil. At the end of World War One, silent Brazilian cinema moved to the growing expansion of women and their social class, mainly the middle, and shows their modernization and diversification. Hollywood influenced the idea of women becoming more seductive in Brazilian cinema as well with new types of hairstyles, smoking cigarettes, and looking "exotic", in terms of appearance.[7]
Hollywood films were also extremely popular during this time, accounting for as much as 85 percent of film material being exhibited on Brazilian screens in 1928. That year, an estimated 16,464,000 linear feet of film was exported to Brazil, making it Hollywood's third largest foreign market. European films, mostly from Germany and France, were also exhibited with relative frequency.[8] Fan magazines like Cinearte and A Scena Muda were published during this time, featuring both domestic and Hollywood films and stars.
Scene from the 1943 Brazilian film Way to Heaven, Caminho do Céu. A kiss between Celso Guimarães and Rosina Pagã, protagonists.16th Tiradentes Film Festival brings together audiences, directors, producers and those interested in cinema in general for 10 days of activities related to the production, dissemination and circulation of Contemporary Brazilian cinema.Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro lifts a statue he received for the best actor award at the 44th Festival of Brasília for the film My Country, Meu País, by André Ristum.Fernanda Montenegro, mostly recognized for her leading role in Central Station, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first and only Brazilian actress to ever be nominated in the category. Also for this work, she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama and won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
1930s and 1940s
Atlântida
During the 1940s and 1950s, films produced by the Atlântida Cinematográfica peaked and attracted large audiences by continuing with chanchadas. Among the actors that became strongly associated with Atlântida who had previously worked in Cinédia films are Oscarito, a comedian somewhat reminiscent of a Harpo Marx and commonly cast as lead, and Grande Otelo, who usually had a smaller supporting role and is often Oscarito's sidekick.
The two of the actors became widely popular throughout Brazil as an amazing comical duo. Otelo, would see much of the humor falling on him at the time due to his Afro-Brazilian characteristics, while Oscarito became the comical foil in the film, a more pale-toned man with like characteristics.
The two helped to display the diversity in Brazilian cinema to reflect on the diversity of Brazil itself.[9]José Lewgoy was commonly cast as a villain while Zézé Macedo often took on the role of the undesired, nagging wife.
The films of this period have often been brushed aside as being overly commercial and americanized, though by the seventies a certain amount of revisionism sought to restore its legitimacy. Despite being overlooked by intellectual elites, these films attracted large audiences as none of the Cinema Novo films would achieve.
Today, the telenovela, especially the "novela das sete" (a nickname given to soap operas produced by the Rede Globo channel aired around seven p.m. Mondays through Saturdays) is sometimes identified as carrying on the spirit of the chanchada. Many of the films produced by the company have been lost throughout the years due to fire and flooding of its storage facilities.
Vera Cruz
The Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz was a production company founded in the state of São Paulo during the forties and most notable for its output during the following decade. It is in this period that Lima Barreto's classic O Cangaceiro was produced. The movement was named after the large production studio, inspired by Hollywood scale.
However, despite O Cangaceiro, which was clearly inspired by western genre, the essence of these films followed the Italian cinema's style, popular between São Paulo's cultural elite in that time. Vera Cruz films were highly commercialized, which led some directors to begin experimenting with independent cinema. This movement away from commercialized Vera Cruz style films came to be called Cinema Novo, or New Cinema. Vera Cruz eventually bankrupted and closed.
Rocha often spoke of his films as being a departure from what he considered to be the colonizer's view, to whom poverty was an exotic and distant reality, as well as the colonized who regarded their third world status as shameful. He sought to portray misery, hunger and the violence they generate and thus suggest the need for a revolution. Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol and Terra em Transe are some of his most famous works.
A "marginal cinema" emerges associated with the Boca de Lixo area in São Paulo. In 1968, Rogério Sganzerla releases O Bandido da Luz Vermelha, a story based on an infamous criminal of the period. The following year Júlio Bressane's Killed the Family and Went to the Movies (Matou a família e foi ao cinema) came out, a story in which the protagonist does exactly what is described by the title. Marginal cinema of this period is sometimes also referred to as "udigrudi", a mocking of the English word underground. Also popular was Zé do Caixão, the screen alter ego of actor and horror film director José Mojica Marins.
Associated with the genre is also the pornochanchada, a popular genre in the 1970s. As the name suggests, these were sex comedies, though they did not depict sex explicitly. One key factor as to why these marginal films thrived was that film theaters were obliged to obey quotas for national films. Many owners of such establishments would finance low-budget films, including those of pornographic content. Though the country was under military regime, censorship tended to be more political than cultural. That these films thrived could be perceived by many as a cause of embarrassment, yet they managed to draw in enough audiences so as to stay on the market consistently throughout those years.
1970s and 1980s
Films in this period benefited from state-run agencies, most notably Embrafilme. Its role was perceived as somewhat ambiguous. It was criticized for its dubious selection criteria, bureaucracy and favouritism, and was seen as a form of government control over artistic production. On the other hand, much of the work of this period was produced mainly because of its existence.
The early nineties, under the Fernando Collor government, saw a significant decrease in State funding that lead to a practical halt in film production and the closing of Embrafilme in 1989. However, in the mid nineties the country witnessed a new burst in cinematic production, mainly thanks to the introduction of incentive laws under the new FHC government.
The dark urban film The Trespasser was chosen as the best film of the period by magazine Revista de Cinema. Some other films that have attracted attention are Carandiru, The Man Who Copied, Madame Satã, Behind the Sun, Olga and Two Sons of Francisco, though perhaps some of these would no longer qualify as films of the retomada, since the term is only adequate to describe the initial boost that occurred in the nineties.
Still common in Brazilian cinema is a taste for social and political criticism, a trait that reflects its strong Cinema Novo influences. For the common movie goer, there has been a shift in perception towards Brazilian cinema as becoming more audience friendly.
Television shows of the Rede Globo network such as Casseta & Planeta and Os Normais have also received film versions and Globo Filmes, Globo's film production branch, has been behind many of the films that have come out over the years, often as a co-producer. Globo's presence is seen by some critics as being overly commercial, thus compelling certain filmmakers to work outside its system to create independent work. Documentaries have also had a strong place in Brazilian cinema thanks to the work of renowned directors such as Eduardo Coutinho and João Moreira Salles.
In 2007, the film Elite Squad gained headlines due to how quickly leaked DVD copies spread among viewers before its release on theaters, but also due to the large number of audience members who cheered police brutality scenes.[10]
Since the 1970s, the quantity of film theaters has declined heavily. During the 1990s, it became common for small theaters to close while multiplex theaters, which are usually found in shopping centers, gained market share. By December 1999, Cinemark Theatres was the largest theater chain with 180 screens followed by local exhibitor, Grupo Seveirano Ribeiro, with 170 and UCI Cinemas with 80 screens.[11] In the last decades, the accessibility of televisions and computers sold at lower prices combined with success in making telenovelas of high production quality made cinema less attractive to lower income audiences. In addition, ticket prices increased more than tenfold in a span of twenty years.
In the early 1990s Brazilian film production suffered as a result of the president Fernando Collor's laissez-faire policy; the sector had depended on state sponsorship and protection. However, with the retomada Brazilian film regained speed, though not to the same extent it had seen before. A significant increase in audience was recorded, however, from 2000 to 2002, with 7 million viewers, to 2003, when 22 million viewers came to theaters to watch national films.
Because these films were made possible thanks to incentive laws introduced in the 1990s and that the number of viewers drawn in from year to year can fluctuate significantly, it is often questioned whether film production has in fact reached a certain amount of stability and whether or not it could in the future succumb to any governmental whims.
Incentive laws allow Brazilian films to receive funding from companies that, by acting as sponsors, are allowed tax deductions. A common criticism is that, through this system, though films are no longer directly controlled by state, they are, nevertheless, subject to the approval of entrepreneurs who are logically cautious as to which content they wish to associate their brands. Even with funding, there are still areas that require some struggle from filmmakers, such as distribution, television participation and DVD release.[12]
TV Globo, formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Grupo Globo. The TV station is by far the largest of its holdings. Globo is the largest commercial TV network in Latin America and the second-largest commercial TV network in the world behind the American Broadcasting Company and the largest producer of telenovelas. All of this makes Globo renowned as one of the most important television networks in the world and Grupo Globo as one of the largest media groups.
Cinema Novo, "New Cinema" in English, is a genre and movement of film noted for its emphasis on social equality and intellectualism that rose to prominence in Brazil during the 1960s and 1970s. Cinema Novo formed in response to class and racial unrest both in Brazil and the United States. Influenced by Italian neorealism and French New Wave, films produced under the ideology of Cinema Novo opposed traditional Brazilian cinema, which consisted primarily of musicals, comedies and Hollywood-style epics. Glauber Rocha is widely regarded as Cinema Novo's most influential filmmaker. Today, the movement is often divided into three sequential phases that differ in tone, style and content.
Pornochanchada is the name given to a genre of sex comedy films produced in Brazil that was popular from the late 1960s after popularity of commedia sexy all'italiana. By the 1980s, with the wide availability of hardcore pornography through clandestine video cassettes, the genre suffered a considerable decline. The name, combined pornô (porn) and chanchada, which itself combined comedy and erotica.
Oscarito, stage name of Oscar Lorenzo Jacinto de la Inmaculada Concepción Teresa Diaz was a Spanish-Brazilian actor, considered to be one of the most popular comedians of Brazil.
Roberto Farias was a Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter. He directed 15 films during his career. His 1982 film Pra Frente, Brasil was entered into the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival. Farias' brother Reginaldo Faria is also a film director and actor.
Fernando Grostein Andrade is a Brazilian filmmaker, director, producer, screenwriter, director of photography, and media entrepreneur. He is a columnist for VEJA magazine and the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. His best-known work is the documentary Quebrando o Tabu, which discusses alternative policies to the War on Drugs and features former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso as well as former US presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, infectologist Drauzio Varella and writer Paulo Coelho. In 2012, in partnership with Sun Dog Pictures, owned by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, the documentary was adapted into an international version which was narrated by actor Morgan Freeman. The project has spun off into the largest online platform in defense for human rights, with over 15 million followers between Facebook and Instagram.
Petra Costa is a Brazilian filmmaker and actress. She has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2018.
The 1st Grande Prêmio Cinema Brasil ceremony, presented by the Ministry of Culture of Brazil, honored the best audiovisual productions of 1999. It took place on February 12, 2000, at the Palácio Quitandinha in the city of Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. During the ceremony, the Ministry of Culture presented the Grande Prêmio Cinema Brasil in 17 categories. The ceremony, televised by TV Cultura and Televisão Educativa, was directed by José Possi Neto and hosted by actress Regina Casé.
Carla Camurati is a Brazilian actress and filmmaker. She became notorious for acting in several Rede Globo telenovelas in the 1980s. She also acted on children's theater, starred in films—including Eternamente Pagú for which she won the Best Actress Award of Festival de Gramado—and was cover of the Brazilian edition of Playboy. In 1995, she debuted as a director with Carlota Joaquina, Princess of Brazil, an important mark in the period of Cinema of Brazil known as "Retomada". She was the director of Fundação Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro that administers the Teatro Municipal from 2007 to 2014.
Mango Yellow is a 2002 Brazilian drama film directed by Cláudio Assis. It stars Matheus Nachtergaele, Jonas Bloch, Dira Paes, Chico Díaz, and Leona Cavalli as working-class people who engage in amorous and social encounters, with most of the action taking place in a hotel and a bar. The directorial debut of Assis, the film was partially inspired by his previous short film Texas Hotel. It was filmed on a low budget in the suburbs of Pernambuco.
Banana da Terra is a 1939 Brazilian musical film directed by Ruy Costa and written by Braguinha and Mário Lago. The film stars Carmen Miranda, Dircinha Batista and Aloysio de Oliveira. It was Miranda's last film in Brazil, before she moved to Hollywood.
Xuxa Popstar is a 2000 Brazilian musical romantic comedy film directed by Paulo Sérgio de Almeida and Tizuka Yamasaki with screenplay by Vivian Perl and Wagner de Assis. The cast includes Xuxa Meneghel, Luigi Baricelli, Marcos Frota and Sílvia Pfeifer, as well as musical numbers with Os Travessos, KLB and Deborah Blando.
Xuxa Gêmeas is a 2006 Brazilian romantic comedy children's film written by Flávio de Souza, Jorge Fernando and Patricia Travasso, directed by Fernando, produced by Globo Filmes, Diler & Associados, Warner Bros. Pictures and Xuxa Produçoes and distributed by 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Pictures. This is the last Xuxa film to be produced by Diler Trindade. Starring the Xuxa Meneghel with the participation of Ivete Sangalo, Murilo Rosa, Maria Clara Gueiros, Maria Mariana Azevedo, Eike Duarte, Ary Fontoura, Fabiana Karla, Thiago Martins.
In 2015, the Brazilian Film Critics Association (Abraccine) published a list with the 100 best Brazilian films ever according to the votes of its members. This poll was the basis for a book named The 100 Best Brazilian Films, published in 2016. The idea of the ranking and the book was suggested by publisher Letramento, with whom Abraccine and television network Canal Brasil co-released the book. The ranking was done based on individual lists done by Abraccine's 100 critics, who initially mentioned 379 films. The full list was first made available to the public on 26 November 2015, and the book was released on 1 September 2016.
Atlântida Cinematográfica was a Brazilian film studio, founded 18 September 1941 in Rio de Janeiro by Moacir Fenelon and José Carlos Burle. It produced a total of 66 films before 1962, when it ceased operations, having become the most successful film production company in Brazil.
Cinédia was a Brazilian film studio established on 15 March 1930 in Rio de Janeiro, and remained in continual operation until 1951.
Helena Ignez is a Brazilian actress and filmmaker who participated in the Cinema Marginal movement during the 1960s and 70s alongside Rogério Sganzerla and Glauber Rocha.
Lírio Mário da Costa, better known as Costinha, was a Brazilian comedian and actor.
Zezé Macedo was a Brazilian comedienne and actress in radio, cinema and television, being the female record holder in Brazil for film appearances, having made over 100 films. She also published four books of poetry.
Cinedistri was a Brazilian film studio and distributor, created in 1949 by Oswaldo Massaini at Rua do Triunfo, where Boca do Lixo would later be established. The company initially acted only as a distributor of national titles between the year of its foundation and 1953, when it decided to also act in the field of cinematographic production. His star was due to be the film Rua sem sol, a melodrama directed by Alex Viany that ended up being a great commercial failure. Depois disso, a Cinedistri resolved to invest naquilo that used to distribute, or seja, musical or chanchada films. Between 1955 and 1961, the company produced or co-produced 35 films, among which stand out Fuzileiro do amor, Cala a Boca, Etelvina, Absolutamente Certo and Dona Xepa. Nessa phase, a Cinedistri associated on several occasions with filmmakers from Atlântida Cinematográfica and also constituted its own star system, with names such as Ankito, Costinha, Dercy Gonçalves, Grande Otelo, Mazzaropi, Odete Lara, among other national stars.
↑ Bicalho, Maria Fernanda Baptista (1993). "The Art of Seduction: Representation of Women in Brazilian Silent Cinema". Luso-Brazilian Review. 30 (1): 21–33. JSTOR3514194.
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AUGUSTO, Sérgio. Esse mundo é um pandeiro: chanchada de Getúlio a JK. Companhia das Letras.
BENAMOU, Catherine, and MARSH, Leslie Louise. "Women Filmmakers and Citizenship in Brazil: From Bossa Nova to the Retomada." In Hispanic and Lusophone Women Filmmakers: Theory, Practice and Differences ed. Parvati Nari and Julián Daniel Gutierrez-Albilla, 54–71. Manchester, England: University of Manchester Press, 2013.
BURTON, Julianne. Cinema and Social Change in Latin America: Conversations with Filmmakers. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1986.
DENNISON, Stephanie and SHAW, Lisa. Popular Cinema in Brazil. Manchester, England: University Manchester Press, 2004.
GOMES, Paulo Emilo Sales. Cinema: trajetória no subdesenvolvimento. Paz e Terra. * 30 Anos de Cinema e Festival: a história do Festival de Brasília do Cinema Brasileiro / coordinated by Berê Bahia. Brasília, Fundação Cultural do Distrito Federal, 1998.
CALDAS, Ricardo Wahrendorff & MONTORO, Tânia. A Evolução do Cinema no Século XX. Casa das Musas, Brasília, 2006.
Brazilian Cinema. Ministry of Culture, Brasília 1999 (catalog).
Glauber Rocha: del hambre al sueño. Obra, política y pensamiento. Malba - Colección Constantini, Artes Gráficas Ronor S.A., April 2004.
NAGIB, Lúcia. Brazil on Screen: Cinema Nôvo, New Cinema, Utopia. London: IB Tauris, 2007.
NAGIB, Lúcia, ed. The New Brazilian Cinema. London: I.B. Tauris & Co, 2006.
PICK, Suzana M. The New Latin American Cinema: A Continental Project. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1993.
TORRES SAN MARTÍN, Patricia. "Lost and Invisible: A History of Latin American Women Filmmakers." In Hispanic and Lusophone Women Filmmakers: Theory, Practice and Differences ed. Parvati Nari and Julián Daniel Gutierrez-Albilla, 29–41. Manchester, England: University of Manchester Press, 2013.
WILSON, Pamela, and Stewart, Michelle. Global Indigenous Media: Cultures, Poetics, and Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008.
Further reading
Robert Stam: Tropical Multiculturalism - PB: A Comparative History of Race in Brazilian Cinema and Culture (Latin America Otherwise, Duke University Press, 1997, ISBN0-8223-2048-7
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