The Circuit

by Ed Meza
With its stunning vistas, beautiful beaches and lovely residents, Rio de Janeiro poses a serious challenge to its own film festival.

Yet in spite of -- or perhaps because of -- the city and its tropical groove, the relaxed and immensely enjoyable Rio de Janeiro Intl. Film Festival remains one of South America’s premiere fests, with strong focuses on domestic as well as Latin American cinema and top selections from around the globe that make up the 350 films showing in the more than 20 sections.

No fest is perfect and Rio has its share of problems. This year the strict laws regulating municipal elections prohibited the festival from setting up its headquarters on Copacabana Beach, as had long been the tradition. The late-minute ban sent organizers scrambling, although they managed to find a great new location in downtown at the last minute. The vast new pavilion offered plenty of space, but poor wiring in that part of town resulted in wonky Internet connections that bedeviled staffers, bloggers and fest attendees alike. Long distances between hotels, cinemas and the fest center didn't help. But no one gets their undies in a bunch. What could turn into a major crisis at others fests is taken in stride, with laid-back humor and contagious smiles.

Among the most talked about local pics in Rio this year was “A Festa da Menina Morta” (The Dead Girl’s Feast), pictured below, the directing debut of Brazilian thesp Matheus Nachtergaele (“City of God”), which screened this year in Cannes
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The pic, about a young man from a troubled family who has been exalted to the position of a saint in a small Amazonian village, examines issues of blind faith, religious fanaticism and the opportunism of its manipulative perpetrators.

From neighboring Colombia, Roberto Flores Pietro's Colombian drama “Heridas” (Wounds) looks at the ongoing conflict in the country, following an orphaned peasant girl and a married couple who find themselves caught in the crossfire between left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries.

Flores said he felt the need to make the film “to not only try to help people understand what is going on in Colombia, but also to help ourselves understand what is happening there. The irrationality and barbarity is utterly incomprehensible. There is great polarization in the world, but in Colombia it’s absolute.”

Other notable screeners included Fernanda Tornaghi and Ricardo Bruno’s “Reinhas” (Queen of Brazil), a documentary about a young man pursuing his dream of becoming Miss Brazil Gay, and “Favela on Blast,” which delves into the musical subculture of Rio’s favelas and the bombastic rhythms inspired by the sound of Miami Bass.

Directed by Leandro HBL and American music producer and DJ Wesley Pentz, the pic looks at the artists that have shaped modern funk carioca, a music characterized by its celebration of sex and commentary on poverty and violence, and offers a close-up look at the pounding dance of copulation that gives a whole new meaning to “dirty dancing.”

The crime and poverty that afflict favelas have long defined Brazilian cinema, but that trend looks like it’s finally coming to an end.

Local producers and international distributors say they’ve had enough of favela shootouts and are eager to see more of what this beautiful country, and incredibly cool cities like Rio, have to offer.  The fact that the premiere party for “Favela on Blast” was held in a favela venue near Copacabana beach underscores the fast-changing times.

Sandro Fiorin of L.A.-based FiGa Films and a Rio native, had a blast at the baile, and pointed out that attending a favela funkathon would have been unthinkable for middle-class kids a few years ago.

With hostels, hilltop hotels and Internet cafes now catering to tourists and offering the best views of the city, the favelas have long since opened for business, signaling perhaps an erosion of the cultural and economic barriers that have long separated the various parts of the city.    

Speaking of which, favela kids are getting their own chance at filmmaking thanks to Alice Bragg, a founding member of the London-based volunteer org World Film Collective. Bragg is teaching a group of children, aged 10 to 13, how to develop and make movies using mobile phones at the Casarão Cultural Centre, a refurbished house in the Morro dos Prazeres favela above Rio’s picturesque district of Santa Teresa.

“It’s great to see kids look at their lives and tell their stories in their own voice,” says Bragg. “We want to give them the opportunity to express themselves in their own way.”

Videos, which also include works from the org’s workshops in South Africa and the Palestinian Territory, are showcased on www.worldfilmcollective.com.