Brazilian National Cinema


Book Description

Brazilian cinema is one of the most influential national cinemas in Latin America and this wide-ranging study traces the evolution of Brazilian film from the silent era to the present day, including detailed studies of more recent international box-office hits, such as Central Station (1998) and City of God (2002). Brazilian National Cinema gives due importance to traditionally overlooked aspects of Brazilian cinema, such as popular genres, ranging from musical comedies (the chanchada) to soft-core porn films (the pornochanchada) and horror films, and also provides a fresh approach to the internationally acclaimed avant-garde Cinema Novo of the 1960s. Lisa Shaw and Stephanie Dennison apply recent theories on stardom, particularly relating to issues of ethnicity, race and gender, to both well-known Brazilian performers, such as Carmen Miranda and Sonia Braga, and lesser known domestic icons, such as the Afro-Brazilian comic actor, Grande Otelo (Big Othello), and the uberblonde children’s TV and film star, and media mogul, Xuxa. This timely addition to the National Cinemas series provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between Brazilian cinema and issues of national and cultural identity.




Brazilian National Cinema


Book Description

Brazilian cinema is one of the most influential national cinemas in Latin America and this wide-ranging study traces the evolution of Brazilian film from the silent era to the present day, including detailed studies of more recent international box-office hits, such as Central Station (1998) and City of God (2002). Brazilian National Cinema gives due importance to traditionally overlooked aspects of Brazilian cinema, such as popular genres, ranging from musical comedies (the chanchada) to soft-core porn films (the pornochanchada) and horror films, and also provides a fresh approach to the internationally acclaimed avant-garde Cinema Novo of the 1960s. Lisa Shaw and Stephanie Dennison apply recent theories on stardom, particularly relating to issues of ethnicity, race and gender, to both well-known Brazilian performers, such as Carmen Miranda and Sonia Braga, and lesser known domestic icons, such as the Afro-Brazilian comic actor, Grande Otelo (Big Othello), and the uberblonde children’s TV and film star, and media mogul, Xuxa. This timely addition to the National Cinemas series provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between Brazilian cinema and issues of national and cultural identity.




Brazilian Cinema


Book Description

From the documentary to the cinema novo and cannibalism, from Nelson Pereira dos Santos's Vidas Secas to music in the films of Glauber Rocha, this third, revised edition is a century-spanning introduction to the story of a medium that flourished in one of the most developed of 'underdeveloped' nations.




Remaking Brazil


Book Description

This book explores conflicting conceptions of Brazilian national identity as they are expressed in contemporary Brazilian cinema, especially those revolving around the long-standing claim that Brazil is a racial democracy. -- Welsh Books Council




Remapping Brazilian Film Culture in the Twenty-First Century


Book Description

Remapping Brazilian Film Culture makes a significant contribution not only to debates about Brazilian national cinema, but more generally about the development of world cinema in the twenty-first century. This book charts the key features of Brazilian film culture of the first two decades of the twenty-first century, including: the latest cultural debates within Brazil on film funding and distribution practices; the impact of diversity politics on the Brazilian film industry; the reception and circulation of Brazilian films on the international film festival circuit; and the impact on cultural production of the sharp change in political direction at national level experienced post-2016. The principle of "remapping" here is based on a need to move on from potentially limiting concepts such as "the national", which can serve to unduly ghettoise a cinema, film industry and audience. The book argues that Brazilian film culture should be read as being part of a globally articulated film culture whose internal workings are necessarily distinctive and thus deserving of world cinema scholars’ attention. A blend of industry studies, audience reception and cultural studies, Remapping Brazilian Film Culture is a dynamic volume for students and researchers in film studies, particularly Brazilian, Latin American and world cinema. *Honorary Mention - Best Book in Humanities for the LASA Brazil Prize 2021*




The Film Industry in Brazil


Book Description

Looking back through the prism of the severe economic crisis for filmmaking in the 1980s, The Film Industry in Brazil explores the unusual relationship between the state-supported industry, which often produced politically radical films, and the authoritarian regime that had held sway for twenty years. To ground his analysis, Johnson covers the early years of the film industry, 1898-1930; attempts at industrialization during the 1930s and 1940s; film industry congresses and government film boards, 1950-1966; the National Film Institute, 1966-1975; and the expansion of the state's role from 1969 through 1980.Well-conceived, carefully researched and documented, Johnson's study fills a major gap in film studies by tracing the development of this industry in Brazil, focusing specifically on its relationship to the state.




Directory of World Cinema: Brazil


Book Description

Best known to international audiences for its carnivalesque irreverence and recent gangster blockbusters, Brazilian cinema is gaining prominence with critics, at global film festivals and on DVD shelves. This volume seeks to introduce newcomers to Brazilian cinema and to offer valuable insights to those already well versed in the topic. It brings into sharp focus some of the most important movements, genres and themes from across the eras of Brazilian cinema, from cinema novo to musical chanchada, the road movie to cinema de bordas, avant-garde to pornochanchada. Delving deep beyond the surface of cinema, the volume also addresses key themes such as gender, indigenous and diasporic communities and Afro-Brazilian identity. Situating Brazilian cinema within the country's changing position in the global capitalist system, the essays consider uneven modernization, class division, dictatorship, liberation struggles and globalization alongside questions of entertainment and artistic innovation.




Popular cinema in Brazil, 1930–2001


Book Description

This ground-breaking study provides an entertaining insight into popular film in Brazil, situating major box-office successes such as 'Central Station' (Walter Salles, 1998), in their socio-historical context.




Foundational Films


Book Description

In her authoritative new book, Maite Conde introduces readers to the crucial early years of Brazilian cinema. Focusing on silent films released during the First Republic (1889-1930), Foundational Films explores how the medium became implicated in a larger project to transform Brazil into a modern nation. Analyzing an array of cinematic forms, from depictions of contemporary life and fan magazines, to experimental avant-garde productions, Conde demonstrates the distinct ways in which Brazil’s early film culture helped to project a new image of the country.




The Brazilian Road Movie


Book Description

The innovative collection of essays by a distinguished group of scholars brought together in The Brazilian Road Movie - Journeys of (Self) Discovery represents the first book-length publication on Brazil's encounters with and reworkings of one of cinema's most enduringly popular genres.