A short history of cinema do brasil, seen from Rio
Rio de Janeiro is said to be the birthplace of Brazil's first film director, Affonso Segreto. The son of an Italian family, he and his brother Paschoal were the first to implement the seventh art in Brazil, having been captivated by the Lumière brothers' very first national screening in Rio on July 8, 1896. In 1898, Affonso Segreto is said to have filmed his arrival in Rio at Guanabara Bay, but this film - the very first to depict Brazil in images - has now disappeared. On July 31, 1897, Paschoal opened the country's first cinema, also in Rio de Janeiro. In the decades that followed, Rio de Janeiro came to occupy a central position in national cinema, as much for its richness as for its international openness. In the 1940s-1950s, the Atlântida Cinematografica studio produced dozens of films, turning actors like Oscarito and Grande Otelo into national stars. A cinema for the general public, sometimes very commercial, opposed by the directors of Cinema Novo in the early 1960s. Along with Bahia and São Paulo, Rio was one of the epicenters of this new social cinema movement, influenced as much by Italian neo-realism as by the French New Wave and Soviet cinema. Between 1960 and 1975, several of these films were shot in the Rio region. Glauber Rocha's Terre en Trance (1967), an allegory of Brazil's recent history, was shot in the Parque Lage and at the Theatro Municipal do Rio. The film was part of the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, before winning the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Festival. The following year, Le brave guerillero, the first film by Gustavo Dahl, one of the leading figures of Cinema Novo, was also shot in Rio. In 1969, the cynical, offbeat comedy Macunaíma was set in Rio, in a farcical story as reminiscent of Monty Python as it is of a less childish, more political Kirikou. Another example of the contribution made by Cinema Novo to the country's cinematic history. This influence can be seen in the critical success of Walter Salles' Central do Brasil , starring Fernanda Montenegro (1998). This film earned its actress the distinction of being the first Brazilian actress to be nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe, and won her the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival that same year. Four years later, Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund's feature film City of God (2002), shot in Rio's Cidade de Deus district, received four Oscar nominations. Today, many critics consider the film to be one of the greatest cinematic works of all time. The themes of corruption, drugs and violence that run through the story are echoed in another important film of the 21st century, Tropa de Elite, directed in Rio by José Padilha (2007). A raw, no-holds-barred action feature, its shooting was disrupted by threats, including the kidnapping of the film crew in the favela where it was to be shot, but fortunately the event ended well, and the film went on to win over Brazilian audiences, before going on to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2008.
In the north, Minas Gerais and its cities welcome fewer film shoots. For the most part, Brazilian cinema remains confined to the production centers of Bahia, São Paulo and Rio. But a few filmmakers, most recently Helvécio Ratton, are nonetheless filming in their native or beloved regions. Such is the case of Helvécio Ratton, who has been making short and feature-length films in the state since 1978. In 1995, he released his first feature, Love & Co, followed by Something in the Air (2002) and the more acidic and politically committed Batismo de Sangue (2006). The latter is set in Belo Horizonte, while Love & Co takes you to the beautiful towns of São João Del Rei and Tiradentes, for a bit of cinephile tourism.
Rio the fascinating, Rio the cinematic
From the very beginnings of cinema, this wonderful city has fascinated international filmmakers. David Perlov, one of the fathers of Israeli cinema, was born here in 1930, while filmmakers like Marcel Camus adapted works by great Brazilian artists, such as Vinícius de Moraes and his Orfeu Negro (1959). In 1964, Jean-Paul Belmondo starred as L'homme de Rio, in Philippe de Broca's film of the same name with Françoise Dorléac, which sold out French and international cinemas. The film depicts a Brasilia still under construction. The work is said to have directly inspired Steven Spielberg for Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first episode in the Indiana Jones saga. Beyond the town itself, the region's architectural heritage also played an important part in its place on the screen. The Sugarloaf Mountain cable car is the setting for an anthology scene in Moonraker, the eleventh opus in the James Bond saga, while the Corcovado makes a notable appearance in OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus, a hilarious parody of the same saga. With Jean Dujardin in the title role, the city gets a nice spotlight, even if the heat and the Nazis don't help Agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath enjoy his stay.
As far as Hollywood is concerned, the city has been the setting for a variety of films since the 1930s, such as En route vers Rio (1947), starring the legendary actor Bing Crosby. More recently, the city and region have appeared on screen in major productions such as Fast and Furious 5 (2011) and, in a completely different vein, Twilight Chapter IV: Revelation (also 2011). In the latter, viewers will be able to see Paraty Bay, renamed Esmée Island in the film. The villa in which Bella and Edward spend their whirlwind honeymoon is available to rent, for those on a budget, at around €3,500 a night. Finally, you can add a little color to your stay by vibrating to the frenzied rhythms of Rio (2011), an animated film that will keep your toddlers busy on the way to this region full of wonders.
In 2023, Fernando Trueva's animated film They shot the piano player takes cinema-goers back to the period before the collapse of Latin American democracies in the 1970s. It recounts the disappearance of virtuoso Brazilian pianist Francisco Tenaro Junior on the eve of the 1976 coup d'état in Argentina. This "ode to bossa nova" is a reminder of the importance of the South American cone in artistic, musical, cinematographic and literary creation, which the fascist regimes grouped under the Plan Condor attempted to crush.
