Brazil thread 2023-

[Red Velvet]

Brazil will have FOUR movies in the new Cannes Film Festival that goes from May 14th to May 25th. One of them is in the Main Competition for the Palme D’Or.

Three are made by Brazilian Directors, another is fully about Brazil but directed by an American director. These are the films:

- Motel Destino, by Karim Ainouz (Main Competition)
- Lula, by Oliver Stone (Special Screenings)
- Baby, by Marcelo Caetano (Critics’ Week)
- The Falling Sky, by Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha (Directors Fortnight)

Motel Destino, the one competing for the Palme D’or, is an erotic thriller about a woman with an abuse relationship with an ex-cop that owns a local motel. Her life changes after a man coming from a socio-educational institute crosses her path.

Lula, as the title indicates, will be a documentary about recent persecutions against the now Brazilian president, focusing on the Car-Wash accusations period and jailing of Lula that happened in 2010s, alongside his later return. Everything will be told through the view of one of US most acclaimed directors, Oliver Stone (from “Platoon”).

Baby, will tell the story of a young man named Wellington, who after leaving a detention center for youngsters, is all by himself in the streets of São Paulo. That is until he visita a Porn Cinema and meets a Boy Prostitute named Ronaldo, whom he will enter a relationship full of passion and conflicts.

The Falling Sky, is based on a book that is actually a personal report of a Yanomami Indigenous Shaman called Davi Kopenawa, providing a look inside of the Indigenous tribe customs and also how they are affected by illegal miners and invaders threatening their land, while also portraying Mr. Kopenawa position of being a leadership voice to exterior audiences in Brazil and abroad. One of the two directors of this film, Eryk Rocha, is the Son of legendary Cinema Novo Brazilian Director Glauber Rocha (“Black God, White Devil” and “Entranced Earth”).

[buritobr]

French chef Erick Jacquin, who lives in Brazil and owns a restaurant here, decided to swin wearing a suit in order to protest against some of his customers, who go to his upper class restaurant wearing T-shirt, bermuda shorts and sandals. At least we saw a french taking a bath!

[buritobr]

Lula will not attend the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. The ministry of foreign affairs Mauro Vieira will represent him. Lula and some ministers will attend a dinner in the Portuguese Embassy in Brasília.
Far-right leader André Ventura said during the campaign that if he becomes the prime minister, Lula would not be allowed to visit Portugal. Chega didn't win the election, Ventura didn't become the prime minister, Lula was invited, even though, he declined the invitation.

Brazilian dictatorship fell 10 years after the fall of the Portuguese dictatorship. The transition was different, the Brazilian dictators were not punished. Even though, there was a similiarity: in both Portuguese speaking countries, there was a center-left dominance of the politics in the early years after the redemocratization. And there was a difference: the Portuguese economy did better after the redemocratization than the Brazilian economy.
 After some decades, a far-right emerged in Brazil. There is a far-right growing in Portugal, but I don't believe Ventura will become the prime minister one day.