Heat, beats and
sweet treats

Brazilians of reasons to check out the second
annual Festival du Film Brésilien de Montréal

BOSSA NOVA BONANZA: Out of Tune

by CHRISTOPHER SYKES

After a successful—albeit snowy—run last December at the Cinéma du Parc, the Festival du Film Brésilien de Montréal is back for an encore presentation that will showcase the latest and greatest of new Brazilian cinema. The fest will also fete the 50th anniversary of the bossa nova movement, with a focus on films championing the famous musical style.

Fittingly, the festival’s opening film is Bruno Barreto‘s sweeter-than-caipirinha rom-com Bossa Nova. Set in Rio and infused with Tom Jobim’s classic bossa nova standards, it’s a network narrative following the trials and tribulations of nine characters and their ever-complicated love lives. It’s warm and cozy, and starts the week of Brazilian cinema off on a toe-tapping note.

Out of Tune is the story of five 20-something musicians who aim to export bossa nova to New York City in the early ’60s. While fictional, Tune is inspired by real musicians of the era and loosely incorporates the tragic story of pianist Tenório Jr., who was abducted and presumably murdered by the Argentinean military junta while touring in Buenos Aires with Vinicius de Moraes.

Trading the sax and bossa nova for accordions and bluegrass, Breno Silveira’s Two Sons of Francisco is the rags-to-riches true story of Brazil’s country music sensation Zezé Di Camargo & Luciano. It’s a Joseph Jackson-esque story of an ambitious and iron-willed father who sees music as the only way to escape the poverty of Goiás. With domestic ticket sales of more than $5-million, it’s among the most seen Brazilian films of all time.

TRUTH AND FICTION

If “inspired by” doesn’t wet your whistle, there’s a swath of solid documentaries, led by Rosa Berardo‘s Cerrado, How Much? which chronicles the socio-environmental impact of sugar cane farming in the Brazilian mid-west. As farmers hack down rainforests to profit from cane, cattle and soy, the fragile ecosystem is being irreparably damaged. Berardo will be on hand after the screening to debate the need for big business to embrace sustainable development.

Festival goers will also have the chance to pick the brains of Condor director Roberto Mader and The Xavante Strategy‘s Belisário Franca. Mader’s unsettling documentary, about the ’70s collaboration of various South American governments which facilitated the exile and murder of thousands of undesirables, won Best Documentary honours at last year’s Rio de Janeiro Film Festival. In Xavante, Franca portrays the various strategies employed by the Xavante indigenous nation to preserve their territory and traditions.

The fest closes with Sandra Kogut’s superb fictional debut Mutum, which adapts iconic novelist João Guimarães Rosa’s novel Campos Gerais for the big screen. It’s a poetic, beautifully shot coming-of-age story seen through the eyes of a charismatic 10-year-old forced to confront family betrayal, poverty and death. Not to be missed.

It’s well worth coming out of the cold to enjoy this collection of flicks, the majority of which have raked in numerous awards at international film fests and are being shown here for the first time. Your eyes and ears won’t be sorry.

THE FESTIVAL DU FILM BRÉSILIEN DE
MONTRÉAL OPENS THIS FRIDAY,
DEC. 5 AT CINÉMA DU PARC