Brazilian Film Festival in Toronto

December heats up with the last film festival of the year - the first annual Brazil Film Fest (BRAFF).  The first edition of the annual BRAFF takes place in Toronto December 7-10, 2007 at the Royal Ontario Museum (100 Queen’s Park). All films are in Portuguese with English subtitles. Tickets and detailed film lineup information at http://www.brazilfilmfest.net

The Festival will open with Cao Hamburger’s THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION (Brazil’s official entry for the Oscars for 2008) and will close with Tata Amaral’s ANTONIA. Through a selection of 12 recent feature-length films, the first annual BRAFF explores the delights and intricacies of multi-faceted contemporary Brazil.

Films:
Opening Night Film: THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION, directed by Cao Hamburger
Closing Night Film: ANTONIA, directed by Tata Amaral
CARTOLA directed by Lírio Ferreira and Hilton Lacerda
DRAINED directed by Heitor Dhalia
THE FOREIGN EYE by Lúcia Murat
GINGA by Hank Levine, Marcelo Machado and Tocha Alves
HOUSE-WARMING PARTY by Toni Venturi and Pablo Georgieff
THE MACHINE directed by João Falcão
MARIA’S PLACE directed by Sérgio Goldenberg
MEET YOU AT THE BEACH by Daniela Kallmann and Flávia Lins e Silva
MESTRE BIMBA, THE ENLIGHTENED CAPOEIRA by Luiz Fernando Goulart
WOMEN OF BRAZIL directed by Malu de Martino
Three of the films are reviewed below.  The opening night film has a commercial release in 2008.  Most of the others do not.

ANTONIA (Brazil 2006) ***
Directed by Tata Amaral

ANTONIA is the name of the rap group formed of four black girls (Negra Li, Cindy, Leilah Moreno, Queylenah, Marcus Vinicius Kamau).  They fulfill their dream of performing as the main attraction in and out of the Sao Paul music circuit but not without balancing problems of their own that include abusive boyfriends, poverty and gang fights most of which are not found outside Brazil.  What is neat about director Amaral’s film is that the audience is given a tour of what life is like – though mainly unpleasant – in and out of Sao Paulo.  No need to watch a documentary for this purpose.  As an added bonus, the film is enlivened by the rap songs.  The best sequence is the four part harmony rendition of the song “Killing Me Softly”.

DRAINED (O CHEIRO DO RALO) (Brazil 2006) ***1/2
Directed by Heitor Dhalai

DRAINED would arguably be the weirdest film screened at the Brazilian Film Festival.  For one, it begins and ends with shots of the a*s of actress Paula Braun, the protagonist’s object of desire.  DRAINED centres on the drainage of Lourenco’s (Selton Mello) toilet.  It is blocked with the result of his place of work smelling of s***.  Whether or not it stands for a metaphor on his life, the stink is a reality for Lourenco who buys and resells goods from people undergoing hard times.  Dhalai’s film works well primarily because he knows how to play his protagonist right.  Lou is initially despised as an extremely dislikeable character.  He ditches his fiancée pitilessly and preys on helpless victims.  But Dhalai shows that this man at least has the guts to make good and stand up for he believes in or craves for – even though it may be the a*s of the girl serving the worst food at the stall next door.  Never boring and full of unpredictable humour, DRAINED finally convinces the audience that even the most despicable person deserves a certain redemption.  And in a twist ending, Dhalai delivers the goods on what he thinks.  Brilliant!

HOUSE-WARMING PARTY (DIA DE FESTA) (Brazil 2005) **1/2
Directed by Pablo Georgieff and Toni Venturi

The documentary HOUSE-WARMING PARTY briefly traces the lives of four Sao Paulo women with one thing in common.  They are coordinators of the Movement of the Homeless Centre of Sao Paulo.  The talking heads reveal their suffering from childhood to the present culminating in the need for a decent place to stay.  If you have no home, you have nothing as one retorts.  Through the eyes of the four and the house-warming party one night, the audience is educated and grilled through the hardships.  The camera also takes a disturbing look at a confrontation with the police during a riot.  All of what is presented from the slums and flophouses to squat buildings is informative but one wishes directors Georgieff and Venturi provide some viable solutions or insight on how to elevate the housing problems.