Remembering Nelson Pereira dos Santos
March 15–May 8, 2019
A tribute to a founding member of Brazil’s Cinema Novo movement, whose fiery but loving dissections of postcolonial society helped put the Global South on the cinematic map.
Read full description-
Tent of Miracles
-
Rio, 100 Degrees
-
Barren Lives
-
Hunger for Love: Have You Ever Sunbathed Completely Nude?
- Upcoming
Films - Past
Films - Past
Events
Past Films
Barren Lives
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Brazil, 1963Friday, March 15 7 PMIntroduction by Nathaniel WolfsonView DetailsA migrant family shifts from one unforgivingly barren land to another—and contends with similarly unforgiving landlords—in arguably the first masterpiece of Brazil’s Cinema Novo movement.
Rio, 100 Degrees
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Brazil, 1956Sunday, March 17 7 PMView DetailsFive youth from the wrong side of the tracks hit Rio’s tourist zones in dos Santos’s first film, which adds a tropical beat and heat to Italian neorealism. Banned at the time, it’s now a startling time capsule of fifties samba and street style.
Music According to Tom Jobim
Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Dora Jobim
Brazil, 2011BAMPFA Student Committee Pick
Friday, March 22 4 PMView DetailsDos Santos and codirector Dora Jobim (Antonio’s granddaughter) offer a catchy musical memorial to the master of bossa nova with this blend of archival performances (featuring Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, et al.) and more contemporary interpretations.
Rio, Zona Norte
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Brazil, 1957Wednesday, March 27 7 PMView DetailsRace, class, and samba collide in dos Santos’s radicalization of Brazil’s widespread chanchada musical genre. Charismatic singer/cabaret artist Grande Otelo stars as a working-class composer trying to succeed in a rich (and white) man’s world.
Hunger for Love: Have You Ever Sunbathed Completely Nude?
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Brazil, 1968Sunday, March 31 7 PMView DetailsDos Santos’s formally radical adaptation of an allegorical short story about adultery and colonialism was inspired by his encounters with American avant-garde filmmakers like Jonas Mekas and Stan Brakhage.
A Very Crazy Asylum
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Brazil, 1970Saturday, April 6 8 PMView DetailsEchoing Brazil’s ever-elastic political blacklist, dos Santos’s clever subversion of a classic novel by Machado de Assis centers on a small town where authorities’ expanding definition of insanity makes everyone a candidate for the loony bin.
Tent of Miracles
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Brazil, 1977Friday, April 26 7 PMIntroduction by Richard PeñaView DetailsCitizen Kane doused with caipirinha and given a carnival spin, dos Santos’s delightfully ribald tribute to the many cultures and races of Bahian society adapts the novel by famed author Jorge Amado.
Memories of Prison
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Brazil, 1984Friday, May 3 7 PMView DetailsA writer’s time among both political prisoners and “ordinary” criminals is chronicled in dos Santos’s examination of life under the Vargas dictatorship of the thirties, based on the memoirs of writer Graciliano Ramos (Barren Lives).
Music According to Tom Jobim
Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Dora Jobim
Brazil, 2011BAMPFA Student Committee Pick
Wednesday, May 8 7 PMView DetailsDos Santos and codirector Dora Jobim (Antonio’s granddaughter) offer a catchy musical memorial to the master of bossa nova with this blend of archival performances (featuring Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, et al.) and more contemporary interpretations.