Nelson Pereira dos Santos: Cinema Novo's Spirit of Light
12 Feature Films by one of Brazil's most respected
and influential directors at Pacific Film Archive

Nelson Pereira dos Santos is considered the father and the conscience of Brazil's Cinema Novo. From that movement's outset in 1954 to today, spanning many genres and styles, dos Santos's films constitute the most important body of work in Brazilian and, arguably, Latin American cinema. Cinema Novo broke with Brazil's Hollywood-inspired commercial cinema to put the theories of Italian neorealism into practice, in films shot on location, with non-professional actors, treating populist subjects with intelligence and creative savvy. Even before fellow filmmaker Glauber Rocha coined the term "aesthetic of hunger" for Cinema Novo, dos Santos's Barren Lives (Vidas Secas) brought into light a culture of hunger and despair, viewed without a filter but not without a vision.

In dos Santos's hands neorealism became authentically Brazilian-which meant it immediately incorporated music and magic-and evolved into an ongoing dialogue with and about popular forms of expression. Thus his is a playfully self-reflexive cinema, toying aggressively with myths-especially that of Brazil as a tropical paradise-and pulsing with the rhythms and realities of the Afro-Brazilian influence in everyday life. His style evolved the more he and fellow artists were forced to evade the censors following Brazil's military coup in 1964: through indirection and irony (making marvelous use of sound, music, and dialogue), adapting great literary works with "creative unfaithfulness," dos Santos explores the politics and passions of the Brazilian people.

Thursday, July 29

5:30 pm & 9:10 pm
Rio Northern Zone (Rio, Zona Norte, 1957)
7:15 pm
Rio 100 Degrees (Rio, 40 Graus, 1954/56)

Saturday, August 5

5:30 & 9:30 pm
Barren Lives (Vidas Secas,, 1963)
8:00 pm
Hunger for Love (Fome de Amor , 1968)

Saturday, August 12

5:30 & 9:05 pm
How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (Como era Gostoso o Meu Frances, 1972)
7:10 pm
The Alienist (Azyllo Muito Louco, 1969/71)

Saturday, August 19

5:00 & 9:30 pm
The Amulet of Ogum (O Amuleto de Ogum, 1975)
7:05 pm
Tent of Miracles (Tenda dos Milagres, 1977)

Friday, August 25

7:30 pm
Memories of Prison (Memorias do Carcere, 1984)

Saturday, August 26
5:30 & 9:25 pm
On the Road of Life (Na Estrada da Vida, 1980)
7:30 pm
Jubiaba (1986)

Thursday, August 31
7:30 pm
The Third Bank of the River (A Terceira Margem do Rio, 1993)


This series is presented in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry of Brazil and Consulate General of Brazil, San Francisco.

Copies of Nelson Pereira dos Santos: Cinema Novo's "Spirit of Light," a collection of essays and interviews edited by Gerald O'Grady and published by Film Society of Lincoln Center and Harvard Film Archives, are available at PFA.