Volume 9, Issue 6 / June 2005

Brazilian Cinema

Offscreen is pleased to present a special issue devoted to Brazilian cinema. Peter Rist, co-author of one book on South American cinema (South American Cinema: A Critical Filmography 1915-1994, co-edited with Timothy Barnard), and presently working on a second book on South American cinema, introduces the issue with his historical overview of Brazilian cinema. Up next are two essays on Walter Salles’ Central Station. Both essays look at the film within the context of Cinema Nõvo. Kerstin Vogel compares it to two earlier Nõvo classics, Manunaima and Vidas Secas, and sees the film as a compromise between commercialism and Nõvo tradition. Felix Rebolledo takes a more theoretical and polemical approach to the film. Concluding the issue are two pieces on Jose Mojica Marins (better known in North America by his screen character Coffin Joe): an in-depth interview with the man himself by Rist and Donato Totaro, and Sean Lindsay’s contextual review of the Brazilian DVD boxset.

This issue is dedicated to Alberto Lattuada (November 13, 1913-July 3, 2005), who recently passed away at the ripe age of 92. Lattuada is best remembered for co-directing Fellini’s first film, Variety Lights, but his impact on Italian cinema goes well beyond that, having directed seminal neorealist films and classic comedies during the heyday of Italian comedy. For a fuller appreciation of his contribution click here for an earlier Offscreen essay on the director.