Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Pictures Of Ghosts will open the 15th Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival running November 6 to 11.
The documentary, this year’s Brazilian submission for the Oscars, explores the picture palaces of Filho’s hometown of Recife. It will be screened at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and premiered at Cannes Special Screenings. US distributors are Grasshopper Film and Gratitude Films.
Sonia Braga, star of Kiss Of The Spider Woman and Filho’s Aquarius and Bacurau, will be honoured during the opening ceremony
The year’s line-up was curated by Thiago Macedo Correia, producer of Mars One and one of the founders of the Brazilian production company Filmes de Plastico. Macedo correia said, “This year’s program truly represents the richness of Brazilian culture through film.” “We are thrilled to be able to showcase these films for Angelenos to enjoy.”
The festival will screen O Estranho by Flora Dias and Juruna Mallon and Daniel Bandeira’s Propriedade, both Berlinale selections; Estranho Caminho by Guto Parente, which won awards at Tribeca and Rio Film Festival; and Haroldo Borges’ Saudade Fez Morada Aqui Dentro, another Rio Film Festival award winner.
The full line up will be announced soon
“We are pleased to present another year of a carefully selected film lineup,” said Talize Sayegh, the festival’s founder and executive director. “We are dedicated to showcasing the exceptional talent of Brazilian filmmakers and providing audiences with an authentic and powerful glimpse into Brazilian life through cinema.”
On November 10 the festival will present For Your Consideration: Brazil Night, an evening dedicated to Brazilian films eligible for consideration for the Oscars shortlist.
Brazil’s greatest shaman and spokesperson for the Yanomami people, Davi Kopenawa, will speak. Mari Hi – The Tree Of Dreams, a documentary by Yanomami filmmaker Morzaniel Iramari and based on Kopenawa’s book ‘The Falling Sky’, will screen during the event, held at Linwood Dunn Theater at the Pickford Center.
The festival proper will also screen the feature-length documentary winner of the E Tudo Verdade festival, Eliza Capa’s Incompatible With Life, as well as the live-action short Big Bang by Carlos Segundo.
The closing ceremony will feature Ricardo Alves Jr’s Tudo o Que Voce Podia Ser, which won Rio Film Festival’s jury special award and best director at the Mostra Novos Rumos.
Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival is also launching the HBRFF Diversity & Inclusion Initiative programme to support and provide a platform for Afro-Brazilian filmmakers Hollywood, in collaboration with SPCINE, the City of Sao Paulo’s Department of Culture affiliate dedicated to promoting the audiovisual sector.
As part of the initiative seven indigenous, Black, and/or LGBTQIA+ filmmakers will participate in the festival and receive mentorship from local film industry professionals.
Festival sources said 57% of the Brazilian population identifies as Black; while 2% of entertainment industry professionals are Black. The HBRFF Diversity & Inclusion Initiative programme will be launched in collaboration with SPCINE, the City of Sao Paulo’s Department of Culture affiliate dedicated to promoting the audiovisual sector.
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As part of this initiative, seven indigenous, Black and/or LGBTQIA+ filmmakers will participate in the festival and receive mentorship from local film industry professionals.
Festival sources said 57% Brazilians identify as Black; while 2% entertainment industry professionals are black.
