Tropical Analysis: The Films of Joaquim Pedro de Andrade A Special Showcase of the 45th New York Film Festival
September 29 – October 9, 2007
There has recently been a welcome revival of interest in the achievements of Cinema Novo. Tropical Analysis––a complete retrospective of Joaquim Pedro de Andrade and a unique chance to discover the work of a major if little-known director––has been made possible by the longtime efforts of his family, which has worked for years to restore all his films to their full beauty. We’re delighted to offer this program as part of the 45th New York Film Festival.
In the late 1950s in Brazil, a group of young filmmakers began producing shorts and features that sought to establish a role for the cinema in a national dialogue then going on about the country’s future direction. This somewhat disparate movement, dubbed Cinema Novo or “new cinema” by the press, hoped to simultaneously challenge Hollywood’s hold over the Brazilian film market and introduce new subjects and technical innovations into the Brazilian cinema. “A camera in the hand and an idea in the head” became a Cinema Novo motto, as its filmmakers went off to the Rio slums, the São Paulo industrial belt, the arid backlands of Brazil’s northeast and the Amazon jungle in search of a country that, to their minds, had never really been captured on screen.
One of the key figures of Cinema Novo, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, remained true to these original principles throughout his lamentably brief career. For him, cinema not only captured reality, it could reveal it as well, showing its underpinnings and causes. However, beyond de Andrade’s need to understand Brazil was his passion for celebrating it. He created cinematic homages to major cultural figures such as poet Manuel Bandeira, sociologist Gilberto Freire and sculptor Aleijadinho, as well as his fellow Cinema Novo filmmakers. He adapted to the screen works by many of his country’s leading writers. And then there’s the sensual side of his work: the lusciousness of the light, the vibrancy of the colors, the physicality of the performances he elicits from many of Brazil’s best actors.
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Calendar to view the schedule, film descriptions and, to purchase tickets online.
Read Cannibal Aesthetics, Olaf Möller’s in-depth feature on de Andrade’s inimitable career, in the Sep/Oct issue of Film Comment.
Tropical Analysis: The Films of Joaquim Pedro de Andrade has been organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Os Filmes do Serro. Special thanks to Antonio and Alice de Andrade, Cristina Aché and Fabiano Canosa.
