4th Reel Brazil Film Festival - Auckland and Wellington

4th REEL BRAZIL FILM FESTIVAL, 2013

Auckland | Rialto Cinemas |18 - 28 APR
Wellington | Paramount Theatre | 02 - 12 MAY

Trailers: http://www.youtube.com/user/ReelBrazil | Website: www.reelbrazil.co.nz
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Thursday 28 March 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

4th Reel Brazil Film Festival - See Brazil Through A Different Lens...

As the days darken and the nights draw in, take off to a festival that shows the real Brazil.

While the largest country in Latin America gets ready to host the Fifa World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016, Kiwis can experience Brazil’s diversity right here in Aotearoa, at the 4th Reel Brazil Film Festival in Auckland (18-28 April) and Wellington (02-12 May).

The country well known for its mastery of football, the Amazon rainforest, the beachside metropolis of Rio de Janeiro and it’s famous mardi gras, also has a thriving film scene.

This time, running for 10 days in each city and increasing their sessions from 44 to 72, plus a Mini Brazilian Market on the festival weekends, the festival director and expat Brazilian, Leandro Cavalcanti says they have found their niche and they are here to stay.

“Kiwis’ love affair with the food, dance, coffee, and Carnaval can now also include pieces from the cinematic explosion Brazil has experienced in the last decade.”, comments Cavalcanti

Promising a full Brazilian experience, on top of the award-winning film selection, Reel Brazil begins with the Corporate Opening Night, a Premiere screening under the patronage of the Ambassador of Brazil followed by a cocktail function with live music, New Zealand wines, and Brazilian cocktails and canapés.

Then there’s the ‘Festa’ - Portuguese for fiesta - on the first festival weekend, with live music, cocktail specials and plenty of dancing.

“This year we also introduced the Mini-Market during the festival weekends, where people can buy Brazilian products and craft and also pick up publications on tourist and trade events,” says Cavalcanti.

“What we are offering New Zealanders is an authentic experience - if I were to do this event in Brazil, I would deliver it in exactly the same way.”

Check-out the full programme at www.reelbrazil.co.nz .
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FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

1. TWO RABBITS (Dois Coelhos)
Action, Thriller // 104 mins // 2011 // NZ Premiere
Director: Afonso Poyart
“Two Rabbits” is a gritty urban thriller pitting Edgar the mysterious anti-hero against the twin evils of politics and crime. Innovative cinematography, including animations, and plot twists galore will have cinema-goers on the edge of their seats.

2. DIRTY HEARTS (Corações Sujos)
Drama, War, Historical // 90 mins // 2011 // NZ/Australian Premiere
Director: Vicente Amorim
When Japan lost World War II, a new war started in Brazil. A war between the Japanese immigrants who accepted defeat, and those who did not. "Dirty Hearts”tells the story of one of these warriors.

3. HELENO
Drama, Football, Cinephile / B&W / 116 mins / 2011
Director: José Henrique Fonseca
The striker was Brazil's Pelé in the 40s but the prince of Rio became the king of an asylum, eating the newspaper clippings detailing his triumphs. - Jonathan Wilson, The Guardian UK

4. WHO CARES? (Quem se importa?)
Documentary, Human Rights, Social Entrepreneurship / Colour / 93 mins / 2012 Director: Mara Mourão
Who cares? The stars of this documentary do, and they’re changing the world, by creating simple solutions to the hard global issues. Beautifully shot, inspiring - it’s a movement, not a film.

5. PIRINOP, MY FIRST CONTACT (Pirinop, O Primeiro Contato)
Documentary, Indigenous Peoples // 83 mins // 2007
Director: Mari Corrêa, Kumaré Txicão (Ikpeng) & Karané Txicão (Ikpeng)
The indigenous Ikpeng people of Brazil - through speeches, reenactments and archival footage - describe their fight to reconquer their identity and territory, as well as the transformations that resulted from their first contact with white people in 1964.

6.TROPICALIA
Documentary, Music, 1960s and 70s
2012 // 87 mins
Director: Marcelo Machado
Tropicália gives us a definitive picture of one of the most fascinating cultural movements in Brazil. ‘Tropicalismo’ shook the structures of Brazilian popular music and influenced several generations.

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Notes to editors:
History of Reel Brazil
2009 First year, films shown at Te Papa, tribute to the 100th birthday of Carmen Miranda.
800 people attended over four days. Included corporate screening on opening night, and a separate Brazilian party.
2010 Festival expanded to become the largest Brazilian event in New Zealand.
Corporate Opening Night and parties in Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown.
2011 3rd Reel Brazil - took place during the Rugby World as an alternative to the games.
The motto was: “Passion, Drama, Colour! But hey, this isn’t Rugby...” Biggest annual
Brazilian event in NZ! Corporate Opening Night and parties in Wellington and
Auckland.

Dates for Reel Brazil 2013
Auckland | Rialto Cinemas | 18 - 28 APR
Wellington | Paramount Theatre | 02 - 12 MAY

About Leandro Cavalcanti
Leandro is the Executive Director for Reel Brazil and was born in Minas Gerais, Brazil. He is 36, and in his early childhood lived in London. From 2007 – 2009 he lived in Toronto, where he helped set-up a Brazilian film festival.
During his decade living in New Zealand, Leandro spent 4 years working for the Embassy of Brazil. The Reel Brazil film festival is his initiative, drawing together his passion for films, Brazil and New Zealand. He also works as a business facilitator helping New Zealand companies break into the Brazilian market, and in 2011 he contracted to the NZ International Film Festival as the National Outreach Coordinator. Truly versatile, since January 2012, he has tapped into the the Risk Management and Business Analysis realm and in addition to organising Reel Brazil, he is currently working at Transpower as a Project Analyst.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Web: www.reelbrazil.co.nz
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ReelBrazilFilmFestival
Twitter: @ReelBrazil

FULL FILM SYNOPSES

Film 1
HELENO
Drama, Football, Black and White
2011 // 116 mins
Director: José Henrique Fonseca
Trailer: http://www.reelbrazil.co.nz/RBFF_2013/Film_-_Heleno.html

Winner Best Actor, Rodrigo Santoro, 2011 Havana Film Festival
Winner Best Actor, Rodrigo Santoro, 2012 Lima Latin American Film Festival
Winner Best Actor Jury Award, Rodrigo Santoro, 2012 Prêmio Contigo Cinema, Brazil

“The striker was Brazil's Pelé in the 40s but the prince of Rio became the king of an asylum, eating the newspaper clippings detailing his triumphs.” - Jonathan Wilson, The Guardian UK

Synopsis:
Before Pelé, there was Heleno, a talented player whose arrogance and violent temper would destroy his life both on and off the field. The film will please both lovers of the sport and lovers of the Seventh Art. “In the early 1940’s, Rio was a glamorous oasis in a world ravaged by war. Film director Fonseca conjures this epoch in high-contrast black and white, evoking the films of the classic Hollywood era. Santoro (300, Love Actually, Behind the Sun) gives the performance of his career, effortlessly evoking Heleno’s glory days in a delectable combination of the cocksure and the charismatic.” - Toronto International Film Festival

Film 2
IN THERAPY (Divã)
Romantic-Comedy, Drama , Psychology
2009 // 93 mins
Director: José Alvarenga Jr.
Trailer: http://www.reelbrazil.co.nz/RBFF_2013/Film_-_In_Therapy.html

Winner Best Actress, Lilia Cabral, 2010 Cinema Brazil Grand Prize
Winner Best Film Audience Award, 2009 Miami Brazilian Film Festival
Winner Best Film, 2009 Contigo Cinema Brazil

“Lilia Cabral is marvelous in this role; she is a true diva on the stage, the big screen and television.” - Luis Carlos Merten, estadão.com.br

Synopsis:
“In Therapy” stars Lilia Cabral as Mercedes, a happily married 40-something with two children, who out of curiosity decides to see a psychoanalyst. Her sessions on the therapist’s couch lead her on a comic, and at times, dramatic journey of transformation, with young lovers, rave parties and a life she never knew she was missing. Her best friend Monica eggs her on, and Mercedes’ plain, middle-class life takes both surreal and poignant turns. Mercedes’ husband Gustavo adds to the comic tone - complaining she always has a drama when the football’s on tv - lending a “typical” Brazilian male perspective to the story.

Film 3
TWO RABBITS (Dois Coelhos)
Action, Thriller, Animation
2011 // 104 mins
Director: Afonso Poyart
Trailer: http://www.reelbrazil.co.nz/RBFF_2013/Film_-_Two_Rabbits.html

Winner Best Director, Best Actress, 2012 LA Brazilian Film Festival
Official Selection, Brazil Film Festival, Australia

“Two Rabbits flirts with the pop language in a way that no Brazilian film has done until now.” - Rolling Stone Magazine, Brazil.

Synopsis:
“Two Rabbits” is a gritty urban thriller pitting Edgar the mysterious anti-hero against the twin evils of politics and crime. No-one is as they seem in this dark, fast-paced film set in Sao Paolo. Edgar has come home from two years in Miami, and quickly launches a scheme with a motorbike-riding mugger. Meanwhile, Julia, a prosecutor for the state, warns the gangster Maicon that he will be arrested any day; but what is her true motivation? Edgar, Maicon, Julia, a bent politician, a grieving father - the collision of lives and motives is epic and unexpected. Innovative cinematography, including animations, and plot twists galore will have cinema-goers on the edge of their seats.

Film 4
FOUND MEMORIES (Histórias que só Existem Quando Lembradas)
Drama, Photography
2011 // 98 mins
Director: Julia Murat
Trailer: http://www.reelbrazil.co.nz/RBFF_2013/Film_-_Found_Memories.html

Winner Best Film Critics Award 2012 Lima Latin American Film Festival
Winner Best Narrative Feature Jury Prize 2012 RiverRun International Film Festival
Winner Best Director Jury Prize 2012 RiverRun International Film Festival
Winner Best Cinematography Jury Prize 2012 RiverRun International Film Festival
Winner Grand Prix, Julia Murat, 2012 Sofia International Film Festival

“Brazilian filmmaker Júlia Murat’s first narrative feature is a mesmerizing, slow-build marvel.” - Eric Hynes, TimeOut New York, stars.

Synopsis:
This finely paced film has framed over 27 awards and was the official selection of more than 40 festivals around the globe. In a fictional town in Brazil where coffee plantations flourished in the 1800s, Rita, a young wandering photographer, comes to understand life in a community where time has stood still and people’s traditional roles clash with modern society. The film’s original title, “Stories That Only Exist When Remembered,” beautifully expresses the theme of Murat’s poetic rendering of the fictive Jotuomba, its inhabitants affectionately wedded to the rituals and land that contain the memories of their lives. Rita’s stay occasions a confluence of generations and cultures that seem to grow organically out of the setting in this extraordinarily accomplished and mature first feature. - indiewire.com

Film 5
DIRTY HEARTS (Corações Sujos )
Drama, War, Historical
2011 // 90 mins
Director: Vicente Amorim
Trailer: http://www.reelbrazil.co.nz/RBFF_2013/Film_-_Dirty_Hearts.html

Nominated Grand Prix des Ameriques, 2011 Montreal World Film Festival
Winner Best Actor, 2012 Guadalajara International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2012 Rio International Film Festival

“With little dialogue (almost all in Japanese) and impeccable cast, the film is a sensitive and topical account of intolerance and fundamentalism.” - Rolling Stone Magazine, Brazil

Synopsis:
When Japan lost World War II, a new war started in Brazil. A war between the Japanese immigrants who accepted defeat, and those who did not. Based on a novel by award-winning Brazilian writer Fernando Morais, this fictional post-WWII drama depicts a real phenomenon. The Japanese community in Brazil, the largest outside of Japan, were treated as enemies in their new home. “Sequestered during the war and cut off from all Nippon publications, most immigrants refused to believe their country did not triumph. Fanatical societies sprang up, targeting those who acknowledged Japan's surrender as "dirty hearts," and launching a murderous internecine campaign against them.” - Ronnie Scheib, Variety

Film 6
THE WORLD IN TWO ROUND TRIPS (O Mundo em Duas Voltas)
Documentary, Sailing, Sport, Travel
2007 // 91 mins
Director: David Schürmann
Trailer: http://www.reelbrazil.co.nz/RBFF_2013/Doc_-_The_World_in_Two_Round_Trips.html

Winner, Best Film, Audience Award, 2007 CINE-PE Recife Film Festival, Brazil
Winner, Best Sound Editing , 2007 CINE-PE Recife Film Festival, Brazil
Nominated Best Director 2008 Prêmio Contigo Cinema, Brazil
Nominated Best Documentary 2008 Prêmio Contigo Cinema, Brazil

"The bond that keeps our family so united is that we were, are and will be dreamers. Forever.” - Vilfredo Schürmann

Synopsis:
The youngest sailor on the Schürmann family’s round the world journey is five year old Kat. She’s a very little girl who gets a very big education: learning hula in Tahiti, horse-riding in Chile, tramping in the frozen desert wilds of Patagonia, while living on board the boat with her family.
The documentary took 10 years to finish and includes images from 30 countries, 4 continents and 3 oceans. Director David Schürmann loved New Zealand so much, he stayed behind as a teenager to study film while his parents carried on sailing the world. As an adult, he joins his parents and little sister Kat, and films their second world trip. This film is an ode, to the beauty of the sea, to the intrepid spirit of Ferdinand Magellan, and to the love of family.

Film 7
TROPICALIA
Documentary, Music, 1960s and 70s
2012 // 87 mins
Director: Marcelo Machado
Trailer: http://www.reelbrazil.co.nz/RBFF_2013/Doc_-_Tropicalia.html

Winner Special Jury Award 2013 Sao Paulo Association of Art Critics Awards
Official Selection, 2012 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF)
Official Selection, 2013 International Film Festival, Rotterdam

“This documentary whisked me back to my college days when I was an avid music collector with a rather eclectic set of tastes.” - Pierce Conran, Jecheon International Music & Film Festival (JIMFF)

Synopsis:
‘Tropicalismo’ shook the structures of Brazilian popular music and influenced several generations. Brazil was suffering under a nationalist military regime when Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, Gal Costa, Arnaldo Baptista, Rita Lee, and many others, mixed Brazilian folk traditions with African music and rock and roll. With revealing interviews, rare archival footage and packed with songs from that period, Tropicália gives us a definitive picture of one of the most fascinating musical and artistic periods in Brazilian history.

Film 8
WHO CARES? (Quem se importa?)
Documentary, Human Rights, Social Entrepreneurship
2012 // 93 mins
Director: Mara Mourão
Trailer: http://www.reelbrazil.co.nz/RBFF_2013/Doc_-_Who_Cares.html

Winner Best Feature Documentary 2012 DocMiami International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2012 Heartland International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2013 Washington DC International Film Festival

“The impact that these stories may have on people’s lives can be very positive, and who knows it may prompt us to start small and create change around us.” – Vassili Zaitsev, Cinepop

Synopsis:
Who cares? The stars of this documentary do, and they’re changing the world. Beautifully shot, inspiring - it’s a movement, not a film. Social entrepreneurship is not a phrase that easily rolls off the tongue, but once you see the film, you’ll be a believer. The people showcased are bringing solutions, generating huge social impact, and most of all, inspiring people to do the same. The film captures stories of everyday people in Brazil, Peru, Tanzania, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and the USA. “Informing but never lecturing, the film succeeds in conveying the importance of social innovation.” - Sarah Ward, artshub.com.au

Film 9
GRANDPA’S WATCH (O Relógio do Meu Avô)
Documentary, War, Jewish
2012 // 70 mins
Director: Alex Levy Heller
Trailer: http://www.reelbrazil.co.nz/RBFF_2013/Doc_-_Grandpas_Watch.html

WORLD PREMIERE

Synopsis:
The director goes on a journey to his grandfather's homeland, Transylvania, in search of an old watch his grandpa hid before the Nazis came to take the family to Auschwitz. The 70-minute documentary tells the story of immigrant Holocaust survivors who settled in Brazil after World War II. Through the pursuit by the film's director of the history of his Hungarian grandfather and ancestors, the memories of a dark time reappear in testimonials by survivors themselves. From Israel to Hungary, Poland, and Brazil, Heller tries to understand his family’s past, discovering dark secrets along the way.

Alex Levy Heller is a Brazilian TV and film director and producer, based in Rio de Janeiro. After gaining a BFA in Dramatic Arts and Broadcasting at the University of Nebraska, USA, he worked as a TV producer and director at TV Kyne, ESPN and CNN. Back in Brazil he worked on the films "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation" and "Dzi Croquettes" (RBFF 2011), both won several awards. Alex is also the Executive Director of the Brazil Visual Circuit of Brazilian film festivals abroad, with editions held in Australia, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Portugal, Romania, Scotland and USA.

Film 10
PIRINOP, MY FIRST CONTACT (Pirinop, O Primeiro Contato)
Documentary, Indigenous Peoples
2007 // 83 mins
Director: Mari Corrêa
Trailer: http://www.reelbrazil.co.nz/RBFF_2013/Doc_-_Pirinop,_My_First_Contact.html

Official Selection 2009 Reel Brazil Film Festival
Winner Horizon Prize, 2007 Dok Fest - Munich International Documentary Festival
Winner Grand Prix, 2007 Amazonas Film Festival
Winner, Special Jury Award, 2009 International Documentary Festival, Brussels

“Mixing archival footage and photographs with boisterous re-enactments and moving story-telling, Pirinop is essential viewing if you have any interest at all in these themes.”
– Dan Slevin, Capital Times, Wellington

Synopsis:
The Americas “first contact” is widely recognized as having occurred in 1492. For the Ikpeng Indigenous people in Brazil, first contact was a documented event that occurred in 1964 and eventually led to the relocation of the Ikpeng people to the Xingu park in Brazil, far from their traditional territory. With spellbinding footage from the actual event and personal accounts of first impressions, this compelling documentary offers a rare glimpse into that historic event from the Indigenous point of view and captures the incredible impact that contact had on the lives of the Ikpeng people and how it continues to affect them to this day. - ImagineNative Film Festival, Toronto, Canada.

ENDS

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