The BRICS Classics programme will feature ten remarkable films that will be screened
in restored copies at CineArte UFF to represent the five BRICS countries
Niterói is exactly one month away from hosting the 4th BRICS Film Festival, which is organised by the Department of Film and Video of the Fluminense Federal University in cooperation with the City Government of Niterói. Between 23 September and 9 October, the five BRICS countries will be represented in all the scheduled events. One of the highlights is the BRICS Classics section, which will offer audiences the opportunity to watch free of charge ten landmark films from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, curated by João Luiz Vieira and Rafael de Luna Freire and screened in restored copies. The features, of different eras and styles, will be screened at CineArte UFF, one of the best film theatres in the country in terms of projection quality and sound. The public will be able to discover outstanding films, some of them very little known outside their own countries: “There will be two feature films from each country, selected by the curators after receiving nominations from national film archives and from the lecturers invited to teach the BRICS film history courses,” says professor and co-curator Rafael de Luna Freire.
Selected films for the BRICS Classics exhibition Brazil
From Brazil, two films will be screened: Humberto Mauro’s Rough Diamond (Ganga Bruta, 1933), considered a classic of the transition period from silent to sound film and, according to many critics, one of the best Brazilian films ever made; and Leon Hirszman’s They Don’t Wear Black Tie (Eles não usam black-tie, 1981), based on the play by Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, starring Fernanda Montenegro, Carlos Alberto Riccelli, and Bete Mendes. In 1995, when the 100th anniversary of cinema was celebrated, Rough Diamond was chosen as one of the 100 best films in history in a poll by the Berlin Festival. They Don’t Wear Black Tie, in turn, received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in Italy.
Russia
Russia will be represented by Fridrikh Ermler’s Fragment of an Empire (Oblomok imperii, 1929) and Marlen Khutsiev’s It Was in May (Byl mesiats mai, 1970). The first is a silent drama, restored in 2018 by an international team of experts that included Robert Byrne, chairman of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and historian and archivist Peter Bragov, who is a guest at the festival and will teach the Russian and Soviet film history course. The restoration process included a deleted scene showing a crucifix of Jesus wearing a gas mask. It Was in May, in turn, bears the signature of a Russian film master still little recognized internationally who died in March 2019 at age 93. The film tells the story of a group of Russian soldiers in a small German town shortly after the end of World War II.
China
China will be bring a silent-era classic, The Goddess (神女, 1934), directed by Wu Yonggang, and a landmark of the celebrated “Fifth Generation” of Chinese cinema, Red Sorghum (红 高粱, 1987), directed by Zhang Yimou. The Goddess, released in 1934 by the Lianhua Film Company and considered one of the masterpieces of the golden age of Chinese cinema, tells the story of a woman struggling to raise her child in an hostile setting of social injustice and violence. Red Sorghum, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, is the first feature film by Zhang Yimou, an exponent of a generation of filmmakers graduated from China’s film schools in the 1980s who is known for his films Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and House of Flying Daggers (2004).
India
Two films from the 1970s will represent Indian cinema. John Abraham’s Donkey in a Brahmin Village (Agraharathil Kazhutai, 1977) is a reflection on caste society that follows the story of a donkey that roams through a Brahmin-dominated city. G. Aravindan’s The Circus Tent (Thampu, 1978), in turn, features artists from a roving street circus and was shot in the documentary style of direct cinema, deeply influential at the time.
South Africa
South Africa will be represented by Lionel Rogosin’s Come Back, Africa (1959) and Radaman Suleman’s Fools (1997). Shot secretly, Come Back, Africa is a scathing denunciation of the Apartheid regime and the oppression of black people. Combining fiction and documentary, the film has a marked realistic style that dialogues with Brazilian cinema from the same period. Fools is Radaman Suleman’s first film and was awarded the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Festival in Switzerland. Fools is the first South African film produced, directed, and starring black people that is not predominantly in English. Taking place at Charteston, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, Fools focuses on the casual meeting of two men: middle-aged teacher Duma Zamani (Patrick Shai) and Zani Vuthela (Hlomla Dandala), activist and brother of a student raped by Zamani. The two engage in a process of self-criticism and questioning of identity and social responsibility in late 1980s South Africa.
BRICS CLASSICS
Venue: Cine Arte UFF, Rua Miguel de Frias, 9, Icaraí, Niterói
From 2 to 9 October
* Free admission
Films:
Rough Diamond (Brazil, Ganga Bruta, dir. Humberto Mauro, 1933)
They Don’t Wear Black Tie (Brazil, Eles não usam black-tie, dir. Leon Hirszman, 1981)
Fragment of an Empire (Russia, Oblomok imperii, dir. Fridrikh Ermler, 1929)
It Was in May (Russia, Byl mesiats mai, dir. Marlen Khutsiev, 1970)
The Goddess (China, 神女, dir. Wu Yonggang, 1934)
Red Sorghum (China, 红 高粱, dir. Zhang Yimou, 1987)
Donkey in a Brahmin Village (India, Agraharathil Kazhutai, dir. John Abraham, 1977)
The Circus Tent (India, Thampu, G. Aravindan, 1978)
Come Back, Africa (South Africa, Come Back, Africa, dir. Lionel Rogosin, 1959)
Fools (South Africa, Fools, dir. Radaman Suleman, 1997)
For the full schedule* of the 4th BRICS Film Festival, visit www.bricsfilmfestival.com.br.
* The programme may be changed without notice.
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