The Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival, founded by producer Talize Sayegh, returns to the Egyptian theatre with five days of films showcasing Brazil’s up and coming indie filmmakers. This year, tickets to most of the films will be free, thanks to the generous support of the Grace Helen Spearman Foundation, the General Consulate of Brazil in Los Angeles, and the Brazilian Foreign Relations Ministry.
The 5 day film festival unreels June 6 – 10, 2012 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California.
HBR FEST officially kicks off Wednesday, June 6th with an Opening Night Celebration at the Egyptian Theater featuring a star-studded red carpet and the Los Angeles Premiere of the feature film HELENO about the tragic life of Brazil’s first soccer star, Heleno de Freitas; starting Rodrigo Santoro (Winner – Best Actor at the 2011 Havana Film Festival).
“As the only film festival in Hollywood bringing together the film industry and talented Brazilian filmmakers, we take pride on the collection of films chosen for this year program”, said Talize Sayegh, Executive Producer and Founder of the Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival. “We are committed to fulfilling our mission of supporting and promoting diverse visions by Brazilian filmmakers and diversity of our Brazilian culture”, she concluded.
The 5 feature narrative, 5 feature documentary and 10 short films selected for this year’s “IndieBrasil Competition” have something very meaningful in common: they are independent production; representing the newest crop of award winning filmmaking flourishing in Brazil today.
HBR FEST is the first Hollywood-based film festival dedicated to addressing the cultural and commercial exchange between Hollywood, the World Film Industry and the Brazilian Film Community. (All films are in Portuguese with English subtitles, unless specified). See www.hbrfest.com for more information and the complete program.)
All screenings take place at the historic Egyptian Theater located at 6712 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028.
Wednesday, June 6
OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATION
8 PM – Opening Ceremony
9 PM – Feature:HELENO – 116 min
Directed by José Henrique Fonseca
The tragic life of Brazil’s first soccer star, Heleno de Freitas (Rodrigo Santoro). Awards: Best Actor, 2011 Havana Film Festival
Thursday June 7
6 PM – Feature : IS THE CITY ONE ONLY? (A CIDADE É UMA SÓ?) – 80 min
Directed by Adirley Queirós
Brasilia hoped to become the expression of a modern urban concept. However, neither the workers hired to build this project, nor the constant migratory flow, fit in the government’s plan.
Short Film:
WATERFALL (CACHOEIRA) – 14 min
Directed by Sérgio Andrade
A group of young natives from the Amazon region take part in a ritual that blends homebrew beverages and suicide.
8 PM – Feature: HARD LABOR (TRABALHAR CANSA) – 95 min
Directed by Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra
When a housewife in São Paulo pursues her dream to open her own neighborhood grocery store, the inexplicable crumbling of one of the business’ walls awakens questionings regarding the root to her problems.
Short Film:
TO SLEEP QUIETLY (PRA EU DORMIR TRANQUILO) – 15 min
Directed by Juliana Rojas
An 8 year-old boy copes with the death of his babysitter. One night, the nanny reappears inside the boy’s closet. Now he will have to make great efforts to keep her by his side.
Friday June 8
5 PM – Special Film Presentation (Not in competition)
ON THE MOVE (CAMINHOS) – 78 min
Directed by Heloísa Passos, Kátia Lund & Marília Rocha
Three touching stories on children, youngsters, and adults on their way to school. Their trajectory exposes Brazil in all its geographical, economical, and sociopolitical extension.
7 PM – Feature :LAURA – 90 min
Directed by Fellipe Barbosa
The sad and fascinating reality of a former “carioca” socialite, who leads a glamorous life in New York City by night, and cheats poverty during the day.
Short Film:
DINOSAUR EGGS IN THE LIVING ROOM (OVOS DE DINOSSAURO NA SALA DE ESTAR) – 12 min
Directed by Rafael Urban
An elder woman learns digital photography and editing to preserve the memory of her deceased husband, the biggest private collector of fossils in Latin America.
9 PM – Feature: SWIRL (GIRIMUNHO) – 90 min
Directed by Helvécio Marins Jr. & Clarissa Campolina
An 81 year-old woman loves dancing until dawn to her neighbor’s drum rhythms in a moving depiction of life and friendship, at a small village in the arid region of Minas Gerais.
NOTE: Cinema Without Borders is co-sponsoring this evening’s entertainment
Short Film:
ASLEEP (ADORMECIDOS) – 7 min
Directed by Clarissa Campolina
Everywhere when it grows dark, the lights and billboards become the only beings alive, occupying the inert and empty streets.
Saturday June 9
5 PM – Feature : THE HYPERWOMEN (AS HIPER MULHERES) – 80 min
Directed by Leonardo Sette, Carlos Fausto & Takumã Kuikuro
A musical comedy, with surprising sexual overtones, guided by the women among the Kuikuro, a traditional native tribe in the Amazon.
Short Film:
CAOS – 15 min
Directed by Fábio Baldo\
A man stops his tractor to receive the sun’s call.
7 PM – Feature: LOOK AT ME AGAIN (OLHE PRA MIM DE NOVO) – 77 min
Directed by Claudia Priscilla & Kiko Goifman
A road-movie about the journey of Syllvio Luccio, a transsexual man, who questions maternity and contemporary families in the sexist “sertão”, the dry lands of the Northeast.
Short Film:
FAMILY MATTERS (ASSUNTO DE FAMILIA) – 15 min
Directed by Caru Alves de Souza
During a classic soccer game, a young gay man tries to find his place in his male dominated and sexist family.
9 PM – Feature Film: CIRCULAR – 90 min
Directed by Adriano Esturilho, Aly Muritiba, Bruno de Oliveira, Diego Florentino & Fábio Allon
An ensemble multi-plot directed by five upcoming filmmakers depicts the lives of very different characters that intersect when a man tries to rescue his kidnapped son on a circular bus in downtown Curitiba.
Short Film:
THE FACTORY (A FÁBRICA) – 15 min
Directed by Aly Muritiba
An inmate convinces his mother to smuggle a cell phone for him into the prison.
Sunday June 10:
4 PM – Feature :
I WILL RAFFLE OFF MY HEART (VOU RIFAR MEU CORACAO) – 78 min
Directed by Ana Rieper
As real people expose their romantic stories through the lyrics of the music genre “brega”, the sentimental and erotic imaginary of Brazilians unfolds in a musical melodrama.
Short Film:
GISELA – 17 min
Directed by Felipe Sholl
Gisela lives with her husband and their maid, Luiza. The husband is always away and Gisela ends up spending most of her time alone with Luiza. That is when strange things start to happen.
6 PM – Feature : RÂNIA – 81 min
Directed by Roberta Marques
When a brilliant teenager in Fortaleza attempts to escape the lack of perspective of her poverty through dance, the limitations of her surroundings torn her talent between prostitution and a possible international dancing career.
Short Film:
DONA SONIA BORROWED A GUN FROM HER NEIGHBOR ALCIDES (DONA SONIA PEDIU UMA ARMA PARA SEU VIZINHO ALCIDES) – 18 min
Directed by Gabriel Martins
Dona Sonia seeks revenge for the death of her only son.
8:30 PM – Awards Ceremony and Closing Film Presentation
Feature :RAT FEVER (A FEBRE DO RATO) – 97 min
Directed by Cláudio Assis
From visionary auteur Cláudio Assis, this colorful black-and-white film shot in Recife, questions the system and the pre-established concepts of sex and freedom.
Short Film:
WALT DISNEY SQUARE (PRAÇA WALT DISNEY) – 21 min
Directed by Renata Pinheiro & Sergio Oliveira
A “quasi-musical” approach on contemporary urban life that questions the corporate influence on Brazilian society.
11 PM – Closing Party
