Passion, Drama, Colour! But Hey, This Isn’t Rugby..

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: Thursday 13 October 2011.

Passion, Drama, Colour! But Hey, This Isn’t Rugby...


The 3rd Reel Brazil Film Festival lands in Auckland, after doing one week in Wellington.


After steaming up Wellington with a hot and contemporary selection of films, the 3rd Reel Brazil arrives in Auckland, post Rugby World Cup, on Thursday the 27th of October. The Brazilians are back with a concise and well-awarded selection of 8 features and documentaries as well as the best elements of previous festivals: the Corporate Opening Night, ($35 - includes live Bossa Nova, Brazilian canapés, the famous cocktails, and prime New Zealand wine), and the Reel Brazil Festa, (free for all, with live music and DJ).

The Corporate Opening Night is an event that combines the love of film with a corporate backdrop for businesses to network and entertain clients. According to festival director and expat Brazilian Leandro Cavalcanti: “The Corporate Opening Night is to bring business and people together that share interests in Latin America. It’s not something done for gringos. If I were in Brazil, I would do it in exactly the same way - it is very authentic.”

But if you are thinking bikinis, carnival, and football, think again. The films reflect Brazil today – global, connected and culturally diverse. Enduring themes of freedom, tolerance, diversity and spirituality are merged with subject matter that has universal appeal, be it science fiction, quirky black humour, or showcasing inspirational stories that, according to Cavalcanti, “Kiwis will be able to relate to”.

The films range from black comedy “Reflections of a Blender”, starring a philosophizing blender who may be a murder accomplice, to the music doco “A Night in 67”, celebrating the Brazilian era of festivals when musicians like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil were made or broken by gladiator-style crowds.

The Opening feature, “VIPs”, is an award-winning caper film starring Wagner Moura (Elite Sqaud), Brazil’s No. 1 movie star of the moment. The plot has echoes of Catch Me If You Can, but with a distinctly Latin American context and Moura’s incredible performance as the charming but vulnerable Marcelo that won him best actor at Rio’s 2010 International Film Film Festival.

Documentary “Dzi Croquettes”, winner of an impressive 20 awards including the Brazilian equivalent of the 2011 Oscar, is about an infamous Brazilian dance-theatre troupe from the 70’s adored by the likes of Liza Manelli and Mick Jagger, who revolutionized Brazil’s gay rights movement by confronting the violent regime of their time. Still on the topic of defiance is the documentary “Smokescreen”, which debates international drug laws and their consequences on society.

The festival programme also includes some special effects wizardry, with films like “Besouro”, choreographed by Hong Kong master Huen Chiu Ku (Matrix and Kill Bill), about Besouro, a capoeira legend (Brazilian martial art) and the sci fi, life after death drama, “Our Home: Astral City”. The latter comes with an outstanding musical score by the American symphony and opera composer, Phillip Glass.

“This year the films are the most contemporary and award-winning films that we have ever brought to premiere in New Zealand. In fact, all but one of the films will be Australasian premieres. Four of the films – Our Home: Astral City, Smokescreen, Dzi Croquettes and VIPs - are all on current release in Brazil” says Cavalcanti.




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