Nearly 100 films confirmed for the VI Brasília International Film Festival

From July 14 through 25, Cine Academia will be hosting the sixth edition of the Brasília International Film Festival. This year, approximately 100 feature films from different countries will be screened, including several internationally awarded documentaries and a selection of Brazilian and foreign short films. Most of the titles are premiering in Brazil.

The selection includes films recently screened at the Cannes Festival, in addition to winners of other film festivals, like Super Size Me, a documentary landing a heavy blow on McDonald’s, by Morgan Spurlock, awarded as best director at the Sundance Independence Film Festival, in the U.S. this year. Another hit is The Corporation, winner by popular choice at the same festival. The Basque Ball, by Julio Medem, director of Sex and Lucia and the beautiful The Lovers of the Arctic Circle, is also in the program. And to top it off, there’s Like Anything Else, by Woody Allan, and Hay Motivo, a documentary on the Aznar admnistration in Spain, a collective work of 32 directors.

A major highlight in the program is the presence Lukas Moodysson, the young Swedish director of Together and Fucking Amal, previously screened at FICBRASILIA 2000. Usually reluctant to participate in festivals, Moodysson, a revelation from the new generation of filmmakers, has accepted the invitation to be in Brasília as a special guest, on which occasion he will introduce his third feature film titled Lylia-4Ever, not yet released in Brazil. Other invited guests include directors Dervis Zain (Turkey), Romuald Karmakar (Germany), Manoel Gutierrez Aragão and Maria Lindon “Luna” (Spain), Ana Kats (Argentina), and Daniel Hendler, from Uruguay, winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

Brazilian actor and comedian Renato Aragão, one of the celebrities to whom tribute shall be paid during the festival for his successful 40-year career on TV and the big screen, will also be in Brasília for the release of his latest feature Didi Quer Ser Criança, screening once only at Americel Hall, on July 18. Renato’s filmography includes over 40 pieces, watched by more than 100 million people, an all-time box office record in Brazil.

In addition to the competitive lineup, and the traditional Preview Lineup, FICBrasilia will also show a multifaceted panel of the world’s current cinematographic production, with several simultaneous exhibitions among which the Yoji Yamada Lineup, in acknowledgment of the legendary Japanese director; Between Two Nations, featuring films made by Turkish directors in Germany; the Lukas Moodysson Retrospective, with the complete works of this young filmmaking talent from Sweden, including short films and pieces made for TV; and the Roberto Faria Retrospective, showing a selection of films starring the Brazilian “king of pop”, Roberto Carlos.

A round of debates and jazz shows by bands like Quarteto de Brasília are also in the program. So is the lounge assembled by the Academia Hall, where DJs and VJs from Brasília will show their talent. In addition, two books shall be released during this year’s edition of FICBrasilia, namely Cadernos do Cine Academia, on the life and work of actor Othon Bastos, by Cláudio Valentineti, and a book on director Tizyuka Yamazaki, by Inimá Simões.

The jury, comprised by film critic Rubens Ewald Filho, filmmaker Paulo Sérgio de Almeida, actress Giulia Gam, and a representative of the Swedish Film Institute, Gunna Almer, will award the Buriti Trophy to the best film in the Competitive Lineup for New Directors, including 10 feature films not yet released in Brazil.

Screening will take place in the theater complex of Cine Intelig Academia and at the Academia Hall – an auditorium seating 2 thousand people, at the Tennis Academy Resort. Other projection rooms include the Cine Academia Cultura Inglesa and the theater of CCBB, the Culture Center of Banco do Brasil, one of the sponsors of this year’s festival.