On the present and future of Brazilian film studies: Some preliminary notes

Abstract

This article consists of an overview of some of the most recent and influential academic work on the history and esthetics of Brazilian cinema, followed by some speculative notes on the future of Brazilian film scholarship. Based on recent trends and topics in the field of Film Studies in Brazil, I intend to demonstrate how the latest transformations in the Brazilian mediascapes and film market have stirred and molded new approaches to Brazilian cinema, notably amidst a new generation of film scholars. This overview covers Brazilian cinema and its related film scholarship from the “Retomada” years (1993–1994) up until some of the latest film releases (2019), or “Newest Brazilian Cinema.” Without the presumption of being an exhaustive account, this article aims to provide a panoramic and introductory annotated bibliography that will be useful for further studies and an inventory of current state-of-the-art film scholarship in Brazil.

Keywords:

• Brazilian cinema
• Brazilian film studies
• cinema da Retomada
• contemporary Brazilian cinema

Notes

Notes

1 I must thank Andrew Rajca for the careful revision and insightful comments on this article.

2 For academic works on the rise and fall of Embrafilme, see Stam and Johnson; Ortiz Ramos O cinema brasileiro; Melo Souza, among others.

3 Tropa de Elite 2 broke the box office record set in 1976 by Bruno Barreto’s Dona Flor e seus Dois Maridos (1976). The record has since been surpassed by two films by Alexandre Avancini, Nada a perder: Contra todos, por todos (2018) and Os dez mandamentos, o filme (2016), whose record setting commercial success is controversial given the focus on the neo-Pentecostal Igreja Universal and its founder, Edir Macedo who also owns a media empire headed by TV Record. Reports that Macedo’s church bought millions of tickets for these films make such a record questionable.

4 Villages founded in the remote inland of Brazil, by Africans or Brazilians of African descent, who managed to escape from slavery in the plantations which were mostly located in the coast of the country.