4 DAYS OF BRAZILIAN MULTICULTURALISM
For more than 500 years, Brazil has been melting cultures, skin colours, races, traditions, tastes, flavours, histories and everything else into a very large and welcoming pot, and this year the hottest film festival in Toronto will bring this diversity to the Royal Theatre, at the heart of the vibrant and artistic Portuguese/Italian community in the central-west side of the city.
Brazil and Canada have more in common than you can imagine. They are both relatively young nations where immigration played, and still plays! -- a very important role. Did you know that Brazil has the highest population of people of African descent outside the African continent? As with the Japanese community established there; it?s the biggest outside Japan. And there was also a time when there were more people speaking Italian on the streets of São Paulo than Portuguese, the official Brazilian language.
Everywhere in Toronto, you can feel, see, hear and taste this same multicultural atmosphere. You can sit in a Vietnamese restaurant in the heart of the Caribbean area, reading a European newspaper and overhearing conversations in three or four different languages at the same time, while the radio plays songs from the Middle East... And this is why we decided to have Multiculturalism as our theme for this year, in our screenings as well as the business networking we promote during the festival.
So come and celebrate with us the great and diverse Brazilian new wave of cinema. It's our third year and we will love to have you with us!
PROGRAMMING
Do you like dance and music? Then come and have a close look at a traditional Brazilian dance hall where each step plays out a tale of drama and comedy in full swing with an incredible sound track. But be prepared also to follow the magical ballet of the best soccer player in the world, because the classic documentary ?This is Pelé? will be shown too. And while your heart is still beating fast with the ingenious Pelé, let samba conquer your soul with a doc about the music and people of Portela, one of the most important samba schools of Rio de Janeiro.
From Rio, we will lead you on a trip to the Brazilian Northeast where you will embark on the life and art of Humberto Teixeira and another unique and contagious Brazilian rhythm, the baião. For all you Bossa Nova fans, we will also have an intimate walk inside the house and mind of its creative master, the poet, composer and conductor Tom Jobim, as revealed by his widow, Ana Jobim.
Adrenalin is also on the menu this year, with a high energy psychological thriller, but this doesn?t mean that we forgot to include some romantic interest. For your delectation, we have two powerful love stories. One is an intricate plot that mixes the age-old story of Tristan and Isolde with modern day passion, while the other gives us a sneak peek into the closing moments of a relationship between two young and in love university students.
For the LGBT community, we have the true story of Madame Satã, a poor, black, gay man who made history with his glamorous performances and wild life in the bohemian Rio de Janeiro of the 1930's.
And to wrap up this year's great festival, we will see and hear many of the most talented composers and poets of Brazil in a documentary about how to achieve the perfect balance of lyric and melody. All of this plus a concert with pop star Adriana Calcanhotto, who is coming over from Rio especially for the 3rd Brazil Film Fest in Toronto!
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