 Hello, Peoples! My name is Sydney Brett, and I do not have an office, but I do have a floor. And you're watching Sitting on the Floor with Sydney Brett, the show I discuss historically significant film, literature, and whatever else piques my fancy. Today we'll be discussing Cinema Novo, the film movement that shook the Brazilian film industry to its core. So sit back on the floor otherwise and enjoy this deep dive into film history. Cinema Novo. What, when, where, and why? Portuguese-renewed cinema. Cinema Novo was a film movement and genre in Brazil that took place from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s. It emphasized social equality and intellectualism, and was embedded with political and philosophical meaning aimed at promoting social and economic reform. Cinema Novo is divided into three separate phases that took place between the years of 1960 and 1972. But before we can get into the start of phase one, we need to understand the social, economic, and political situation in Brazil at that time, as well as the state of the Brazilian film industry. Let's start with the state of society in the 1950s and early 1960s. Brazil was widely impoverished and in desperate need of social reform. But this wasn't something they showed in their film at that time. In 1956, Eucelino Kuvacek assumed his presidency. He was a leftist progressive leader that inspired political optimism in the masses, as he campaigned with a slogan of 50 years of progress in five years. It was with this sense of political optimism that the first phase of Cinema Novo would start in 1960. Moving on to the film industry at the time, the 50s saw a period of filmmaking where Chinchata's and Hollywood-style epics ran supreme in Brazil. Chinchata's were low-budget musical comedies that were inspired by the colorful celebrations for Carnival that came out of Rio de Janeiro. They featured beautiful women that looked like Carmen Miranda, as well as Carmen Miranda herself, as her film career was at the center of the Chinchata's genre. These musical comedies were viewed as trashy and uncultured by many filmmakers, but they were vastly popular among the masses in Brazil and abroad, as they featured sexy dancing women who were labeled as exotic by North American and European audiences. In addition, the film industry in Brazil was supported by foreign producers and investors who perpetuated the image of the tropical Brazilian who was uneducated and wild. It was filmmaking for foreign masses and for an appeal, not for the Brazilian people and not for the depiction of Brazilian culture. It was in this political and social climate that the first phase of Cinema Novo began. Cinema Novo filmmakers were inspired by Italian Neorealism and French New Wave Cinema, with Italian Neorealism being characterized by stories set amongst the porn-working class, filming on location, and the use of non-professional actors. And French New Wave Cinema, influenced by Italian Neorealism, was focused on social and political issues. It also promoted Outera Theory. Outera Theory had a great influence on Cinema Novo, as it encouraged directors to create films based on their own artistic visions and their own beliefs. The first phase of Cinema Novo featured films that were set in rural Brazil and focused on the political, social, and economic issues of the working class. Unlike the cinema that was traditionally being produced in Brazil, first phase films explored the dark depths of Brazil, the favelas, or low-income neighborhoods, and the setão, or backcountry. These films explored the areas where these social ills were felt most strongly. First phase films explored the aforementioned issues, the aesthetics that reflected the subject matter. The scenery was stark and harsh, and the films were shown in black and white, and filmed in a documentary style with a handheld camera. One of the most prolific directors of this movement, and one of the initiators of the first phase, was Glauber Rocha. Rocha stated that he wanted to make films that would educate the masses on the social inequality of the time. And he did this with the aesthetic of hunger, which reflected the social unrest of the people. It's quoted saying, Hunger in Latin America is not simply an alarming symptom, it is the essence of our society. Herein lies the tragic originality of Cinema Novo in relation to world cinema. Our originality is our hunger, and our greatest misery is that this hunger is felt but not understood. As he believed that other nations didn't understand hunger, and avoided depicting it. The aesthetic of hunger focused on marginalized groups and violence, as Rocha believed violence to be the most pure manifestation of hunger. The aesthetic of hunger emphasized hunger through low-cost production, marginalized subjects, and the depiction of violence. This aesthetic has become closely associated with Cinema Novo, and has become a massive part of its legacy. Films from the first phase were more optimistic regarding the potential for social change, as progressive leaders Kubaschek and Gulhar had influenced pop culture through their elections. This optimism came out of the belief that state intervention could bring about permanent social reforms and benefits for the poor. And filmmakers such as Rocha believed that films could create knowledge and therefore promote problem solving for these political, social, and economic issues. They believed depicting the problems of Brazil would call for and create change. It was a time of optimism and idealism, but it wouldn't last. Inter-military coup! For the current leader of Brazil at the time, President Gulhar was pushing a number of leftist policies, creating political optimism for Cinema Novo filmmakers, while also creating a political divide between the right and the left. The only issue with that is, the right had the military. And history will show you, if you don't have the military on your side, well, you're screwed. He was. That's right. On April 1st, 1964, President Jal Gulhar was forced out of office by a military coup. This coup had a major impact on the left, especially because it was completely bloodless. No one fought back. Gulhar saw the military was upon him and he hightailed him out of there as fast as he could. Leftists realized they'd been overconfident, and this sentiment made its way into the hearts of Cinema Novo filmmakers. With Gulhar, their sense of political optimism was also lost, thus beginning Phase 2 of Cinema Novo. At this point, the perspective of Cinema Novo switched from mainly focusing on rural Brazil to the urban side of the nation. This phase was far more introspective and the films that came out of it attempted to explain why the left failed. In addition, these films criticized the pre-1964 populism of Brazilian politics. Glauber Roche's 1967 film, Terra and Trance, is perhaps the best example of the political despair that replaced the political optimism of the first phase. It's an allegory for the overthrow of the Gulhar administration. It ends with an unhappy, uninspiring ending, thus reflecting the political sentiments of the time. Another major change in the movement was the abandonment of the first phase's outright rejection of commercialism. The original sentiments of Cinema Novo looked down upon the commercialism of traditional Brazilian cinema, as it was art for money's sake, not art for change or intellectualism. But during Phase 2, filmmakers started to wonder if the movement could sustain itself without a wider appeal that would need to more revenue. This fear arose out of the modernization of the media by the military regime. It meant that Cinema Novo filmmakers had to pay higher percentages to distributors and exhibitors to show their films. This was due to the higher risk of Cinema Novo films being commercial failures. Recognizing this issue, filmmakers of the second phase began creating films that appealed to a wider audience. This saw the return of comedies and films based on novels, as to the case with Walter Lima Jr.'s main noje en genial, or plantation boy, based on José Lin's Derego's novel of the same name. I don't think I said any of that right. As these filmmakers were making more profitable films, they started producing movies in color with middle-class protagonists. It was a big departure from the protagonists' amethytics of the first phase. Now I'm sure you're wondering, well, gee golly, Sidney, how's Phase 3 gonna start? And that's a good question. In 1968, the military regime passed something called Institutional Act No. 5. This act even further limited the freedoms of the Brazilian people. It temporarily closed Congress, named political opposition as a violation of national security, and it imposed even more censorship laws. It was in the wake of this new era of restrictions that the third phase of Cinema Novo started. These new censorship laws meant that films could no longer be openly political. Filmmakers used artistic manipulation, such as allegories based on comedies and history, to pass censors. Political messages as well as social ones were hidden within the depths of the jungle. The third phase has also been referred to as the cannibal tropicalist phase, or simply the tropicalist phase. Tropicalism is a form of cultural production influenced by the modernist movement of the 20s, in which Brazilian artists co-opted foreign cultures. This mixing of cultures led to the gaudy, kitsch style that characterizes tropicalism. It was the antithesis of the original minimalist aesthetic of early Cinema Novo films. As for cannibalism, it's been referred to both metaphorically and literally by film historians. Roja believed that cannibalism represented the necessary violence for social change. He stated, quote, From Cinema Novo, it should be learned that an aesthetic of violence before being primitive is revolutionary. It's the initial moment when the colonizer becomes aware of the colonized. Only when confronted with the violence does the colonizer understand, through horror, the strength of the culture he exploits. And it should be noted, when Cinema Novo first rose to prominence, Roja is quoted saying that he believed Brazil was essentially still colonized, as it had so much foreign influence. Due to the modernization of the Brazilian economy, these films were becoming more and more polished. Some Cinema Novo filmmakers felt that this contradicted the original ideals and sentiments of Cinema Novo. This led to the birth of Cinema Marginal, or Udi Grudi Cinema. Cinema Marginal used dirty screen and garbage aesthetics to return the focus to marginalized subjects and social issues. This style appropriated elements from bean movies and pornachadas to appeal to a wider audience. However, despite some criticism, Cinema Novo's third phase had a lot of supporters. Joaquin Pedro de Andrade, director of perhaps the most famous film from the third phase, Macunaima, was glad to see the movement he was a part of was appealing to a wider Brazilian audience, in spite of speculation that filmmakers were selling out to do so. Unfortunately, during this period of increased censorship, many intellectuals and artists were led to self-exile, including director Glauber Rocha, who left Brazil in 1972 during the final year of Cinema Novo. Toward the end of the movement, Cinema Novo had reached critical acclaim across the globe and had finally opened Brazil up, the true Brazil, to foreign eyes. Rocha warned young filmmakers during this period of achievements that being complacent would lead to the end of Cinema Novo, and he was correct. Cinema Novo, always rather unpopular with the Brazilian masses and more popular with intellectuals and foreign audiences, fizzled out as government-owned production companies such as Embraer Film came to fruition, producing films that went against the ideals of Cinema Novo. In its legacy, the Brazilian film industry was left with a new movement inspired by Cinema Novo, and it was called Third Cinema. But that's another topic for another day. Thanks for all of that.