Cinema Novo
Cinema Novo (Brazilian New Wave) was an influential Brazilian film movement from the late 1950s to the early 1970s that transformed the country’s cinema. Its main themes are social inequality, poverty, and political struggle. Drawing inspiration from Italian Neorealism and the French New Wave, filmmakers embraced the idea of “a camera in the hand and an idea in the head,” often shooting on real locations with a raw, documentary-like style to portray the realities faced by marginalized communities.
Key Aspects of Cinema Novo
Key Aspects of Cinema Novo: The movement aimed to create a, "political and popular" cinema, often using art as a form of resistance against social injustice.
Phases:
The first phase of Brazil's Cinema Novo (c. 1960–1964) was characterized by a raw, documentary-style, black-and-white aesthetic focused on rural poverty, social inequality, and agrarian reform. It sought to expose the "dark corners" of Brazilian life—favelas and the sertão—with a, often optimistic, political goal of provoking consciousness and change
The second phase of Brazil's Cinema Novo movement, spanning from 1964 to 1968, was a critical period of transition marked by shifts in theme and style following the 1964 military coup, moving away from the pure "aesthetics of hunger" toward more political analysis and commercial appeal.
The third phase of Brazil's Cinema Novo (1968–1972) was a "cannibal-tropicalist" movement emerging under dictatorship, characterized by a shift from gritty realism to allegorical, colorful, and often chaotic aesthetics. It blended social critique with absurdity, kitsch, and political "cannibalism"—metaphorically devouring foreign culture to create a uniquely Brazilian revolutionary art.
Prominent Directors:
Glauber Rocha, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Carlos Diegues,
Joaquim Pedro de Andrade
DIRECTORS AND FILMS:
GLAUBER ROCHA
- Barravento (1962)
- Black God, White Devil (1964)
- Entranced Earth (1967)
NELSON PEREIRA DOS SANTOS
- Rio 40 Graus (1955)
- Barren Lives (1963)
- Hunger for Love (1968)
- The Alienist (1970)
RUY GUERRA
- The Unscrupulous Ones (1962)
- The Guns (1964)
- Of Gods and the Undead (1970)
CARLOS DIEGUES
- Ganga Zumba (1963)
- A Grande Cidade (1966)
JOAQUIM PEDRO DE ANDRADE
- The Priest and the Girl (1966)
- Macunaíma (1969)