Film Society of Lincoln Center to Embark on BRAZILIAN SAGA: CARLOS DIEGUES' CINEMATIC ADVENTURES, 4/12-18

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today a BRAZILIAN SAGA: CARLOS DIEGUES' CINEMATIC ADVENTURES, a comprehensive survey of the groundbreaking filmmaker's work, from April 12 - 18. A pioneer of the revolutionary Cinema Novo movement, which made film an integral part of the cultural and sociopolitical struggles facing Brazil in the 60's. Diegues' now-iconic films had a historical emphasis and were among the first to bring Afro-Brazilian culture to life on film.

Diegues began directing short films in 1960 and made his first feature film, GANGA ZUMBA, which takes place at the end of the 16th century and follows slaves working in northeastern Brazilian sugar cane mills who conspire to escape to Quilombo dos Palmares, a haven for fugitive black slaves. He returns to the subject of this film with QUILOMBO in the 1980's, starring Tony Tornado as the legendary leader of runaway slaves who have fled a sugar cane mill in Pernambuco.

In one of his most musical films, RIO'S LOVE SONGS, Carlos Diegues creates a cinematic quilt consisting of four episodes inspired by a quartet of Brazil's greatest songsmiths-Jorge Ben Jor, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque. Additional highlights in the survey include: ORFEU, an adaptation of Vinicius de Moraes' play Orfeu da Conceição, in which Diegues frames the classic Orpheus tale in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and TIETA, an adaptation of Jorge Amado's acclaimed novel into a vibrant drama starring Sonia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands).

All screenings will take place in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam). Tickets will go on sale February 28, 2013 at the Film Society's box offices; and online at www.FilmLinc.com. Single screening tickets are $13; $9 for students and seniors (62+); and $8 for Film Society members. Plus, save when you purchase tickets to three films or more with a special discount package. A three film package is $30; $24 for students and seniors (62+); and $21 for Film Society members. Visit www.FilmLinc.com for complete information.

Films, Descriptions & Schedule

The Big City/A Grande Cidade
Carlos Diegues, 1966, Brazil; 80m. Portuguese with English subtitles. 35mm
Arriving in Rio de Janeiro from her northeast Brazilian home, Luzia (Anecy Rocha) searches for her fiancé Jasão. During her quest, Luzia meets Calunga, a local scoundrel who shows her the city, and Inácio, who is considering returning home to the northeast. She discovers that Jasão is now a feared thief operating in one of the city's favelas. Before Luzia can save him, both become victims of the big city's violence.
Sunday, April 14 at 2:00pm

Bye Bye Brazil/Bye Bye Brasil
Carlos Diegues, 1979, Argentina/Brazil/France; 105m. Portuguese with English subtitles. 35mm
A motley crew of traveling performers entertains a wide range of audiences across the massive northern Brazilian landscape. Accordionist Ciço (Fábio Júnior) and his wife Dasdô (Zaira Zambelli) join the rollicking caravan, leading to a string of adventures across the Amazon.
Friday, April 12 at 6:15pm
Monday, April 15 at 3:30pm

Ganga Zumba
Carlos Diegues, 1963, Brazil; 92m. Portuguese with English subtitles. 35mm
Near the end of the 16th century, slaves working in northeastern Brazilian sugar cane mills conspire to escape to Quilombo dos Palmares, a haven for fugitive black slaves. Among the group is young Ganga Zumba (Antonio Pitanga), who rises to become head of the first revolutionary republic in the Americas.
Sunday, April 14 at 12:00pm

God is Brazilian/Deus É Brasileiro
Carlos Diegues, 2002, Brazil; 110m. Portuguese with English subtitles. 35mm
God (Antônio Fagundes), who has grown fatigued with humans' perpetual mistakes and terrible choices, determines to take a vacation on a star far, far away from Earth. Before he does, however, he recruits fisherman Taoca (Wagner Moura) as his guide, leading him on a cross-country quest to find the ideal substitute to take over his enormous responsibilities.
Thursday, April 18 at 6:15pm

The Greatest Love Ever/O Maior Amor do Mundo
Carlos Diegues, 2006, Brazil; 106m. Portuguese with English subtitles.. 35mm
Antonio lives a privileged life as a highly respected astrophysicist at an American university. But his fortunes reverse when he learns that he has a fatal disease. Returning to his native Brazil to accept a prestigious prize, he discovers his blood parents' actual identity and their unexpected love story.
Thursday, April 18 at 8:30pm

The Heirs/Os Herdeiros
Carlos Diegues, 1970, Brazil; 103m. Portuguese with English subtitles. DCP
At the end of the turbulent and fecund 1960s, Diegues made this saga of a Brazilian family, tracking them from 1930 to 1964, the year of the military coup d'état. Jorge Ramos (Sérgio Cardoso) is an ambitious journalist who marries the daughter of a failed coffee grower-not out of love, but purely for money. With democracy's rise in 1946, Jorge returns to the city, betraying colleagues en route to becoming a powerful politician. His son turns the tables on his father, becoming an ally with the military.
Sunday, April 14 at 3:45pm

Joanna the Frenchwoman/Joanna Francesa
Carlos Diegues, 1975, Brazil/France; 112m. Portuguese with English subtitles. 35mm
French expatriate Joanna (Jeanne Moreau) owns a São Paolo brothel in 1930. A client who falls in love with her takes Joanna to his sugar cane mill. Once there, she makes a family and is seduced by an ethnic and cultural world that is quite unknown to her. As time passes, Jeanne becomes the matriarch of a once-proud, now-decaying family.
Tuesday, April 16 at 8:30pm

Orfeu
Carlos Diegues, 1999, Brazil; 110m. Portuguese with English subtitles. 35mm
In this adaptation of Vinicius de Moraes' play Orfeu da Conceição, Diegues frames the classic Orpheus tale in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Orfeu (Toni Garrido) is the top composer in his samba school, and while working on new arrangements for the upcoming Carnival, he meets newcomer Eurídice (Patricia Franca). Their intense love affair sets off a cycle of jealousy and violence
Sunday, April 14 at 6:15pm

Quilombo
Carlos Diegues, 1984, Brazil; 119m, Portuguese with English subtitles. 35mm
Diegues returns to the heroic subject of his first film, Ganga Zumba, with Tony Tornado starring as the legendary leader of runaway slaves who have fled a sugar cane mill in Pernambuco. Zumba's godson and heir Zumbi (Antônio Pompêo) rebels against his father's more conciliatory ways by confronting Brazil's massive colonial army.
Saturday, April 13 at 6:00pm
Wednesday, April 17 at 4:00pm

Rio's Love Songs/Veja Esta Canção
Carlos Diegues, 1995, Brazil, 104m, 35mm
In one of his most musical films, Diegues creates a cinematic quilt consisting of four episodes inspired by a quartet of Brazil's greatest songsmiths-Jorge Ben Jor, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque. Each belongs to a different genre, relating a range of love stories set in a barbeque restaurant and on the beach, one involving homeless boys and another centered on a man obsessed with gambling.
Wednesday, April 17 at 9:00pm

Subway to the Stars/Um Trem para as Estrelas
Carlos Diegues & Teresa Gonzales, 1987, Brazil; 93m, 35mm
After a long night of lovemaking with girlfriend and promising young musician Eunice, Vinicius realizes that she's disappeared. He sets off on an odyssey across Rio de Janeiro to find her, encountering violence, misery and injustice, with music a constant, pulsing presence.
Saturday, April 13 at 9:00pm
Thursday, April 18 at 4:15pm

Summer Showers/Chuvas de Verão
Carlos Diegues, 1978, Brazil; 86m. Portuguese with English subtitles. HDCAM
New retiree Afonso (Jofre Soares) chooses to enjoy a peaceful life in his suburban home. No sooner does he begin to slow down than he gets sucked into issues involving his daughter, his friends and the surrounding neighborhood. All the hubbub seems to revive something in Afonso, but the big change comes in the form of longtime neighbor Isaura (Míriam Pires), who elicits fresh desires, friendship and respect.
Tuesday, April 16 at 6:30pm

Tieta / Tieta do Agreste
Carlos Diegues, 1995, Brazil, 140m. Portuguese with English subtitles. 35mm
Diegues adapts Jorge Amado's acclaimed novel into a vibrant drama starring Sonia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands). Punishing young Tieta for supposedly indecent behavior, the teen's father banishes her from their hometown in Bahia. 26 years later, Tieta (Braga) returns home a wealthy woman. Soon, she's scandalized by a love affair with her nephew and the revelation of the source of her riches.
Sunday, April 14 at 8:45pm

Xica/Xica da Silva
Carlos Diegues, 1976, Brazil, 107m. Portuguese with English subtitles. DCP
In the latter half of the 18th century, a representative of the Portuguese Crown named João Fernandes (Walmor Chagas) falls in love with black slave Xica (Zezé Motta), who works in one of Brazil's richest mines. She suddenly finds herself the center of attention as João makes her "Queen of Diamonds" and satisfies all of her extravagant wishes. Warned by João's enemies, the Portuguese King sends an agent to reverse Xica's increasing power in the colony.
Friday, April 12 at 9:00pm
Tuesday, April 16 at 4:15pm

Public Screening Schedule:

Screening Venue:
The Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
144 West 65th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam).

Friday, April 12
6:15PM BYE BYE BRAZIL (105min)
9:00PM XICA (107min)

Saturday, April 13
6:00PM QUILOMBO (119min)
9:00PM SUBWAY TO THE STARS (93min)

Sunday, April 14
12:00PM GANGA ZUMBA (92min)
2:00PM THE BIG CITY (80min)
3:45PM THE HEIRS (103min)
6:15PM ORFEU (110min)
8:45PM TIETA (140min)

Monday, April 15
3:30PM BYE BYE BRAZIL (105min)

Tuesday, April 16
4:15PM XICA (107min)
6:30PM SUMMER SHOWERS (86min)
8:30PM JOANNA THE FRENCHWOMAN (112min)

Wednesday, April 17
4:00PM QUILOMBO (119min)
9:00PM RIO'S LOVE SONGS (104min)

Thursday, April 18
4:15PM SUBWAY TO THE STARS (93min)
6:15PM GOD IS BRAZILIAN (110min)
8:30PM THE GREATEST LOVE EVER (106min)

Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, under the leadership of Rose Kuo, Executive Director, and Robert Koehler, Year Round Program Director, works to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. Among its yearly programming of film festivals, film series and special events, the Film Society presents two film festivals in particular that annually attract global attention: the New York Film Festival, led by Program Director Kent Jones, which just celebrated its 50th edition, and New Directors/New Films which, since its founding in 1972, has been produced in collaboration with MoMA. The Film Society also publishes the award-winning Film Comment Magazine, and for over three decades has given an annual award-now named "The Chaplin Award"-to a major figure in world cinema. Past recipients of this award include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Sidney Poitier. The Film Society presents its year-round calendar of programming, panels, lectures, educational and transmedia programs and specialty film releases at the famous Walter Reade Theater and the new state-of-the-art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, American Airlines, The New York Times, Stonehenge Partners, Stella Artois, the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com and follow #filmlinc on Twitter.