Kleber Mendonça Filho followed his epic Bacurau with a lower-key reflection on his personal cinematic life. A hit at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Pictures of Ghosts distills a lifetime of the Brazilian’s cinephilia through archival documentary, mystery, film clips, and personal memories to bring back to life downtown Recife’s classic movie palaces from the 20th century, many of which are mostly gone. Ahead of Grasshopper Film’s January 26 release, there’s a new trailer.
As David Katz said in his review, “If the death of cinema is imminent, at least Kleber Mendonça Filho can play it out with some vintage Tropicália. It’s becoming a nice leitmotif of the Brazilian director’s career, whose ultraviolent Bacurau curtain-raised with Gal Costa’s ‘Não Identificado,’ and latest effort Pictures of Ghosts, which premiered as a Special Screening at Cannes, eases in with Tom Zé’s deceptively jaunty ‘Happy End.
As David Katz said in his review, “If the death of cinema is imminent, at least Kleber Mendonça Filho can play it out with some vintage Tropicália. It’s becoming a nice leitmotif of the Brazilian director’s career, whose ultraviolent Bacurau curtain-raised with Gal Costa’s ‘Não Identificado,’ and latest effort Pictures of Ghosts, which premiered as a Special Screening at Cannes, eases in with Tom Zé’s deceptively jaunty ‘Happy End.
- 1/16/2024
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho is best known for ambitious narrative swings like Palme d’Or contenders “Bacurau” and “Aquarius.” But with his latest film, which exuberantly melds documentary and narrative filmmaking techniques, Mendonça Filho turns the camera back on his native country and toward his medium. “Pictures of Ghosts,” which represented Brazil in the race for the 2024 Best International Feature Film Academy Award, immortalizes the lost movie houses of Brazil, specifically in Recife (the capital of Brazil’s state of Pernambuco). Watch the trailer, an IndieWire exclusive, below.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Pictures of Ghosts” “is a multidimensional journey through time, sound, architecture and filmmaking, set in the urban landscape of Recife, Brazilian coastal capital of Pernambuco: a historical and human territory, examined through the great movie theatres that served as spaces of conviviality during the 20th century. Having hosted dreams and progress, these places have also embodied...
Here’s the official synopsis: “Pictures of Ghosts” “is a multidimensional journey through time, sound, architecture and filmmaking, set in the urban landscape of Recife, Brazilian coastal capital of Pernambuco: a historical and human territory, examined through the great movie theatres that served as spaces of conviviality during the 20th century. Having hosted dreams and progress, these places have also embodied...
- 1/16/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
If you went to Cinema São Luiz today, instead of finding the most celebrated theater in Recife (the capital of Brazil’s state of Pernambuco), you would find closed doors and a now-iconic sign that reads, “We’ll see each other again soon.” Because of the pandemic and a seemingly endless renovation job on the government’s part, this hallowed ground has been sealed for all but three months since March 2020.
For locals such as myself, that’s partly why seeing it through the lens of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s incredibly personal new documentary “Pictures of Ghosts” feels so poignant. Through a mix of archival footage and new recordings, “Pictures of Ghosts” sees its director — whose filmography is already rich with deep, complex portraits of his hometown, such as “Neighboring Sounds” and “Aquarius” — revisiting the places that made him. Recife’s movie theaters are chief among them.
Once surrounded by screens of all sizes,...
For locals such as myself, that’s partly why seeing it through the lens of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s incredibly personal new documentary “Pictures of Ghosts” feels so poignant. Through a mix of archival footage and new recordings, “Pictures of Ghosts” sees its director — whose filmography is already rich with deep, complex portraits of his hometown, such as “Neighboring Sounds” and “Aquarius” — revisiting the places that made him. Recife’s movie theaters are chief among them.
Once surrounded by screens of all sizes,...
- 9/12/2023
- by Guilherme Jacobs
- Indiewire
Following his epic Bacurau, Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho returned to Cannes Film Festival this year with Pictures of Ghosts, a bittersweet, fascinating look at his personal cinematic life. Utilizing archive documentary, mystery, film clips, and personal memories to bring back to life downtown Recife’s classic movie palaces from the 20th century, many of which are mostly gone, the film will stop by TIFF and NYFF followed by a release from Grasshopper Film and now the first trailer has arrived.
David Katz said in his review, “If the death of cinema is imminent, at least Kleber Mendonça Filho can play it out with some vintage Tropicália. It’s becoming a nice leitmotif of the Brazilian director’s career, whose ultraviolent Bacurau curtain-raised with Gal Costa’s “Não Identificado,” and latest effort Pictures of Ghosts, which premiered as a Special Screening at Cannes, eases in with Tom Zé’s deceptively jaunty “Happy End.
David Katz said in his review, “If the death of cinema is imminent, at least Kleber Mendonça Filho can play it out with some vintage Tropicália. It’s becoming a nice leitmotif of the Brazilian director’s career, whose ultraviolent Bacurau curtain-raised with Gal Costa’s “Não Identificado,” and latest effort Pictures of Ghosts, which premiered as a Special Screening at Cannes, eases in with Tom Zé’s deceptively jaunty “Happy End.
- 8/22/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Wagner Moura is set to star in the upcoming biopic Angicos about Brazilian educator and author Paulo Freire. Felipe Hirsch will write and direct and Adriana Tavares of Café Royal will produce alongside Paula Linhares of Cenya Productions and Marcos Tellechea and Guilherme Somlo of Reagent Media.
Angicos begins in the town of the same name in Rio Grande do Norte in 1963, with the mission of educator Freire (Moura) to fight against illiteracy by teaching the entire village of blue-collar, domestic, and cotton farm workers how to read and write in only 40 hours – a seemingly impossible feat.
Funded by President John F. Kennedy to solidify the South American nation as an ally in the Cold War amidst worldwide social and economic tensions, the success of the endeavor resulted in the planned implementation of Freire’s literary system on a nationwide level. However, before long,...
Angicos begins in the town of the same name in Rio Grande do Norte in 1963, with the mission of educator Freire (Moura) to fight against illiteracy by teaching the entire village of blue-collar, domestic, and cotton farm workers how to read and write in only 40 hours – a seemingly impossible feat.
Funded by President John F. Kennedy to solidify the South American nation as an ally in the Cold War amidst worldwide social and economic tensions, the success of the endeavor resulted in the planned implementation of Freire’s literary system on a nationwide level. However, before long,...
- 5/21/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
If the death of cinema is imminent, at least Kleber Mendonça Filho can play it out with some vintage Tropicália. It’s becoming a nice leitmotif of the Brazilian director’s career, whose ultraviolent Bacurau curtain-raised with Gal Costa’s “Não Identificado,” and latest effort Pictures of Ghosts, which premiered as a Special Screening at Cannes, eases in with Tom Zé’s deceptively jaunty “Happy End.” This is a first-person, arguably selfish movie––in that associated genre, the docu-essay––where Mendonça Filho seems to be waving a teary-eyed goodbye to valuable associations and possessions, perhaps only those of individual sentimental resonance. Yet it’s “selfish” in a productive manner, almost as a function of self-care, like a sunny afternoon lounging on the settee revisiting one’s favorite LPs.
The title Pictures of Ghosts has been oddly overlapping in my mind with British theorist Mark Fisher’s posthumous hit essay collection Ghosts of My Life.
The title Pictures of Ghosts has been oddly overlapping in my mind with British theorist Mark Fisher’s posthumous hit essay collection Ghosts of My Life.
- 5/20/2023
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Working across a wide range of musical mediums, Ivor Novello Award-winning and BAFTA-nominated composer Daniel Pemberton has embraced everything from large scale orchestral and choral works to innovative electronic sound design, live salsa bands to post-rock guitar line-ups.
From The Counselor, The Awakening and the upcoming Steve Jobs film, to name a few, Pemberton has delivered another eclectic score – this time Guy Ritchie’s latest movie The Man From U.N.C.L.E., in theatres Friday, August 14.
Fans of the TV show are familiar with the theme music from composer Jerry Goldsmith, with additional music for the various seasons provided by Morton Stevens, Walter Scharf, Lalo Schifrin, Gerald Fried, Robert Drasnin and Nelson Riddle.
Now comes the film version and a 5-star, international score that exudes the 1960’s as if it was pulled from a time vault. You’re right into the film from the first musical note and drum beat.
Recently the...
From The Counselor, The Awakening and the upcoming Steve Jobs film, to name a few, Pemberton has delivered another eclectic score – this time Guy Ritchie’s latest movie The Man From U.N.C.L.E., in theatres Friday, August 14.
Fans of the TV show are familiar with the theme music from composer Jerry Goldsmith, with additional music for the various seasons provided by Morton Stevens, Walter Scharf, Lalo Schifrin, Gerald Fried, Robert Drasnin and Nelson Riddle.
Now comes the film version and a 5-star, international score that exudes the 1960’s as if it was pulled from a time vault. You’re right into the film from the first musical note and drum beat.
Recently the...
- 8/10/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Partly because I just love Alamo South Lamar, and partly because it's so close to my home, tonight was an Cine Las Americas Alamo night. I started with Tom Zé: Astronauta Libertado, a chaotic documentary about a pioneering pixie in Brazilian music. At 72, Tom Zé has more energy than a sugar-doped child, and makes for a fascinating subject, despite some speaker flaws (that were resolved, thanks Alamo staff).
The next screening started with the Mexican Academy Award winning short Jaulas (Cages). Juan José Medina's twisty and dark animated fairy tale (pictured above) is worthy of a Fantastic Fest slot, but to say more would spoil it for you.
It was an excellent setup for El Bosque (The Forest), another creepy fairy tale-esque film. El Bosque is a slow-burn feature, and not for the Add crowd. But if you have some patience, it's worth the watch.
read more...
- 4/23/2010
- by Jenn Brown
- Slackerwood
Repertory theaters on the coasts are truly offering a window onto the world this spring, with Jia Zhangke and Bong Joon-ho retrospectives, as well as New French Cinema in New York, "Freebie and the Bean," "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" and Jason Reitman's favorite films invade Los Angeles, and the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin is offering a fond farewell to the video cassette. But consider this a hello to seeing classics, oddities and rarities on the big screen over the next few months.
Cities: [New York] [Los Angeles] [Austin] More Spring Preview: [Theatrical Calendar]
[Anywhere But a Movie Theater]
New York
92YTribeca
Is there a more energetic way to start the spring than with a screening of Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (Feb. 20, with editors Rumsey Taylor, Leo Goldsmith and Jenny Jediny in attendance)? Perhaps not, but it's only the start of an exciting spring season at the 92YTribeca Screening Room, which will present several special events over the next few months.
Cities: [New York] [Los Angeles] [Austin] More Spring Preview: [Theatrical Calendar]
[Anywhere But a Movie Theater]
New York
92YTribeca
Is there a more energetic way to start the spring than with a screening of Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (Feb. 20, with editors Rumsey Taylor, Leo Goldsmith and Jenny Jediny in attendance)? Perhaps not, but it's only the start of an exciting spring season at the 92YTribeca Screening Room, which will present several special events over the next few months.
- 2/20/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Os Mutantes, the legendary Tropicalismo ensemble that infused traditional Brazilian musical forms with psychedelic rock, sampling and a massive dose of weirdness, has mutated yet again. Formed in 1966 by three Sao Paolo teens—brothers Arnaldo Baptista and Sérgia Dias, and Rita Lee, who would marry Arnaldo—the band dissolved in the 70s and was all but forgotten until the 1990s, when a new generation of fans, including Kurt Cobain, Beck and David Byrne, blew the dust off its old LPs. Os Mutantes reformed in 2006 with a new lineup for a series of sold-out gigs, and this month releases Haih or Amortecedor (Anti-), its first album in 35 years. Two founding members are absent: Lee, who departed amid considerable acrimony in 1972, and Baptista, who has struggled with mental health issues. But under the direction of Sérgio Dias, the band's sound remains as beguiling and deliriously nutty as ever. Credit for that goes...
- 9/25/2009
- Vanity Fair
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