February 27th, Wednesday, 7:00PM New England Premiere
Balagan Film Series, the Film Study Center at Harvard University and The
Brazil Studies Program at DRCLAS Presents:
Santiago (2006) 80 minutes
By João Moreira Salles (Brazil) Discussion with Director
Coolidge Corner Theatre
290 Harvard St. Brookline, MA
Tickets: $9 general admission
João Moreira Salles is one of Brazil’s foremost documentary filmmakers.
In 1992 he began shooting a film about Santiago, the butler in his
childhood home who left an indelible mark upon the family. Santiago was
an educated man who, in addition to his work, produced some 60,000 pages
of stories documenting his surroundings as well as tales of aristocratic
lifestyles, including that of the house in which he himself served.
Through his personal voice-over, Salles sheds light on his family and
childhood, and on the reasons why the film took so long to complete. The
result is an elegant mosaic with two parallel narratives, dealing with
universal topics such as memory, identity, and documentary filmmaking.
Santiago has been screened at some of the most important documentary
film festivals and recently took the Grand Prize at Cinéma du Réel in Paris.
Director Biography
João Moreira Salles is a documentary filmmaker. In 1985 he wrote the
screenplay for the documentary series ‘Japan, a Journey in Time’. In
1987 he directed ‘China, The Empire of the Center’ and wrote the
screenplay for ‘Krajberg, the Poet of the Remains’. Two years later he
directed the television series ‘America’ and the documentary ‘Poetry is
one or two lines and behind it a huge landscape’ about poet Ana Cristina
César.
In 1990 he directed Blues. For cable channel GNT, he directed the
documentary ‘Jorge Amado’, about race relation in Brazil and the series
‘Football’, co-directed with Arthur Fontes. Together with Katia Lund, he
directed ‘News of a Personal War’, about urban violence in Brazil. In
2000 he directed ‘The Valley’, a documentary about the environmental
devastation of the Paraíba Valley and ‘Santa Cruz: Holy Cross’ about the
growth of an evangelical church in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. Both
these films were made with journalist Marcos Sá Corrêa. In 2002, João
Salles directed ‘Nelson Freire’, his first documentary for cinema. In
2004, he launched “Intermissions” a behind-the-scenes look at the
election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazilian president. This
documentary reveals Lula’s private life in the brink of a historic
moment in Brazilian politics.
For more information please to go
http://www.balaganfilms.com
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Wednesday February 27, 2008 4-5.30 ADR, Taubman 5th floor
Community Development featuring Oswaldo de Setti de Almeida, Dhana
Khatiwada and Maria Quezada.
Moderated by Timothy Prestero, CEO of Design that Matters
Oswaldo Setti de Almeida Filho, Brazil
Oswaldo is the founder of Acão Moradia (Action Housing) an NGO that
has engaged engineers and other technical professionals to develop
technologies for the poor in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais state. Acão
Moradia operates a factory that uses a mixture of earth and cement to
create environmentally sound bricks for new homes. The project uses a
simple manual-mold and time-dry process that eliminates the need for
ovens, wood burning, and oil. Families who reside in the outskirts of
Uberlândia use the ecological bricks to build low-cost homes with
technical assistance, taking 25% off the final cost of a house. Ação
Moradia has assisted more than 500 families in Uberlandia. Oswaldo is
now working together with the community in other initiatives to
generate income for the neediest families and to provide professional
training for the unemployed.
He has also established a partnership with a Brazilian federal bank to
provide loans with no collateral for single mothers (without credit
history) build their houses.
For more information please contact Danyela Moron at
danyela_moron(a)ksg08.harvard.edu
--
Marcio Siwi
Fellow / Program Officer
Brazil Studies Program
Harvard University
David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
1730 Cambridge St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
tel (617) 495-5435
http://drclas.harvard.edu/brazil