Helena Solberg Cineclub presents PERNAMBUCO CINEMA ENCOUNTER

Pernambuco, in the northeast of Brazil, has been a strong film hub since the early stages of cinematic activity in our country. Production peaked in the 1920s, a period known as Ciclo do Recife (Cycle of Recife), when the state capital hosted over a dozen active production companies and created some landmark silent films. It then enjoyed an extraordinary experimental Super-8 boom in the 1970s, and drew all the attention in the late 1990s, occupying the main stage in the second phase of the Retomada (revival – the implementation of a system of financial and institutional public promotion for Brazilian cinema). From the 2010s onwards, Pernambuco has retaken the lead of Brazilian cinema, standing out on both the national and international stages, frequently shining at the main film festivals worldwide, with the greatest contemporary names coming from there: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Gabriel Mascaro, Lírio Ferreira and Renata Pinheiro, among many others.

The Pernambuco Cinema Encounter | Encontros do Cinema Pernambucano is a free and open-to-all film club that has been running in the city centre of Recife since January 2024. It has had over 50 screenings of 250 shorts, followed by debates with the filmmakers, giving space for the most cutting-edge recent production coming from this historical incubator of film creativity. In addition to Pernambucan directors, Encontros has also hosted artists from other places in Brazil and overseas who have connections with Recife.

This summer, Encontros will be touring several European cities (such as Bern, Brussels, Lyon, Paderborn and Paris), and it will stop by London at the HELENA SOLBERG CINECLUB for a special screening in September! Thor Neukranz, filmmaker and founder of Encontros, guest curated a selection of engrossing documentaries portraying Recife’s street life, urban transformations throughout the years, and its poetry.

The screening will be followed by a panel featuring the director, Malu Sá, in person, Thor Neukranz and pioneer female Brazilian filmmaker Kátia Mesel online, in addition to pre-recorded messages from the filmmakers whose films are being exhibited.

There will be drinks and nibbles to welcome the audience, and the screening will start at 6.30pm (total duration: 67 minutes). All the films have English subtitles.

Film Locations Pernambuco

Dir. Malu Sá | 2024 | Brazil | 4 min.

A work that recreates scenes from classic Pernambuco films in the same setting, showing the action of time in Pernambuco’s urban space.

Dir. Adelina Pontual, Cláudio Assis & Marcelo Gomes | 1993 | Brazil | 12 min.

This playful doc portrays various artists who emerge from the streets of Recife. They create music and sounds using improbable instruments, such as a straw and pieces of mango tree. Popular art in a chaotic urban context.

Dir. Kátia Mesel | 1997 | Brazil | 15 min.

A film inspired by a poem by João Cabral de Melo Neto and his memories of the Capibaribe River.

Dir. Adalberto Oliveira & Tiago Martins | 2023 | Brazil | 17 min.

The daily lives of women and men who fish for a living on the Capibaribe River. A portrait and a space-time snapshot of the city’s history. The challenges of maintaining the fishing tradition and guaranteeing a livelihood for their families, their life stories, dreams, struggles, and relationship with the river are fundamental to their cultural identity.

Dir. Thor Neukranz | 2021 | Brazil | 19 min.

In the suburbs of Recife, the matriarch Luzinete faces life with affection and good humour, as shown in the family’s home videos from 1995 to 2005. With the pandemic, she and her friend Ana disregard the risks. The thoughtless infection happens, and everything changes.

Malu Sá (Recife, 1989) is an actress and filmmaker. She has an MA in Acting from East 15 Acting School – University of Essex and a BA in Media Communication from Universidade Federal de Pernambuco – UFPE. She has been working in front of and behind the cameras in films, TV and streaming, highlighting her acting credit on the Netflix series Good Morning, Veronica (Bom dia, Verônica, season 1, 2020). Her most recent work, Film Locations, was created in London streets, conjoining her interest in urbanisation and films. Later, it expanded to the streets of her hometown: Recife.

Adelina Pontual (Recife, 1965) is a director, continuity supervisor and editor. She studied Social Communication at UFPE and Cinema (specialising in Editing) at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV in San Antonio de Los Baños, Cuba. She was a member of the Vanretrô group, which was formed during her undergrad years. She was a continuity director on renowned Brazilian productions such as Central Station(Central do Brasil, dir. Walter Salles, 1998) and Carandiru (dir. Hector Babenco, 2003). In 2013, she directed her first feature film, the award-winning documentary Rio Doce/CDU.

Cláudio Assis (Caruaru, 1959) is a key producer and filmmaker of his generation. With a career that began with amateur short films shot on video, his debut feature film, Mango Yellow (Amarelo manga, 2002), gained widespread national recognition. He has since directed other feature films and television series, such as Bog of Beasts (Baixio das Bestas, 2006) and Rat Fever (Febre do rato, 2011).

Marcelo Gomes (Recife, 1963) is a director and screenwriter. At the end of the 1980s, he created the landmark film club Jurando Vingar, which screened 35mms daily and promoted debates. In 1991, Gomes won a scholarship to study film at the University of Bristol; upon his return to Brazil, in 1993, he founded the production company Parabólica Brasil in partnership with Cláudio Assis and Adelina Pontual. His first short film Maracatu, Maracatus (1995) was awarded the top prizes at the Brasília Film Festival, and Gomes has become a prolific and influential filmmaker, having directed world-acclaimed films such as Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (Cinema, aspirinas e urubus, 2005), I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You (Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te amo, co-directed with Karim Aïnouz, 2009), Joaquim(2017), Paloma (2022) and Portrait of a Certain Orient (Retrato de um Certo Oriente, 2024).

Kátia Mesel (Recife, 1948) is a director, screenwriter and producer. She studied Architecture and Graphic Arts at UFPE. She started filming in Super-8 when she was an undergrad student. She began her career directing over twenty documentaries between the 1970s and 1980s, when she launched the Arrecife Produções Cinematográficas. Across her 50 years as a filmmaker, Mesel has made over 300 films, including shorts and features in Super-8, 16mm, 35mm, U-Matic, Betacam and digital, having received over 25 awards worldwide. Faustão (1971) and Sulanca (1986) are among her most well-known films.

Adalberto Oliveira (Recife, 1979) has a BA in Cinema and a MA in Audio Techniques. Since 2009, he has worked in the film industry as a director, sound designer, photographer and editor. He directed the shorts Dam (Dique, 2012), Septembers (Setembros, 2013), President Kennedy Avenue (Avenida Presidente Kennedy, 2014), Miracles (Milagres, 2016), Frequencies (Frequências, 2017), Metroréquiem (2020), and Gondwana Fragments (Fragmentos de Gondwana, 2021), among others. He has also been involved in several projects, such as Dusk till Dawn (Da boca da noite à barra do dia, dir. Tiago Delácio, 2021).

Tiago Martins Rêgo (Recife, 1982) has a BA in Journalism and an MA in Film Studies. He has worked in Pernambuco’s film industry for over 15 years as a director, screenwriter and producer, as well as a curator and head of programme. He has participated in hundreds of productions, including films, institutional videos, music videos, and internet content. He directed the short documentaries Neuronha (2006), Crossing: A River, Some Stories (Travessia: Um rio, algumas histórias, 2008), Small Area (Pequena área, 2014), Central Hotel (Hotel Central, 2019), Sea Ox (Boi marinho, 2022).

Thor de Moraes Neukranz (Recife, 1991) is a director, screenwriter, curator and cultural producer who graduated from the French film school Ateliers Varan and in Cinema & Audiovisual from UFPE. He wrote and directed Dibuiar (2017) and the award-winning documentary about his grandmother, Bonds of the Matriarch, which was shown at festivals in Brazil, the USA, the Netherlands, and France. Neukranz is the creator and programmer of Pernambuco Cinema Encounter.

The Cineclub of the Embassy of Brazil in London features a monthly programme of Brazilian and Brazil-related film screenings and talks. It aims to showcase a broad spectrum of films based on a variety of themes, from various periods with distinctive aesthetic and narrative styles, bringing fresh insights into Brazilian film production from the past and the present.

Keep an eye on the Embassy website and our social media channels in order not to miss our first-rate lineup. For updates, you can subscribe to the Helena Solberg Cineclub mailing list at [email protected]. Admission is free, but RSVPing is required through our Eventbrite page.

Host or Publisher Embassy of Brazil in London | Cultural Section