By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A terrifically terrifying collection of nearly forty films will be brought to CCBB Rio in Centro from August 15th to September 10th, when ‘Monsters in Cinema’ spends nearly a month in Rio de Janeiro before heading to São Paulo.
For four weeks, 39 films will be shared, in 59 screenings, along with two debates, a masterclass of characterization, and even a makeup workshop.
Headlining are monsters of all kinds, species, nationalities, humans and animals (or both), good and at the same time (very) bad characters, in a selection that goes from the first classics to the most recent box office hits, with their stunning special effects.
Curator Breno Lira Gomes, a huge fan of the genre, shared in a press release, “Monsters can represent the danger of the unknown, and there gains the persona of an extra-terrestrial being or even of a supernatural creature.”
Adding, “Often, the monster coming from a distant place, ends up also representing the fear of immigrants, the foreigner. […] This retrospective aims to show what is behind a monster like Godzilla, Dracula, Frankenstein, Alien, King Kong.”
Monsters in Cinema starts with an overview from the beginning in Germany, with The Golem (of Paul Wegener and Carl Boese, 1920); and then moves through the classic monsters of the Universal Studios – Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931), Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931) and The Mummy (by Karl Freund, 1932).
Then the CCBB Rio exhibit explores new versions by filmmakers like Terence Fisher (Dracula – The vampire 1955), Francis Ford Coppola (Bram Stocker’s Dracula, 1992) and Frankenweenie (Tim Burton, 2012); as well as the films that frightened us with the Cold War and the nuclear threat (Godzilla, by Ishirô Honda, 1954).
Of course there are also beings of other planets (Alien, by Ridley Scott, 1979) and the fruits of our nightmares (Wes Craven’s, A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1986) or unsuccessful experiments by David Cronenberg in The Fly (1986).
Monsters in Cinema also offers films for children as well, like Monsters, Inc. by Pete Docter (2001) which will be dubbed in Portuguese.
Fun for all ages, this will be a month of great films, for the full list and schedule make sure to see the CCBB Rio web site closer to the opening date.
What: Monsters in Cinema at CCBB Rio
When: August 15th to September 10th, screening and event times vary
Where: Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil Rio de Janeiro, Rua Primeiro de Março, 66 – Centro
Entrance: Free, tickets available one hour before at the box office