Caixa Cultural Retrospective Celebrates Uruguayan Films

By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Beginning August 9th Caixa Cultural Rio de Janeiro will present Cine Uruguai, the first retrospective of Uruguayan films to be held in Rio de Janeiro. Continuing through August 21st, the retrospective’s programming will include twenty films, one debate, and one workshop.

Sponsored by the Uruguayan Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, Caixa Econômica Federal, and the Federal Government,the retrospective will span the history of Uruguayan cinema with films made between 1923 and 2015.

The film “Mujica, le pouvoir est dans le cœur” a documentary about José Alberto “Pepe” Mujica Cordano, the 40th President of Uruguay, will open the retrospective on Tuesday, August 9th with a special screening that will include a presentation by director, Lucia Wainberg Sasson and a show following the screening by Tamy, a singer and the curator of the retrospective.

Additional notable films in the retrospective include the 2014 documentary “Maracanã”, about the famed Rio de Janeiro stadium where the opening ceremony for the Olympics recently took place; César Charlone and Enrique Fernández’s 2007 film “The Pope’s Toilet”, a fictitious tale about a possible visit by Pope John Paul II awakening the entrepreneurial spirit of poor citizens in a Uruguayan town near the border of Brazil.

Also Pablo Dotta’s 1994 film “El Dirigible,” the most expensive in the history of Uruguayan cinema to date, with its approximately US$1 million-dollar budget.

“In Uruguayan films, the stories are fantastic because education and reading in Uruguay are serious things,” Tamy, the retrospective’s curator said in a released statement. “The budget of movies there, compared Brazilian standards, it is impossible, unreal. It’s amazing what the directors do with so little money.”

The retrospective’s debate will take place on August 19th at 6:45PM. Entitled “O cinema político no Uruguai,” (“Political cinema in Uruguay”), the debate will feature film critic Leonardo Luiz Ferreira and filmmaker Pablo Martínez Pessi, director of “Tus Padres Volverán”, a film also screening as part of the retrospective.

The workshop will take place on August 20th with Pessi presenting “Produção executiva – estudo de caso do documentário “Tus Padres Volverán” (Executive production – case study of the documentary “Tus Volverán Fathers”). Registration for the workshop must be made in advance by e-mail to [email protected].

For the retrospective’s complete programming and additional information, see the Caixa Cultural Rio de Janeiro website and Facebook page.

What: Cine Uruguai
When: August 9th through August 21st, Tuesdays through Sundays
Where: Caixa Cultural Rio de Janeiro, Av. Alm. Barroso, 25 – Centro
Entrance: R$2 – R$4 per screening