Rio’s 2017 International Film Festival Opens this Thursday

By Beatriz Miranda, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This Thursday, October 5th, the Festival do Rio (Rio’s International Film Festival) opens its 2017 edition. Taking place in diverse movie theaters across the city, from Zona Norte to Zona Sul, Rio’s biggest cinema event will display diverse unreleased productions and promote debates and shows until October 15th.

Rio’s International Film Festival was created in 1999 with the aim of fulfilling Rio de Janeiro’s cultural potential and promoting the city as an address for the international audiovisual scene.

Screening 250 movies – fourteen more than last year – from sixty different countries, the 19th edition of Festival do Rio promises to bring a lot of novelties to the movie theaters and outdoor tents spread in thirteen neighborhoods.

Besides displaying the latest productions by greats like American director Woody Allen and Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski, the event will bring diverse titles that have participated or been awarded in Berlinale and Venice, two of the most prestigious film festivals in the world.

At Festival do Rio, the films will be presented in thirteen different categories, from the recent Latin American production to the classic British Queer cinematography, also including exhibits dedicated to environmental issues and to beginner directors.

Among the films that have not been released in Brazil, one of the highlights is “Battle of the Sexes” (2017), directed by American filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, in which actors Emma Stone and Steve Carell play, respectively, the athletes Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in the epic 1973 tennis match in the States.

Winner of the Cannes Festival’s Grand Prix, the French “120 battements par minute” (120 beats per minute, 2017), directed by Robin Campillo, debates the society’s indifference to the prevention against AIDS. Nominated to Oscar 2018, Jonas Carpignano’s “A Ciambra” (Germany, 2017) portrays the reality of a gypsy Romani community in Italy through the life of a 14 year-old boy. Also worth checking out is “Downsizing” (United States, 2017), sci-fi directed by Alexander Payne with actor Matt Damon as a protagonist.

Two of the most expected films in Festival do Rio certainly are Woody Allen’s “Wonder Wheel” (2017) and Roman Polanski’s “Based on a True Story” (2017). With singer Justin Timberlake and actress Kate Winslet as the protagonists, Woody Allen’s movie is set in the 1950s and tells the story of a middle-aged carousel operator and his beleaguered wife. Polanski’s work, on the other hand, consists in a psychological thriller about an obsessive admirer that stalks a writer.

Aditionally, the Brazilian movies‘ selection promises to surprise the audience with plots about politics, corruption, violence and inequalities. Silvio Tendler’s documentary “Dedo na Ferida” (Finger on the Wound, 2017), displayed in the festival in first hand, discusses the influence of the financial system over politics. At Beth Formagginni’s “Pastor Claudio” (Pastor Claudio, 2017), a human rights activist faces a pastor acused of killing activists during the military dictatorship in Brazil.

Besides the audiovisual line-up, the Festival do Rio will promote attractions like debates and shows, including artists like Alcione, Zélia Duncan, Filipe Catto and As Chicas performing at Teatro Rival, in Cinelândia, Centro, and the Petrobras’ Symphonic Orchestra paying tribute to American director Tim Burton’s soundtracks.

The Festival do Rio international film festival is promoted by Première Brasil, RioMarket, Cinema do Rio and CIMA (Culture, Information and Environment Center). Since 1999, the event has hosted diverse renowned actors and filmmakers, like Carlos Saura, Ricardo Darín, Leos Carax, John Waters, Peter Greenaway, among many others.

What: Festival do Rio international film festival
When: October 5th to October 15th – see venue for time details
Where: Rio de Janeiro – see venue to check the participant movie theaters
Entrance: varies according to the movie theater