By Sibel Tinar, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – Innovation, juxtaposition, and the blurring of the boundaries between different forms of arts are at the core of Oi Futuro‘s ongoing exhibitions and shows in its Ipanema and Flamengo venues in Rio de Janeiro.
As contemporary arts move closer and closer to exploring their realm and capabilities by pushing their limits, they also increasingly adopt the medium of another. The recent programming by Oi Futuro cultural centers reflects this trend, exhibiting projects of visual poetry, musical books, and numerous installations that borrow and mix elements from cinema, music, poetry, painting, and photography.
Visual arts, however, make up only one aspect of the large spectrum of cultural events offered by Oi Futuro; daily shows of music and theater not only showcase promising young artists, but also reinforce the project’s commitment to innovation, as the artists blend genres together, and integrate different arts into their shows.
The highlight of September’s events calendar is Faróis do Cinema (Lighthouses of Cinema), which presents classic films from esteemed Brazilian documentary directors in conjunction with films by a newer generation of filmmakers, whose careers, cinematic styles and visual languages were inspired by the former.
Exhibiting a dedication to social consciousness, these films not only promise to be eye-opening by introducing the obscure, forgotten, or simply neglected aspects of life and history in Brazil to an urban audience, but are unique experiences as cinematic exercises on inspiration and originality.
The next upcoming screening is the pairing of the classic film Vidas Secas (Barren Lives, 1963) by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, with a Sessão Novas Luzes (New Lights Session) that will witness a parade of four emerging talents and their short films, set to start at 5PM on Wednesday, September 15th, in Oi Futuro Ipanema.
Despite being a fictional drama, Vidas Secas is a genre-bending film that walks the line between documentary and fiction. It is a hypnotizing account of the harsh living conditions of the sertão, the barren lands of Northeastern Brazil, with superb cinematography that captures the breathtaking beauty wrapped in human suffering.
During the Sessão Novas Luzes that follows the screening of Vidas Secas, four new filmmakers, Marcelo Caetano (Bailão), Rodrigo Grota (Haruo Ohara), Vitor Souza Lima (Mãos de Outubro) and Zeca Ferreira (Áurea), will get a chance to screen their award winning shorts. What these films have in common with Vidas Secas and with each other is an emphasis on visual storytelling, photographic inspiration, and the search for beauty among the mundane.
The next pairing of films will be screened on Thursday, September 16th, at 5PM, also in Ipanema, and will feature the classic documentary Yndio do Brasil (Our Indians, 1969) by Sylvio Back, followed by Hércules 56, the 2006 documentary by Silvio Da-Rin.
Yndio do Brasil, a documentary made in 1969 (but was not released until 1995), is a collage of tens of films, documentaries and newsreels from all around the world that document the Brazilian Indians, framing the images with music and poetry, inviting the audience to the idyllic and magical world of the natives.
Hércules 56, a documentary about the 1969 kidnapping of the U.S. ambassador to Brazil may appear to be an unorthodox choice to follow the lyricism of Yndio do Brasil, yet the cohesive thread between these seemingly different films is the filmmakers’ narrative choice of keeping a certain distance to their subjects, and assuming the role of the observer rather than the manipulator.
Oi Futuro, as the institute of social responsibility of the Rio-based telecommunications company Oi, carries a mission to contribute to human development through educational and cultural innovation, utilizing the communication and information technologies. Organizing projects countrywide, Oi Futuro maintains three fixed cultural centers, two in Rio, and another in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.
Read More from The Rio Times