Popular cinema in Brazil [Paperback]

Brazil has one of the most significant and productive film industries in Latin America. This ground-breaking study provides an entertaining insight into the Brazilian films that have most captured the imagination of domestic audiences over the years.

The recent international success of films such as Central Station and City of God, has stimulated widespread interest in Brazilian film, but studies written in English focus on the 'auteur' cinema of the 1960s. This book focuses on individual films in their socio-historical context, drawing on extensive fieldwork in Brazil and Latin America. It argues that Brazilian cinema has almost always been grounded in intrinsically home-grown cultural forms, dating back to the nineteenth century, such as the Brazilian music-hall, the travelling circus, radio shows, carnival, and, later, comedy television.

Combining a chronological structure with groundbreaking research and a lively approach, Popular cinema in Brazil is the ideal introduction to Brazilian cinema.

List of figures

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

1. The cultural origins of popular cinema in Brazil

2. The 1930s

3. The 1940s

4. The 1950s

5. The 1960s

6. The 1970s

7. The 1980s

8. The 1990s

Conclusion

Filmography

Select bibliography

Index

Stephanie Dennison is Lecturer in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at the University of Leeds

Lisa Shaw is Senior Lecturer in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at the University of Leeds