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Searching for Lost Cinemas in Brazil - 'Pictures of Ghosts' Doc Trailer

by Alex Billington
August 16, 2023
Source: YouTube

"A cinema can be a place of kindness." A festival promo trailer has debuted for a compelling documentary film from Brazil titled Pictures of Ghosts, exploring the disappearing cinemas of the city of Recife, Brazil. This premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival earlier in the summer, and is stopping by the Toronto and New York Film Festivals next. Downtown Recife's classic movie palaces from the 20th century are mostly gone. That city area is now an archaeological site of sorts that reveals aspects of life in society which have been lost. And that's just part of the story... A journey back into Brazil's history. The film is "described as a multidimensional journey through time, sound, architecture and filmmaking, Pictures of Ghosts is set in the urban landscape of Recife, located in the Brazilian coastal capital of Pernambuco. Having hosted dreams & progress, these places have also embodied a major transformation on social practices." Retratos Fantasmas is directed by acclaimed Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho, of Aquarius, and Bacurau before this. Looks like it's both melancholic and also uplifting, celebrating the power that cinema has over people.

Here's the first official trailer for Kleber Mendonça Filho's doc Pictures of Ghosts, direct from YouTube:

Via FFM: "In a poetic mixture of personal essay and documentary, the director now turns to his northern Brazilian hometown of Recife: the disappearance of the palatial cinemas, the once fashionable center of town falling into ruin, his witnessing of the dizzying transformation of the neighborhood by the sea which doubled as the setting for his own films. This journey into the history of a city and of cinema itself is at times funny and at times sad, but it is also haunted by the apparitions of the title which repeatedly open a portal to the fantastic." Pictures of Ghosts, also known as Retratos Fantasmas in Portuguese, is directed by acclaimed Brazilian writer / director Kleber Mendonça Filho, director of the feature films Neighboring Sounds, Aquarius, and Bacurau, plus the doc Crítico, and many other short films previously. Produced by Emilie Lesclaux. This initially premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in the Special Screenings section. It will also be screening at TIFF and NYFF. No other release dates are set yet - stay tuned. Who's interested?

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