20° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
Tribute to Julio Bressane

O Mandarim

The Mandarin
by Júlio Bressane
Country: Brazil
Year: 1995
Duration: 97'


The story of popular Brazilian music from the beginning of the century, built around the famous singer Mário Reis; his solitary and mysterious life, his loved ones, his very particular repertoire are the background for this film, which was shot in Rio de Janeiro, and especially at the Copacabana Palace, where Reis lived for many years. Based on his personal acquaintance with Reis, Bressane recreates him like an angel freed from the city of marvels. Narrators of this story are Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Gal Costa, Edu Lobo, Raphael Rebello, not just as actors (the great masters of Brazilian popular music): they are also responsible for 80% of the soundtrack. "I wanted to give an idea of how alive music is in Brazilian culture, letting all the eras mix together" (J. Bessane).

Biography

film director

Julio Bressane

Julio Bressane was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1946. As an adolescent, he frequented the haunts of the nascent Cinema Novo, establishing ties with Paulo Cezar Saraceni, Glauber Rocha and Leon Hirszman. At 19 years of age, he was assistant to Walter Lima Jr. for the film Menino de Engheno and then later to Fernando Campos for A Viagem. He debuted as a director in 1965 with the short film Lima Barreto: Trajetória. O Anjo Naceu and Matou a Familia e foi ao Cinema are received as a break with Cinema Novo. Cinema Marginal or "udigrudi". The term was never recognized by his esponents. In 1970, with Rogerìo Sganzerla and Helena Ignez, he founds the production house Belair, whose activity is brusquely interrupted by the military dictatorship, which forces the three founders into exile. Bressane lives a few years abroad, mainly in London and New York, he travels to Morocco and in Asia until 1973, when he returns to Brazil. Over the past few years, after a long period of ostracism by international festivals, his films have been presented with growing success in Taormina, Venice, Turin and Rotterdam. In 2002, the Torino Film Festival presented a complete retrospective of the Brazilian director.

FILMOGRAFIA

Lima Barreto: Trajetória (1965-1966), Bethânia Bem de Perto (1966), Elis Regina (1966, film perduto), Cara a Cara (1967), O Anjo Nasceu (1969), Matou a Família e Foi ao Cinema (1969), Barão Olavo, o Horrível (1970), A Miss e o Dinosauro (1970, film perduto), Cuidado Madame (1970), Memórias de um Estrangulador de Louras/Memories of a Blonde Strangler (1971), Amor Louco/Crazy Love (1971), A Fada do Oriente (1972, film perduto), Lágrima Pantera (1972, film perduto), O Rei do Baralho (1973); Viagem Através do Brasil I (1973-1974), Viagem Através do Brasil II (1973-1974), Viagem Através do Brasil III (1973-1974-1975), O Monstro Caraíba - Nova História Antiga do Brasil (1975), Viola Chinesa - Meu Encontro com o Cinema Brasileiro (1975), A Agonia (1976), O Gigante da América (1976), Cidade Pagã (1979), Cinema inocente (1980), Tabu (1982), Brás Cubas (1985), Sob o Céu, Sob o Sol, Salvador (1987), Sermões - A História de António Vieira (1989), Quem seria o Feliz Conviva de Isadora Duncan? (1992), Galáxia Albina (1992), Infernalário: Logodédalo - Galaxia Dark (1993), O Cinema do Cinema - Criação e Recriação da Imagem no Filme Cinematográfico (1993), Antonioni - Hitchcock: A Imagen em Fuga (1993), As Canções que Vôce fez pra Mim (1994), O Mandarim (1995), Miramar (1997), São Jerônimo (1998), Dias de Nietzsche em Turim (2001), Nietszche in Nice, Filme de Amor (2003).

Cast

& Credits

Regia, sceneggiatura e colonna sonora: Julio Bressane.
Collaborazione alla sceneggiatura: José Lino Grunewald, Rosa Dias.
Director of photography: José Tadeu Ribeiro.
Sound: Toninho Murici.
Operatori: José Tadeu Ribeiro e Julio Bressane.
Editor: Gilberto Santeiro.
Music: Livio Tragtenberg.
Costume designer: Luciana Buarque.
Direzione artistica: Roberto Granja.
Cast: Fernando Eiras, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Gal Costa, Raphael Rabello, Edu Lobo, Gilberto Gil, Giulia Gam, Renata Sorrah, Guará (Guaracy Rodrigues), Drica Morais, Rubens Santos, Costinha, Caterina Abdala.
Production company: Julio Bressane, Video Track.
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