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Brazil’s has the Goods!
Julia Melim
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Brazil has attracted many production
companies, directors and film crews
from all over the world to shoot at the great
landscapes and diverse scenarios it offers.
Movies such as Incredible Hulk, Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull, and upcoming movie The Brazilian
Job have chosen various locations around
Brazil, featuring scenes in Lapa and Downtown
Rio, to the Amazon rainforest.
“I was intrigued by the mature film industry
in Brazil and was also surprised to learn of
the enormous commercial production market.
Hundreds of international commercials
are produced in Brazil every year that
vary from multi-million dollar productions
to very low budget productions,” producer
Eric Eason said.
Brazil’s locations can be seen in various
films in Europe, U.S. and many commercials
and music videos around the world.
Sometimes they are not even recognizable
because even though the country is well
known for its tropical settings, it has a lot
more to offer than just beautiful beaches,
samba and soccer.
The stairs in Lapa where Bruce Banner walks
down while trying to escape his anger and
become the Incredible Hulk, are the same
stairs where Snoop Dogg is sitting with Pharrell
in his music video for the song “Beautiful”.
Snoop’s music video was entirely shot
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He dedicates the
song to the beautiful women in Brazil, showing
Brazilian bikinis and many curves.
Snoop also features landscapes such as the
Guanabara Bay, The Sugar Loaf, Christ the
Redeemer and the Copacabana Beach.
He shows a little bit of everything Brazil
is known for, beautiful women, tropical
beaches, soccer, and adds a touch of Brazilian
drums towards the end of the video.
Snoop performs inside the “favelas”,
on the streets of Rio and in Lage Park
(Parque Lage), showing Rio’s historical
architecture.
“After our visit I was very surprised at the
diversity of locations and even more so the
diversity of the population there.” producer
Roger Zorovich said. “Everything from
modern urban environments, to classical
European architecture, NY feel, Havana,
Old New Orleans it’s all there in one part
of the country or another,” he said.
Even Michael Jackson shot his music video
for the song “They don’t care about us” in
Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, while performing
with the Brazilian drummers Olodum. He
shows the simplicity of the people, dancing
in the streets made of stones against a
backdrop of the traditional colorful houses
in the Northeast.
Even if Brazil is not being featured, there
are many advantages to shooting in Brazil.
“I was amazed at how certain sections of
Sao Paulo resembled New York City while
others resembled Los Angeles. This is extremely
advantageous for film production
since the currency exchange is favorable,”
Eason said.
The foreign production companies should
seek a partnership with a local production
company, which will be responsible for
overseeing the whole production process
while in Brazil. In addition, since the population
is so diverse, it is easy to cast for
smaller roles or background for any kind of
production.
Alongside with the great locations and
mixed ethnicities, Brazil offers many other
resources such as experienced crews, wellequipped
production companies and highend
post-production facilities. Big production
companies, such as Video Filmes, O2
Filmes, Globo Filmes and Conspiraçao are
responsible for the latest Brazilian movies
that made it into the international scenario,
and they are capable of supporting a big
budget film or any other productions from
anywhere in the world.
Film directors such as Fernando Meirelles,
Walter Salles, Andrucha Waddington and
Jose Padilha have become A-list directors
in Hollywood, after movies like City of God,
Central Station, House of Sand and Elite
Squad hit the international arena.
Many Brazilian movies make their way to
the U.S. through film festivals, especially
festivals destined to Brazilian or Latin Cinema.
This year the L.A Latino International
Film Festival will feature Brazilian films
Not By Chance by Chico Teixeira and Alice’s
House by Philippe Barcinski at the Arclight
Cinemas in Hollywood. The L.A Film Festival
also featured the Brazilian film Elite
Squad by Jose Padilha, winner of the 2008
Berlin Film Festival.
The Brazilian Consulates has been supporting
the initiative of many Brazilian Film Festivals
and Brazilian filmmakers in the U.S.
and now we have more Brazilian Film Festivals
than ever. This year, more two Brazilian
film festivals – Los Angeles Brazilian Film
Festival and the Hollywood Brazilian Film
Festival, joined the already traditional Brazilian
film festivals of Miami and New York.
Thereza Maria Machado Quintella, former
Consul General of Brazil in Los Angeles
(until May 2008) have said: “The acclaimed
revival of the Brazilian cinema with
its talented, creative and bold filmmakers,
reflects a new phase of intellectual and artistic
movement in which Brazilians are recovering
their self-esteem with two important
outcomes. On the one hand ensuring
the preservation of our cultural and regional
diversity, on the other allowing Brazil to
show how we see the world, thus creating a
dialogue with other cultures.”
Brazilian cinema is now recognized all over
the world. Brazil not only exports talent, it
also invites foreign crews to take a trip to
the outstanding production companies in
the region. If foreign productions were interested
in Brazil for the exotic nature of the
country in the past, now they come to Brazil
for the production and post-production
facilities matched to the international standards.
Whether the country offers beautiful
scenarios, exotic women or the “magia” of
soccer, one thing is for certain: Brazil has
the goods!
* Julia Melim is a Brazilian actress and lives in
Los Angeles, California. She is Miss Brazil at the
Miss Pan-American International 2008. Julia is
the Soul Brasil/Cinema contributor and can be
contacted by email: Julia@juliamelim.com
/ For more information about Julia visit her
website: www.juliamelim.com
Festival of Cinema in U.S. Usually Featuring Brazilian Films
Miami Brazilian Film Festival - www.brazilianfilmfestival.com
Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival – www.labrff.com
Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival – www.hbrfest.com
New York Brazilian Film Festival - www.brazilianfilmfestival.com
Los Angeles Latino Film Festival – www.latinofilm.org
Los Angeles Film Festival – www.lafilmfest.com
San Francisco Latino Film Festival – www.latinofilmfestival.org
San Diego Latino Film Festival – www.sdlatinofilm.com
Pan African L..A Film Festival – www.paff.org
Newport Beach Film Festival – www.newportbeachfilmfest.com
Santa Bárbara International Film Festival – www.sbiff.org
Artivist L.A Film Festival – www.artivists.org
Backlot Film Festival – www.backlotfilmfestival.com
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