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Taking a cue from the genre-melding impulse of the music at its heart, They Shot the Piano Player initially gives every appearance of being pure fiction. The plot of this animated film by Spanish directors Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba follows Jeff Harris (voiced by Jeff Goldblum), a journalist from New York City who’s been commissioned to write a book on bossa nova. Immersing himself in the music in preparation for a trip to Rio de Janeiro, he hears a solo by Brazilian jazz pianist Francisco Tenorio Jr. and gets sidetracked. The innovator of samba jazz, it turns out, disappeared under suspicious circumstances in Buenos Aires just before the 1976 military coup, and Jeff decides to fill in the blanks.

The setup, then, has all the trappings of a detective story, with an amateur sleuth in obsessive pursuit of an unsolved mystery. In Rio, Jeff’s friend João (Tony Ramos...

Exclusive: Wagner Moura is set to star in the upcoming biopic Angicos about Brazilian educator and author Paulo Freire. Felipe Hirsch will write and direct and Adriana Tavares of Café Royal will produce alongside Paula Linhares of Cenya Productions and Marcos Tellechea and Guilherme Somlo of Reagent Media.

Angicos begins in the town of the same name in Rio Grande do Norte in 1963, with the mission of educator Freire (Moura) to fight against illiteracy by teaching the entire village of blue-collar, domestic, and cotton farm workers how to read and write in only 40 hours – a seemingly impossible feat.

Funded by President John F. Kennedy to solidify the South American nation as an ally in the Cold War amidst worldwide social and economic tensions, the success of the endeavor resulted in the planned implementation of Freire’s literary system on a nationwide level. However, before long,...

The most popular Brazilian film for decades, this funny & steamy erotic ghost story took the world by storm and made a star of Sonia Braga. Bruno Barreto adapted a Jorge Amado ‘Bahía’ novel, one that celebrates the positive role that plain old-fashioned carnal lust can play in this world. The bereaved widow Dona Flor does Gene Tierney one better — her desire literally brings her love object back to life . . . but in bed. Rich music, earthy culture. . . Film Movement’s version is the uncut original, and has a new director commentary.

Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands

Blu-ray

Film Movement Classics

1976 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 118 min. / Street Date July 26, 2022 / Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos / Available from Film Movement / 39.95

Starring: Sonia Braga, José Wilker, Mauro Mendonça, Dinorah Brillanti.

Cinematography: Murilo Salles

Production Designer: Anisio Medeiros

Film Editor: Raimundo Higino

Original Music: Chico Buarque de Hollanda, Francis Hume

Written by Bruno Barreto, Eduardo Coutinho,...

As was widely anticipated, Alfonso Cuaron’s triple Oscar-winning “Roma” dominated the 6th Premios Platino nominations, unveiled Thursday at Hollywood’s legendary Roosevelt Hotel, the site of the very first Oscars. It snagged a total of nine nominations, including best film, director, art direction, cinematography, and acting for its two Oscar-nominated actresses, Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira.

“Roma,” which won Mexico’s first best foreign-language film Oscar, is up against pics that were also submitted for their respective countries in the Academy Awards’ foreign-language category: Colombia’s “Pajaros de Verano,” Uruguay’s “La Noche de 12 Años,” and Spain’s “Campeones.” The first two titles nabbed six Premios Platino noms each while “Campeones” took five. Paraguay’s Oscar submission “Las Herederas” took five nominations.

The ceremony streamed live on Facebook with Premios Platino ambassador and CNN Español journalist Juan Carlos Arciniegas hosting the event alongside actors Joaquin Cosio, Angie Cepeda,...

As the surprise box-office success story of the last six months or so, Michael Gracey’s “The Greatest Showman” indicated that contrary to the film’s sniffy critical reception, there is indeed an audience for glitzy, period-inflected, fanfare-filled stories of life beneath the Big Top. But its word-of-mouth slow build to moneymaking, cult-spawning juggernaut status is unlikely to be replicated by Brazilian veteran Carlos Diegues’ return to the directing fray with “The Great Mystical Circus.”

After a decade spent nurturing other talents from the region (including an associate producer credit on Kleber Mendonça Filho’s superb “Aquarius”) Diegues, a Cinema Novo pioneer with such titles as “Bye Bye Brazil,” “Ganga Zumba,” and “Quilombo” under his belt, essays his own take on circus maximalism, but delivers a magical realist misfire; an uncomfortably soapy high-wire act that stumbles right out the gate and never stops tumbling.

Based on a poem by celebrated Brazilian polymath Jorge de Lima,...

Cannes, France — Carlos (Cacá) Diegues presented his latest directorial feature at a Special Screening in Cannes. A celebration of magic, entertainment and cinema,”The Great Mystical Circus” is inspired by a poem from Brazilian poet Jorge de Lima. It follows a family of circus entertainers through five generations, told in a series of intertwining tales, all set to a soundtrack by Chico Buarque, who originally adapted the poem for the stage in the 1980s.

Starring Vincent Cassel, Jesuíta Barbosa, Bruna Linzmeyer and Mariana Ximenes, the film is produced by Brazil’s Luz Magica Produçoes and Globo Filmes, Portugal’s Fado Filmes and France’s Milonga Productions. Spain’s Latido Films is selling international sales rights.

Though still very much a filmmaking force, director-producer Diegues’ career spans more than fifty years; his first feature film involvement coming in 1962 when he directed part of the groundbreaking neo-realist “Cinco Vezes Favela.” He was...

Rio de Janeiro’s International Film Festival opened last night (Oct 1) celebrating the life and work of local hero Chico Buarque who, at 71, remains one of Brazil’s top composers, musicians and singers.

The world premiere of documentary Chico - Artista Brasileiro packed Cine Odeon, a 90-year-old movie theatre that will host public screenings of the most important festival sections, including Premiere Brasil.

As Rio celebrated its 450th anniversary in March, it proved appropriate to open the city’s film festival with a documentary that reflected its spirit and culture.

Directed by Miguel Faria Jr., the film attempts to uncover the man behind the artist simply known as “Chico” in Brazil, with testimonials from the musician and those closest to him.

Chico - Artista Brasileiro centres on the list of the artist who wrote Bossa Nova songs in the 1960s and faced censorship in the 1970s, for attacking the Brazilian military dictatorship in his lyrics.

Chico is also...

Rio de Janeiro’s International Film Festival opened last night (Oct 1) celebrating the life and work of local hero Chico Buarque who, at 71, remains one of Brazil’s top composers, musicians and singers.

The world premiere of documentary Chico - Artista Brasileiro packed Cine Odeon, a 90-year-old movie theatre that will host public screenings of the most important festival sections, including Premiere Brasil.

As Rio celebrated its 450th anniversary in March, it proved appropriate to open the city’s film festival with a documentary that reflected its spirit and culture.

Directed by Miguel Faria Jr., the film attempts to uncover the man behind the artist simply known as “Chico” in Brazil, with testimonials from the musician and those closest to him.

Chico - Artista Brasileiro centres on the list of the artist who wrote Bossa Nova songs in the 1960s and faced censorship in the 1970s, for attacking the Brazilian military dictatorship in his lyrics.

Chico is also...

An Argentine legend is about to hit the big screen.

“Mercedes Sosa, The Voice of Latin America,” a documentary about one of Latin America’s most popular folksingers, will debut at the Panama International Film Festival next month, Mexican news agency Notimex reports.

From a look at the trailer above, it seems like a high-energy portrayal of the singer’s life, focusing on the politics of the Argentine military dictatorship that she -- unlike the newly installed pope -- publicly challenged.

Directed by Rodrigo Vila, the film features interviews with some of Latin America’s finest singer-songwriters, including Cuba’s Pablo Milanés and Brazil’s Chico Buarque, along with former Talking Heads frontman and Latin American music aficionado David Byrne.

"Mercedes was a symbol of freedom," Buarque says in the trailer.

The daughter of a sugarcane worker in the northern province of Tucumán, Sosa grew famous for singing songs that championed the poor.

The nominees for the 2012 Latin Grammy awards are in, and Dominican singer Juan Luis Guerra tops the list with six nods.

Guerra scored two of the 10 "Best Song" nominations for his "Azul Sabina" and "En El Cielo No Hay Hospital." The Dominican singer’s unique blend of merengue, bolero, bachata and rock has already earned him 12 Latin Grammys.

The list of nominees released Tuesday by the Latin Recording Academy includes both established musical titans such as Cuban jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, and relative newcomers, including Afro-Colombian hip hop group Choc Quib Town.

Brazil's Caetano Veloso, who first came to prominence in the 1960s playing a samba-infused style of rock known as Tropicalia, is up for four awards. Caetano will also be honored as the "2012 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year."

The Latin Grammys are scheduled for Nov. 15 in Las Vegas and will be televised by Univision.

Check out the...

The 49th New York Film Festival has announced their Masterworks and Special Anniversary screenings that will show between the festival’s seventeen days, September 30th – October 16th. The Masterworks program and the festival’s additional programming will provide audiences with exciting opportunities to explore new film-making styles and storytelling events. To learn more about the Masterworks and Anniversary films, please check out below for full synopsis and details.

Masterworks And Special Anniversary Screenings

Masterworks: The Gold Rush

Chaplin’s personal favorite among his own films, The Gold Rush (1925), is a beautifully constructed comic fable of fate and perseverance, set in the icy wastes of the Alaskan gold fields. Re-released by Chaplin in 1942 in a recut version missing some scenes, and with added narration and musical score, The Gold Rush will be presented in a new restoration of the original, silent 1925 version. In this frequently terrifying and always unpredictable universe of...

To follow up on yesterday's roundup of Un Certain Regard remainders...

"The Tati-inspired dance trio of Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, and Bruno Romy are at it again, crafting an awfully similar follow-up to their previous feature, Rumba." Blake Williams for Ioncinema: "The Fairy is light on magic and the supernatural, but flutters breezily along with joke-a-minute fluff…. As in their other films, the 'plot' — this one involving a wish-granting fairy — is only really a conceit by which to give the illusion of continuity to what is essentially a string of short films." Screen's Fionnuala Halligan's enjoyed it, though: "Theirs is an old-fashioned, almost silent, routine (their first feature L'Iceberg was virtually wordless) blended beautifully with an arresting dance element." In the Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Mintzer notes that "Tati's hand is evident in the exceptionally precise art direction and camerawork by regulars Nicholas Girault and Claire Childeric."

"The Silver Cliff was...

Repertory theaters on the coasts are truly offering a window onto the world this spring, with Jia Zhangke and Bong Joon-ho retrospectives, as well as New French Cinema in New York, "Freebie and the Bean," "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" and Jason Reitman's favorite films invade Los Angeles, and the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin is offering a fond farewell to the video cassette. But consider this a hello to seeing classics, oddities and rarities on the big screen over the next few months.

Cities: [New York] [Los Angeles] [Austin] More Spring Preview: [Theatrical Calendar]

[Anywhere But a Movie Theater]

New York

92YTribeca

Is there a more energetic way to start the spring than with a screening of Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (Feb. 20, with editors Rumsey Taylor, Leo Goldsmith and Jenny Jediny in attendance)? Perhaps not, but it's only the start of an exciting spring season at the 92YTribeca Screening Room, which will present several special events over the next few months.