Experiments in Film Form and Poetics: Brazil/Europe/USA

Experiments in Film Form and Poetics: Brazil/Europe/USA

After 1968 the young artists associated with the Brazilian avant-garde of the 1960s largely went abroad to seek refuge from the suffocating political and social climate in dictatorial Brazil. Working in the art capitals New York, Milan, London, and Paris, artists like Colares, Dias, de Freitas, and, later, Bruscky immersed themselves in the thriving avant-garde film scenes of their adopted homes and eagerly experimented with the accessible new medium of Super-8. Prolific correspondent and writer Hélio Oiticica served as a bridge between these artists and those, like Vergara, who mostly remained in Brazil, relaying a steady stream of information about the New American Cinema to correspondents like Ivan Cardoso and the readers of the effervescent underground press of the 1970s.

Fome (Hunger)
1972. Directed by Carlos Vergara. 5 min.

Mamãe fiz um super-8 nas calças (Mommy, I Pooped a Super 8 in My Pants)
1974. Directed by Carlos Zilio. 1 min.

Trajetórias
1972. USA. Directed by Raymundo Colares. 6 min.

Elements
1972. Italy. Directed by Iole de Freitas. 4 min.

Light Work
1972. Italy. Directed by Iole de Freitas. 5 min.

Exit
1972. USA/Italy. Directed by Iole de Freitas. 5 min.

The Illustration of Art, I
1971. Directed by Antonio Dias. 8 min.

The Illustration of Art, II
1971. Directed by Antonio Dias. 5 min.

The Illustration of Art, III
1971. Directed by Antonio Dias. 7 min.

The Illustration of Art/Gimmick
1972. Directed by Antonio Dias. 6 min.

The Illustration of Art/Working Class Hero/Eating/Washing
1972. Directed by Antonio Dias. 7 min.

The Illustration of Art/The New York Information System
1972. Directed by Antonio Dias. 3 min.

The Illustration of Art/Brand XXX
1974. Directed by Antonio Dias. 3 min.

Variações sobre um Tema de Steinberg: As Máscaras no. 1. (Homage to Steinberg: The Masks)
1975. Directed by Nelson Leirner. 7 min.

A Rebelião dos Animais (The Animals’ Rebellion)
1974. Directed by Nelson Leirner. 18 min.

Composições no Fio: Partituras Mutantes (Composition on the Wire: Mutating Sheet Music)
1979. Directed by Paulo Bruscky. 3 min.

Reflection
1982. USA. Directed by Paulo Bruscky. 3 min.

Aépta
1982. USA. Directed by Paulo Bruscky. 5 min.

Introduced by Nicholas Fitch