Cinema Slate, a new distribution label focused on Latin American cinema, and Fandor, the subscription streaming service recognized for international and independent film, are partnering to release four critically acclaimed Brazilian films starting in early September, 2015. Fandor will release the films day-and-date on its subscription service, while Cinema Slate will release the films theatrically.
All four films are part of Cinema Slate’s upcoming collection titled Brazilian Film Series: Year One, comprised of new works by up-and-coming Brazilian directors. “These are assured, artistically mature, and both personal and internationally relevant works,” said Cinema Slate Founder Rodrigo Brandão. The goal of this series is to introduce a new generation of Brazilian artists to the American public.
“While Brazilian filmmakers are in dialogue with international film movements,” continued Brandão, “they are also taking cinema to unique and surprising places. These works are fresh, uncompromising and offer a unique window into contemporary Brazil. Moreover, when seen together, they offer a fascinating sample of how local directors are mixing genre cinema, social commentary, and a wide variety of aesthetic and artistic influences. This collection shows that Brazilian Cinema is going through another renaissance.”
“It is one of our greatest pleasures to be able to introduce exceptional international cinema to North American audiences”, said Jonathan Marlow, Fandor Chief Content Officer. “These four works reflect our deep commitment to filmmakers from around the world to support them in reaching the broadest audience possible.”
The series will be co-presented with New York-based Cinema Tropical, a leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the U.S., and sponsored by Brazilian Press, a newspaper servicing the Brazilian community in the East Coast.
The four-picture partnership starts with the release of Cateano Gotardo’s lyrical omnibus film The Moving Creatures (O Que Se Move), on September 11 at New York’s Cinema Village.
In the film, three very different mothers are confronted, through three very different trials-by-ordeal, with the limits of their parental knowledge. With little fanfare (and not a whiff of the “interconnectedness” often de rigeur among multi-story films), the daily rhythms and textures of three families unfold before us.
Scheduled for an October 30 premiere at New York’s Cinema Village, Hard Labor (Trabalhar Cansa), co-directed by Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas, features a straight, middle-class couple facing the allures of entrepreneurship and the horror of a schizophrenic job market.
The third and fourth films in the series, respectively set for November and December of 2015, are Fellipe Barbosa’s semi-autobiographical tale Casa Grande and Eryk Rocha’s Sunday Ball, two recently acclaimed Brazilian films.
