Nelson Pereira dos Santos Film Series

Brazil’s carnival is long past, and next year’s festivities are still months away, but if you need a samba fix, try Tenda dos Milagres (“Tent of Miracles”). The first of four films by Brazilian master Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Tent of Miracles is dos Santos’s cinema novo triumph. A strong satire on the racial attitudes found in contemporary Brazil, Tentis nonetheless playful and colorful, more a celebration of Afro-Brazilian culture than a dour civics lesson. Dos Santos was the father of the cinema novo film movement that took Brazilian cinema from an undistinguished imitation of American B-movies to the Afrocentric powerhouse it is today. O Amuleto de Ogum(“The Amulet of Ogum”) screens tomorrow, with dos Santos’s masterwork A Terceira Margem do Rio (“The Third Bank of the River”) and Memórias do Cárcere (“Prison Memories”) screening Friday and Saturday, respectively. The films are presented in Portuguese with English subtitles each day at 8 p.m. Rice Media Center, Rice University, 6100 Main Street. For information, call 713-348-4853 or visit www.rice-cinema.rice.edu. Free.
Wed., Nov. 7, 8 p.m., 2007