CINEMA NOVO is a film essay that poetically investigates the eponymous Brazilian film movement, the most prominent in Latin America in the past century, through the analysis of its main auteurs: Nelson Pereira do Santos, Glauber Rocha, Leon Hirszman, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Ruy Guerra, Caca Diegue, Walter Lima Jr, Paulo Cesar Saraceni, among others.
"An impressionistic homage to the movement that changed Brazilian film forever."—Variety
"A dense archival essay on Brazil's very own New Wave. [Cinema Novo took] Brazilian movies out of the studios and into the streets, capturing the vivid daily realities of a nation of contrasts—between rich and poor, land and sea, city and country, religion and sacrilege—in movies whose bristling black-and-white cinematography was about as contrast-y as you could get."—The Hollywood Reporter
"If ever a filmmaker was destined to compile a love letter to the new wave of cinema that swept through Latin American in the 1960s and 1970s, it's the son of CINEMA NOVO co-founder Glauber Rocha ... A rich viewing experience."—ScreenDaily
"Recommended! CINEMA NOVO memorably [wisks] viewers back to a faraway time and place--where a cadre of talented and determined filmmakers in an underdeveloped setting thought they could change their homeland with just 'a camera in the hand and an idea in the head."—Cineaste
"This is obviously a labor of love and is extremely well-researched and edited. Extras include a booklet with a helpful contextual essay by Randal Johnson and Robert Stam. Recommended, particularly for film history collections.—Video Librarian
Best Documentary, Cannes Film Festival
AFI Latin American Film Festival
Porto Film Festival, Portugal
Brasilia Film Festival, Brazil
Rio Film Festival, Brazil
Mar del Plata Film Festival, Argentina
Forum des Images, France