Festival suggestions for Thursday

Published in 09/24/2014

For the first time in the 16 years of Festival do Rio, the majority of the Première Brasil and major gala screenings will be taking place at the Cinepolis Lagoon complex built on the shores of the Lagoa.

The first feature film screening in competition in Première Brasil is Murilo Sales' O Fim e os Meios (Means to an End) which screens at the Cinepolis Lagoon at 21.45 on Thursday. Earlier in the day, at 17.00, the documentary, A Queima Roupa (Point Blank), directed by Theresa Jessouroun, premieres.

Appropriately for an election year O Fim e os Meios (Means to an End) is a political drama that centres on the electoral campaign of a senator. A Queima Roupa (Point Blank) is an investigative documentary showing police violence and corruption in Rio de Janeiro over the past 20 years.

All of the films screenings in competition in Première Brasil also get screened the following afternoon in the cinema located in the festival pavilion, Armazem da Utopia, which is then followed by an open debate with the filmmakers and the general public. So on Friday A Queima Roupa (Point Blank) will screen at 13.00 and O Fim e os Meios (Means to an End) at 15.00.

On Thursday at 19.15 the Cinepolis Lagoon will host the hors concours screening of Alceu Valença's A Luneta do Tempo (The Telescope of Time), a musical drama that uses popular myths of Brazilian culture to narrate the story. Valença is one of Brazil most respected musicians and composers from the country's Northeast.

Thursday also sees directors Laurel Spellman Smith and Francine Strickwerda present their documentary Oil & Water at Estação Rio 3 at 21.45. The film will also screen Friday at 18.30 at the Justiça Federal Cultural Centre (CCJF) followed by a debate with the filmmakers.

Director and screenwriter Marcelo Tobar will introduce Asteroide at Estação Rio 2 at 19.00 on Thursday. The film is part of Focus Mexico. Shortly after, at 19.30, director and screenwriter Eugene Green will present La Sapience in Estação Rio 1, while director Marco Ferrari and producer Mauricio Vedovato will introduce Simple Being, part of Expectations, in Estação Rio 2 at 21.30.

Producer Gale Anne Hurd and cast member Chad Coleman from The Walking Dead return to the festival pavilion (Armazem da Utopia) on Thursday for a panel at 17.00 focussed on the hit TV series.

The Michael Cimino retrospective also gets underway on Thursday with a screening of the director's most famous and acclaimed work, The Deer Hunter. The film will screen in the Banco do Brasil Cultural Centre (CCBB) at 19.00.

Ian Forsyth and Jane Pollard's critically acclaimed docu-drama that looks at Nick Cave's 20,000 Days on Earth, is not just a critical hit. It has just set the best US box office screen average for any documentary released this year. The film gets it first festival screening on Thursday at Estação Ipanema at 15.40 and 22.00.