Afro-Brazilians Priced Out of Back2Black Concert

On stage, singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil highlighted Brazil’s “genetic and cultural” connection to “Mother Africa,” to applause from a predominantly light-skinned audience at a concert that black people generally could not afford – symbolic of the country’s “veiled racism” at an international festival organised to combat it.

The stars of the international festival in Rio de Janeiro were Gil, a former minister of culture (2003-2008) in the leftwing government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Youssou N’Dour of Senegal, introduced as “Africa’s greatest voice,” Brazilian rap artist MV Bill and the Banda Black Rio ensemble, among others.

According to its web site, “the aim of the Back2Black Festival is to promote encounters. Encounters between music and art, politics and film, dance and social conscience, literature and fashion, consumption and theatre, and of contemporary human beings with themselves.”

“Back2Black seeks to highlight the importance of Africa in global terms,” Lopes said, in a press release that defined the festival as a gathering “to stimulate discussion and reflection on issues ranging from social and political development in Africa, to the future of the continent, by way of its progress expressed through the arts.

The festival was sponsored by heavyweight Brazilian companies like Petrobras, Oi Futuro and Vale do Rio Doce, the Ministry of Culture and the Culture Secretariat of the state government of Rio de Janeiro, and even the World Bank.

Fonte: IPSNews.net

“Salve Geral” to represent Brazil at Oscar 2010

 

 

 

  

“Salve Geral“, yet another film dealing with violence in Brazil, is to be Brazil’s candidate for the Oscar for “Best Foreign Film” in 2010, according to an announcement made on 18th September 2009 by a special commission of the Audiovisual Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture. It is the twelfth film directed by Sérgio Rezende, a film-maker born in Rio de Janeiro in 1951 who is known for biographical films on political figures, such as “Zuzu Angel” (2006), “Lamarca” (1994) and “O Homen da Capa Preta (Tenório Cavalcanti)” (1986).

“Salve Geral“, to open in Brazil on 2nd October 2009, tells the story of a widow, played by Andréa Beltrão (well-known for her acting in films, in the theater and on TV as “Radical Chic” and “Marilda” of “A Grande Família“). Desperate to obtain the release from prison of her adolescent son, she becomes involved with a major organized criminal gang, the São Paulo-based PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital). Founded in 1993, the PCC (an ally of Rio de Janeiro’s CV (Comando Vermelho) gang) reached the height of its power in 2006. They organized a series of prison riots in March 2006; in May the São Paulo state government decided to move several hundred prisoners to more secure penitentiaries. Prisoners from the PCC, using contraband cell phones, organized simultaneous prison rebellions by more than 250,000 prisoners in 73 prisons.

Members and supporters not in custody carried out over 250 simultaneous external actions, burning buses and attacking police stations and banks.

This brought São Paulo, one of the world’s largest cities, to a halt in late May and supplies the backdrop for “Salve Geral“, which is subtitled “the day São Paulo stopped”. There was further violence in July 2006.

“Salve Geral“ was selected from a shortlist of nine Brazilian films; it will compete with productions from 95 countries to be one of the five candidates for “Best Foreign Film” at the 2010 Oscars. The five finalists will be announced on 2nd February 2010.

 Veja o trailer do Filme  Salve Geral – trailer