Rio Festival to open with La Bola Negra, close with Club Kid
Rio Film Festival will open on 1 October with 'La Bola Negra' from film-making duo Los Javis and close on 11 October with Jordan Firstman's 'Club Kid'.
Artistic director Ilda Santiago set the pairing for an edition spanning more than 270 features, as detailed by Variety. The event is known abroad as the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival.
Santiago told Variety the opening and closing choices "translate our desire to be in communication with younger audiences." The line is direct. The aim is clear.
Awards season runs through Rio. The programme includes 16 national submissions for the Oscars, the films each country puts forward for best international feature.
They include Brazil's own 'Gugu's World,' 'La Bola Negra,' Lukas Dhont's 'Coward' and Markus Schleinzer's 'Rose,' which stars Sandra Hüller. The scale is large.
Other international titles include Beth de Araújo's 'Josephine,' Diego Luna's 'Ashes' and Benjamin Naishtat's 'Glaxo.' Each arrives with festival pedigree and a different audience in mind.
Home cinema dominates the centre. Première Brasil, the festival's showcase for new Brazilian work, has expanded into several sub-strands with more than 100 films competing for the Redentor Trophy, the festival's prize for Brazilian film.
Three local world premieres stand out. '100 Days,' the first live-action feature from 'Rio' director Carlos Saldanha, will have its world premiere as the Brazilian closing gala. Lucia Murat's 'The Hinterlands of Our Memories,' about Brazil's military dictatorship, will also premiere, alongside Pedro Waddington's 'Fernanda,' a documentary on Oscar-nominated actress Fernanda Montenegro.
Business runs alongside. RioMarket, the industry sidebar for meetings, workshops and deals, runs 1-10 October with South Korea as this year's country of focus.
The festival's own site adds context for regulars, listing 23 films in its Premiere Latina strand and a Classics and Cults section with a classic starring Alain Delon, a Rosa von Praunheim retrospective and rarities by Michael Haneke and Wim Wenders, including four Wenders films beyond his best-known work, plus open-air screenings organised with FGV, as listed by Festival do Rio. It also lists two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi as a guest to present 'Contos Paralelos,' the Cannes-screened ensemble with Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira and Vincent Cassel, with screenings at Cine Odeon on 2 October and Reserva Cultural Niteroi on 3 October and a public class at Armazem da Utopia on 3 October.
For fans, this means eleven days with a simple shape. Big international names at both ends. Brazilian premieres in the middle. And a market looking east to Seoul.
