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The sensorial cinema of Gabriel Mascaro, who turned the life of a group of cowhands into a poetic experience in Neon Bull (Boi Neon), was the big winner at the 17th edition of Rio de Janeiro’s International Film Festival.

The allegory of the recent economic transformations in Brazil received four Redentor awards on Tuesday night: best film, best screenplay, best cinematography and best supporting actress for Alyne Santana.

Previously the film screened in Venice, where it won the Orizzonti special jury prize, and Toronto.

The best director prize was shared between Ives Rosenfeld’s Hopefuls (Aspirantes), a journey of a young amateur football player, and Anita Rocha da Silveira’s Kill Me Please (Mate-Me Por Favor), a teen horror film set at a school in Barra de Tijuca. Both works are first features.

The jury headed by the director and cinematographer Walter Carvalho also celebrated Hopefuls with a best actor prize for Ariclenes Barroso and a...

Rio de Janeiro’s International Film Festival opened last night (Oct 1) celebrating the life and work of local hero Chico Buarque who, at 71, remains one of Brazil’s top composers, musicians and singers.

The world premiere of documentary Chico - Artista Brasileiro packed Cine Odeon, a 90-year-old movie theatre that will host public screenings of the most important festival sections, including Premiere Brasil.

As Rio celebrated its 450th anniversary in March, it proved appropriate to open the city’s film festival with a documentary that reflected its spirit and culture.

Directed by Miguel Faria Jr., the film attempts to uncover the man behind the artist simply known as “Chico” in Brazil, with testimonials from the musician and those closest to him.

Chico - Artista Brasileiro centres on the list of the artist who wrote Bossa Nova songs in the 1960s and faced censorship in the 1970s, for attacking the Brazilian military dictatorship in his lyrics.

Chico is also...

Rio de Janeiro’s International Film Festival opened last night (Oct 1) celebrating the life and work of local hero Chico Buarque who, at 71, remains one of Brazil’s top composers, musicians and singers.

The world premiere of documentary Chico - Artista Brasileiro packed Cine Odeon, a 90-year-old movie theatre that will host public screenings of the most important festival sections, including Premiere Brasil.

As Rio celebrated its 450th anniversary in March, it proved appropriate to open the city’s film festival with a documentary that reflected its spirit and culture.

Directed by Miguel Faria Jr., the film attempts to uncover the man behind the artist simply known as “Chico” in Brazil, with testimonials from the musician and those closest to him.

Chico - Artista Brasileiro centres on the list of the artist who wrote Bossa Nova songs in the 1960s and faced censorship in the 1970s, for attacking the Brazilian military dictatorship in his lyrics.

Chico is also...

Norma Bengell dead at 78: Iconic (and controversial) Brazilian film, stage, television, and recording star made history as the first actress to be seen naked (full frontal) in a mainstream film (photo: Norma Bengell and John Herbert in ‘As Cariocas’) Norma Bengell, a sort of Brazilian Jeanne Moreau, Brigitte Bardot, and Jane Fonda rolled into one, died of lung cancer in her hometown of Rio de Janeiro on October 9, 2013. She was 78. Best known internationally for her leading-lady roles in several Italian-made cult classics of the mid-’60s, Norma Bengell was known in Brazil as a controversial show business veteran and for being the first “name” actress (purportedly anywhere in the world) to be seen fully naked — full frontal — in a mainstream film. Note: Hedy Lamarr, then billed as Hedy Kiesler, does swim and run around in the nude in Gustav Machaty’s 1933 Czech drama Ecstasy. However, Lamarr’s naked swimming was disguised by the water,...