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Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha was just 25-years-old when he wrote and directed Black God, White Devil, making him the South American equivalent of Orson Welles. That's an apt comparison, considering Rocha's film did for his country's movie industry what Citizen Kanedid for America's. The gonzo Western was one of the earliest entries in what would become known as Brazil's Cinema Novo movement, which sought to tell politically-charged stories about ordinary people. Yet Black God, White Devil is more than just a historical footnote: in fact, its exploration of working class strife and religious fanaticism feels more relevant today than it ever did.

The first installment in a loose trilogy that includes 1967’s Entranced Earth and 1969’s Antonio das Mortes, Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil nonetheless stands alone as a benchmark for the difference between polemic and propaganda. If Rocha’s Italian contemporaries Sergio Corbucci and Damiano Damiani devised the Zapata western to turn the traditional western inside out—critiquing rather than valorizing imperialism—then Black God, White Devil might be called a Lampião western, after the folk hero of Brazilian social banditry who casts a long shadow over the film. More than allegorizing third-world revolutionary and decolonial struggles, Rocha stages a mythmaking intervention into Brazilian history.

As its English title suggests, Black God, White Devil is a film of two halves, each of which slots into a separate western subgenre, and could probably satisfy as a film in its own right. Taken as a whole, though, the film incites a...

The first installment in a loose trilogy that includes 1967’s Entranced Earth and 1969’s Antonio das Mortes, Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil nonetheless stands alone as a benchmark for the difference between polemic and propaganda. If Rocha’s Italian contemporaries Sergio Corbucci and Damiano Damiani devised the Zapata western to turn the traditional western inside out—critiquing rather than valorizing imperialism—then Black God, White Devil might be called a Lampião western, after the folk hero of Brazilian social banditry who casts a long shadow over the film. More than allegorizing third-world revolutionary and decolonial struggles, Rocha stages a mythmaking intervention into Brazilian history.

As its English title suggests, Black God, White Devil is a film of two halves, each of which slots into a separate western subgenre, and could probably satisfy as a film in its own right. Taken as a whole, though, the film incites a...

"I'm condemned, but I have courage." Janus Films has revealed a new official trailer for the 4K restoration and re-release of this Brazilian "Cinema Novo" classic titled Black God, White Devil, made by Glauber Rocha. This originally opened in 1964, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival before playing in Brazil in the 60s. The film is an account of the adventures of hired gunman Antonio das Mortes (played by Maurício do Valle), set against the real life last days of rural banditism. He witnesses the descent of the rural worker Manuel (starring Geraldo Del Rey) drifting to a life of crime, joining the gang of Antonio's sworn enemy, Corisco the Blond Devil (Othon Bastos), leading to the Pedra Bonita Massacre. "Steeped in history, myth, religion, politics, and suffused with the feverish intensity of the blistering desert, Black God, White Devil is one of the Cinema Novo movement's most uncompromising statements on...

The tough thing about being an intrepid cinephile: you trawl and dig for lesser-known masterpieces of world cinema, watch them on subpar (sometimes sub-subpar) rips, and only five-or-so years later see them get a loving restoration. As is the case with their recent L’amour fou release and Ousmane Sembène retro, Janus are putting out Glauber Rocha’s Cinema Novo masterpiece Black God, White Devil in a 4K restoration that looks so good I can only envy anybody who sees it for the first time like so.

Ahead of its November 17 debut at Film Forum, a new trailer has arrived and, in terms often applicable to Glauber Rocha, “goes super-hard.” His brutal vision of Brazil, seen with the added clarity of Metropoles Productions’ restoration, suggests the ideal for these releases: elucidate a lost classic and herald a new entry in the canon. And if I can make suggestions: The Age of the Earth next,...

“Black God, White Devil” is so not what you’d expect from a director who’d write a manifesto titled “The Aesthetics of Hunger.” That treatise, published shortly after this film was released in 1964, was the 25-year-old Brazilian Glauber Rocha’s plea for a new type of filmmaking that the “Third World” should adopt to expose the exploitation of their countries by the global north. It’s a staple of film studies classes to this day.

“Black God, White Devil,” however, is far from homework. The Brazilian film is a pulsing, anarchic vision that makes it feel like a progenitor to the then-just-nascent Spaghetti Western movement in Italy. This is a different kind of manifesto, one that feels written in bullets, a shoot-’em-up that marries a propulsive plot and extremely memorable characters to its revolutionary politics.

Janus Films has given a 4K restoration to this masterwork, that’ll premiere...

Film at Lincoln Center has announced the cinephile-favorite Revivals section for the 60th New York Film Festival, coming to NYC September 30 through October 16. The program showcases new restorations and preservations of important works from canonical filmmakers.

This year’s selection includes the hard-to-find “The Mother and the Whore” — which cameoed in the form of a poster featured in 2005’s “The Squid and the Whale” and brought the scandalous Jean Eustache some renewed attention. Starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Bernadette Lafont, and Françoise Lebrun, the philosophical love triangle set against the sexual revolution divided Cannes audiences in 1973. Earlier this year, the Les Films du Losange restoration opened the Cannes Classics section. It makes its North American premiere at NYFF.

Many of the significant works featured in the lineup include the world premiere restoration of Claire Denis’ “No Fear No Die”; a new 4K restoration of Glauber Rocha’s incendiary, audience-provoking “Black God, White Devil...

Following Main Slate, Spotlight, and Currents, the 60th New York Film Festival have now unveiled its final film-focused section with Revivals. Featuring brand-new restorations of works by Claire Denis, Pedro Costa, Edward Yang, Jean Eustache, Manoel de Oliveira, Cauleen Smith, Kira Muratova, and more, it’s quite a stellar lineup of lesser-known works by established auteurs as well as long-underseen films by directors deserving of more acclaim.

“The Revivals section continues to look beyond acknowledged and revered classics, and to challenge the conventions of the canon,” said Florence Almozini, Senior Director of Programming at Film at Lincoln Center. “This year’s lineup proves once again that even relatively recent decades are full of potential cinematic discoveries, by showcasing significant works from artists of diverse backgrounds and origins in striking new restorations.”

See the lineup below ahead of the festival, taking place September 30-October 16.

Beirut the Encounter

Borhane Alaouié, 1981, Lebanon, 97m

Arabic with English subtitles

U.

The Cannes Film Festival has set its lineup for this year’s Cannes Classics program, which shines a spotlight on restorations of classic movies and features contemporary documentaries about film. Kicking off the sidebar is Jean Eustache’s controversial film The Mother and the Whore, the 1973 Cannes Grand Prize winner which incited riots at the time. Also included in the program are films by Vittorio de Sica (Sciuscià), Satyajit Ray (The Adversary), Orson Welles (The Trial) and Martin Scorsese (The Last Waltz), as well as a new 4K master of Singin’ in the Rain to mark the movie’s 70th anniversary.

Among the documentaries is Ethan Hawke’s study of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, The Last Movie Stars. Executive produced by Scorsese, it features Karen Allen, George Clooney, Oscar Isaac, Latanya Richardson Jackson, Zoe Kazan, Laura Linney and Sam Rockwell among others in an exploration of the iconic couple and American cinema.

This year’s line-up will also celebrate classics such as Singin’ In The Rain and Indian director Satyajit Ray’s 1970 work The Adversary.

Late French filmmaker Jean Eustache’s recently restored cult 1973 drama The Mother And The Whore will open Cannes Classics this year, the line-up for which was announced on Monday (May 2).

Other highlights include two episodes of the series The Last Movie Stars directed by Ethan Hawke about Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman; a screening of Singin’ In The Rain to coincide with the 70th anniversary of its release and a restored 4K version of Vittorio de Sica’s 1946 work Sciuscià.

The 3rd annual Migrating Forms is set to run on May 20-29 at the Anthology Film Archives with yet another stunning lineup of current and classic experimental and avant-garde films and videos.

New work includes the U.S. premiere of Melanie Gilligan’s experimental sci-fi feature Popular Unrest for the fest’s Opening Night event. Then, throughout the fest, will be Jacqueline Goss‘ meteorology meditation The Observers, Liu Jiayin’s two-part family drama Oxhide and Oxhide II, Madison Brookshire’s light processing experimentation Color Series, Oliver Laxe’s meta-documentary You Are All Captains for the Closing Night event, and more.

New short works in the group programs include films and videos by Adele Horne, Andrew Lampert, Kevin Jerome Everson, Shana Moulton, Fern Silva, Olga Chernysheva, Dani Leventhal and more.

Classic retrospectives include Brazilian films by Glauber Rocha and French films written by Georges Perec. Electric Arts Intermix presents little-seen personal videos by L.

Migrating Forms has just revealed the full program for its third edition, running May 20 through 29 at Anthology Film Archives in New York. And it's pretty impressive, so we're going to go the quickest route here and reproduce the release below the jump.

Special Events

Georges Perec Double Bill

Serie Noire Dir Alain Corneau (1979)

Georges Perec wrote dialogue made up almost entirely of cliches and aphorisms for this adaptation of Jim Thompson's A Hell of a Woman. "The only Thompson adaptation to truly express the author's deeply personal darkness." - Moving Image Source

Un homme qui dort (The Man Who Slept) Dir. Georges Perec and Bernard Queysanne (1974)

Adapted from Georges Perec's novel of the same name. Structured as a filmic sestina, Perec and Queysanne reimagine the framework of the novel while maintaining much of the original narration (read by Shelly Duvall in the English version!).

The Art of the...

Update: Check out the full 2011 Migrating Forms lineup here!

The 3rd annual Migrating Forms media festival in NYC, which will run on May 20-29, has announced that its opening night film will be Melanie Gilligan’s experimental sci-fi thriller Popular Unrest. Plus, the fest will feature retrospectives of the late Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha and Los Angeles-based Cynthia Maughan; a special North Korean musical program by Jim Finn; videos charting the career of legendary rock band Destroy All Monsters and more.

Inspired by the early films of David Cronenberg and the “forensic porn” found in the CSI TV show franchise, Gilligan has crafted a five-part drama in Popular Unrest that is set in an alternative future where all human social interaction is overseen by a mysterious system known only as “the Spirit.”

In this world, first, a series of bizarre murders take place where the victims are killed in public,...