PRT 3391/ENG 4135 (sec. 003A/1362) Brazilian Cinema
Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies (SPS), University of Florida
Spring 2013 MWF 7th Period, 1:55 TUR 2334
Wed: Screening E1-3 7:20- TUR 2334
Instructor: Dr. M. Elizabeth Ginway
Office: 149 Dauer Hall, tel. 273-3745
Office Hours 4-5 pm Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and by appointment
E-mail: eginway@ufl.edu
SPS Website: http://www.spanishandportuguese.ufl.edu
Description This class is designed to illustrate the effects of modernization on Brazilian
society during the period of the military dictatorship (1964-1985) through film from
Cinema Novo to the New Brazilian Cinema. Students will learn how to analyze a film
through its esthetic and ideological content. The course will be centered on the
comparison of the sertão (rural backlands) and favela (urban ghetto) settings from 1959present--from the political to the postmodern. Readings and discussions will reinforce the
social and political forces at work in Brazil as it undergoes its modern metamorphosis in
the second half of the twentieth century into the era of globalization.
Materials in English, Four Credits, Readings, written work, and discussion in English
(Credit given for the Portuguese majors/minors with exams and papers written in
Portuguese)
Required Materials:
Johnson, Randal and Robert Stam. Brazilian Cinema, 2nd edition. New York: Columbia
UP, 1995.
Nagib, Lúcia. The New Brazilian Cinema. London: Tauris, 2003.
Online readings, some found on Sakai.
Recommended:
Stam, Robert. Tropical Multiculturalism: a Comparative History of Race in Brazilian
Cinema and Culture. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1997.
Goals for students:
 Analyze films in order to understand their symbols, themes and cultural criticism
 Gain an overview of Brazilian film production 1960 to the present
 Hone analytic and writing skills in English or Portuguese

Write persuasive essays about Brazilian film, showing sensitivity to its cultural
context
Requirements:
 Reading the material before class, bringing notes to class or the relevant article
highlighted or underlined; accessing material on Sakai 5%
 Attending class and films 10%
 Active participation in class and group discussions 10%
 Writing and revising 5 short reaction papers (1-page) 35%
 Taking 2 tests and final exam 30%
 Presenting topic or theme in pairs or in a group of 3 10%
Expectations and demeanor
•Your willingness to participate actively in all class activities
•Your cooperation during group and pair work
•Your respect and attitude toward the class and your peers
•Your preparation for each class.
Attendance and Absence Policies. Five absences will be allowed for any reason. Do not
bring written excuses. After the fifth absence two points per absence will be deducted from your
CLASS PARTICIPATION grade. (I.e., If you miss 6 class sessions, your final participation
grade can only be a maximum of 8 points.). If you must miss exams for official business, an
exam can be made up after or taken before the scheduled date, but the questions will be different
from that given in class.
Grade Scale
The final grade scale is as follows:
A = 100-93
A- = 92-90
B+ = 89-87
B = 86-83
B- = 82-80
C+ = 79-77
C(S) = 76-73
C-(U) = 72-70
D+ = 69-67
D = 66-63
D- = 62-60
E = 59-0
For writing the reaction papers:
1) Buy or obtain a paper or plastic loose-leaf folder and put your name on the cover. If
not so submitted, I will not accept it and you will be penalized for a late grade
2) Attend the film screening, take notes, planning to turn in the reaction within a week of
the screening
3) Write your reaction/interpretation of the film, including title, year and director
4) Find a hole puncher (there is one in Dauer 170, if you cannot locate one), punch holes
in the paper and place your paper in the loose-leaf folder
4) Turn in the reaction paper on the due date or lose five points off that assignment grade
5) Papers turns in on time may be re-written to raise the assignment grade 1-5 pts
Working in pairs and groups for presentations:
1) do the assigned reading
2) do extra research, using film clips and other resources
3) bring an outline as a handout or use a Power Point to be posted on Sakai afterwards
4) Cite your sources on the last slide or handout
5) Include a set of questions to ask the class for discussion in smaller groups
BC=Brazilian Cinema, Johnson and Stam
Nagib=The New Brazilian Cinema
Other readings online or through Sakai
X5= Cinema novo X5, Randal Johnson
Dates
Week 1
Jan
M 7
T
W 9
R
F 11
Week 2
M 14
T
New Cinema and Cinema Novo: Screening O Primeiro Dia/Midnight (1999) 7:20
Introduction: Brazilian Film Sensibility Isle of Flowers (1988) Jorge Furtado
Cinema novo, political cinema, chanchada
READ before
class
Syllabus
O primeiro dia [Midnight] (1999) dir. Walter Salles
Nagib 157-174
Johnson and Stam, “The Shape of Brazilian Film History”
Clips from “O homem do Spunik” (1959) Chanchada
ASSIGN PRESENTATIONS
Cinema novo Screening Vidas Secas/ Barren Lives (1962)
Presentation 1 Cinema novo ___________________________
[BC] 17-29
BC 30-50
BC 120-28; BC
64-70
W 16
R
F 18
Week 3
M 21
T
W 23
R
F 25
Week 4
M 28
T
W 30
R
Feb. F 1
Week 5
“Cinema of Hunger” Vidas secas/Barren Lives
Cinema Novo; Diegues; “Esthetics of Hunger” Glauber Rocha
Cinema novo thriller O quinto poder: The Fifth Power (1962)
MLK
Sadlier 1-18
Reaction 1
“Turn off the Gringo Machine” Alfredo Suppia on The Fifth Power
Sakai 158-164
1964 and Brazilian Military Regime and Modernization: internet research, notes
Glauber Rocha: Deus e o diabo na terra do sol/Black God, White Devil (1964)
Presentation 2 Films of Glauber Rocha, Brecht and Music ___________________
Reaction 2
Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol/Black God White Devil
BC: 134-148
Color, Antônio das Mortes (clips)
Tropicalism Macunaíma (1969)
BC: 290-305
BC: 169-177
Reaction 3
M 4
T
W 6
R
F 8
Week 6
Presentation 3 Macunaíma, Modernism and Development _____________________
Cannibalism and Self-Cannibalism/ Macunaíma; Review
Test 1
Embrafilme Nationalization Bye bye Brazil (1980)
Presentation 4 Xica da Silva, Dona Flor: Box office hits; Johnson Cinema novo X5
75-81; New Brazilian Cinema 180; __________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dona_Flor_and_Her_Two_Husbands
M 11
T
W 13
R
Road film Bye Bye Brazil Johnson, Cinema novo X 5 83-90
F 15
Week 7
Discussion: Brazilian dictatorship, pornochanchada; Embrafilme vs. Cinema novo
Dictatorship and the Crisis of Development Pixote (1981)
Presentation 5 Urbanization, abandoned children and economic development
Jubilee Action-PDF; state crime, esquadrões de morte [death squads]
__________________________________________
M 18
T
Johnson 13-46
CNX 5 Sakai
BC: 178-190
BC 98-104;
216-223
BC: 419-423;
X5 83-90 Sakai
React. 4
Sakai, Internet
Pixote, “Abertura/ Naturalism” Brazilian Cinema, 412-428
W 20
R
Mar F 22
Week 8
M 25
T
W 27
BC 412-428
Levine “Pixote’s Fate” The Brazil Reader, 423-429 Sakai
New Brazilian Cinema Terra Estrangeira/Foreign Land (1995)
Presentation 6 A New Policy for Brazilian Cinema: New audiovisual law
__________________________________________
Reaction 5
Terra estrangeira/Foreign Land URL: http://www.gla.ac.uk/esharp
Online
The Cinema of Latin America, chapter “Terra estrangeira”
by Alberto Elena, Marina Diaz Lopez
SPRING VACATION
No classes
Sakai
Reaction 6
Nagib, 3-22
R
Mar F 1
Week 9
M4
T
W 6
R
F 8
Week 10
M 11
T
W 13
No classes
No classes
City and Sertão Central do Brasil/Central Station (1998)
Presentation 7 _________________________________The films of Walter Salles,
“Leaving Home in Three Films by Walter Salles” Darlene J. Sadlier
Sakai
Ivana Bentes, “Sertão and Favela” Central do Brasil/Central Station (1998)
Nagib, 121-137
R
F 15
Week 11
M 18
T
W 20
R
F 22
Week 12
M 25
T
W 27
R
F 29
Week 13
April
M 1
T
W3
R
F4
Week 14
M8
T
W 10
R
F 12
Week 15
M 15
Test 2
ICFA Notícias de uma Guerra Particular/ News from a Private War (1999)
Presentation 7 __________________________________________ Drug wars,
Favela Janice Perlman, the myth of marginality, and Intro. to Living on the Edge,
Favela Rising (2005), Desmond Arias, Drugs and Democracy
Sakai 1-23
Notícias de uma guerra particular/News from a Private War
(1999) Xavier “Brazilian Cinema in the 1990s”
Nagib 39-63
http://riogringa.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/11/notes-on-news-o.html
What would you add to this review of the film?
Reaction 7
Favela and Cidade de Deus/City of God (2002)
Presentation 8 _________________________________________Ivana Bentes e “A
cosmética da fome” (for Portuguese
speakers)http://revistaepoca.globo.com/Epoca/0,6993,EPT373958-1661,00.html; see
below for English
Online
Cidade de Deus/ City of God Emanuelle Oliveira “The Ethic of the Esthetic”
online
http://ejournals.library.vanderbilt.edu/index.php/lusohispanic/article/view/3218/1421
Lúcia Nagib, “Youth Culture and Consumerism” 157-72
Sertão: Eu tu eles/ Me You Them (2000)
Presentation 9 Dona Flor vs. Eu tu eles, films of Andrucha Waddington
___________________ http://theeveningclass.blogspot.com/2006/04/2006-sfifftheevening-class-interview.html; “Subjective camera in Me, You, Them”
Reaction 8
“ImaginiNation,” José Carlos Avellar, Eu tu eles/Me You Them
Nagib 245-257
Discussion: Sertão, gender roles, multi racial society
Race: Quanto vale por quilo/ How Much per Kilo (2005)
Presentation 10 Stam, Tropical Multiculturalism, selections film and race in Brazil;
Abdias do Nascimento: “The Myth of Racial Democracy,” Levine, 379-381
_____________________________________
Reaction 9
F: "Chronically unfeasible: the political film in a de-politcized world" Sérgio Biachi
Quanto vale por quilo/ How much per kilo?
The Psychiatrist and other stories: “Father vs. Mother,” Machado de Assis
KFLC Genre: Saneamento Básico: o Filme/Basic Sanitation: the Movie (2007)
Science Fiction and Brazilian Cinema: “Ficção científica no cinema brasileiro? Que
bicho é esse?” (Portuguese speakers only) History of SF film in Brazil
Internet search
notes
Sakai
Nagib 86-94
Reaction 10
Suppia, Sakai
http://www.cibercultura.org.br/tikiwiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=57
T
W 16
R
F 18
Week 16
M 22
T
W 24
Saneamento Básico: o Filme/Basic Sanitation: the Movie (2007)
“Metafiction and Science Fiction in the Works of Jorge Furtado”
Jorge Furtado: Barbosa (1988) SF: class, race and modernity; discussion
Review/ Evaluation
Review for final
FINAL EXAM 2B May 2, 10:00-12:00 am
Academic Honesty Guidelines
Academic honesty and integrity are fundamental values of the University community. An academic honesty offense is
defined as the act of lying, cheating, or stealing academic information so that one gains academic advantage. Violations
of the Academic Honesty Guidelines include but are not limited to:

Cheating. The improper taking or tendering of any information or material which shall be used to determine
academic credit. Taking of information includes copying graded homework assignments from another
student; working with another individual(s) on graded assignments or homework;
looking or attempting to look at notes, a text, or another student's paper during an
exam.

Plagiarism. The attempt to represent the work of another as the product of one's own thought, whether the
other's work is oral or written, published or unpublished. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, quoting
oral or written materials without citation on written materials or in oral presentations; submitting work
produced by an on-line translation service or the translation feature of an on-line dictionary as your own.

Misrepresentation. Any act or omission with intent to deceive a teacher for academic advantage.
Misrepresentation includes lying to a teacher to increase your grade; lying or misrepresenting facts when
confronted with an allegation of academic honesty.

Bribery, Conspiracy, Fabrication. For details see website below On all work submitted for credit the
following pledge is either required or implied: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized
aid in doing this assignment.” Violations of this policy will result in disciplinary action according to the
judicial process.

For more details go to: http://www.dso.ufl.edu/judicial/academic.htm.
Educational behavior
Every student in the class is expected to participate in a responsible and mature manner that enhances the educational
process. Any conduct that, in the judgment of the instructor, disrupts the learning process will lead to disciplinary
action.
Confidentiality
Student records are confidential. Only information designated "UF directory information" may be released without your
written consent. Please see University Regulation 6C1-4.007 for a list of the categories of information designated as
"UF directory information." UF views each student as the primary contact for all communication. If your parents
contact me about your grade, attendance, or any information that is not "UF directory information," I will ask them to
contact you. You may 1) provide the information your parents seek directly to them or 2) contact the University
Registrar's Office for additional information. For more information: www.registrar.ufl.edu.ferpahub.html
Students with disabilities
Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office, who will provide
documentation to the student. This documentation must be presented to the Instructor as soon as possible in order to
arrange for the accommodations.
Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grade option
Request the S/U form in Dauer Hall 170. If you take this class S/U, it cannot be counted towards the major or minor.
Minimum grade for an S in the course is 73. For regulations and deadlines consult the Undergraduate Catalog.
Ginway/ Suppia
Drop and withdrawal dates
Consult the current Undergraduate Catalog.