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Brazilian Film Featured in the Human Rights Watch's International Film Festival
Thanks to promotional funding from BrazilFoundation, the documentary film Justice, directed by Maria Ramos, was screened in June in New York at the International Film Festival presented by Human Rights Watch, a NGO dedicated to the defense of human rights. The film deals with the stark reality of the Brazilian judicial system by taking the viewer inside the minds of employees and defendants who work and are processed in the criminal court in Rio de Janeiro.
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Scene from the film Justice.
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Ramos recently took part in a round table discussion organized by BrazilFoundation in the auditorium of CUNY, in New York City, where she spoke about her film. Justice was made in Holland where Maria Ramos lives. The complex contradictions of the Brazilian judicial system are revealed in powerfully filmed scenes. Ramos explained that at first she had thought of limiting her scope to courtroom scenes, but, as her thought process evolved, she felt compelled to go beyond the court and film the daily routines of the characters who are on stage in the Brazilian judicial system.
The Brazilian director discussed the difficulty of showing what really happens. "It is impossible to cover all of the locales and points of view and, at the same time, show the public what their own reality is," Ramos said.
The filmmaker also spoke of the techniques she used in her film. She chose to use no music but to rely on natural background noise so as not to color the reality she was documenting. She was also careful to hold her camera still so as not to diminish the starkness of the events filmed. Her characters do not introduce themselves; the viewer gets to know them through the action itself.
Ramos concluded her talk by saying that "the more you know about the problems of the Brazilian judicial system, the more complex they become." She is now back in Brazil to film her next documentary on justice and children who commit crimes.
For more information please visit http://www.selfmadefilms.nl/eng/indexeng.htm
The Author of Mercado Cultural Speaks in New York
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Ana Lucia Giannini Canton and Leonardo Brant.
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On June 7 at its offices in New York City, BrazilFoundation organized a talk by Leandro Brant on the role played by culture in the development of citizenship (civic empowerment). Brant is a consultant, researcher, and managing partner in Brant Associados, a boutique in Rio de Janeiro dedicated to political culture, business ethics, and corporate citizenship. He is the editor of the book Politicas Culturais (Political Culture) and author of Mercado Cultural (Cultural Market), which reflects on government incentive laws in Brazil, and proposes changes to make them more effective.
In this get-together, part of the series of talks organized by BrazilFoundation under the banner Ideas that Transform Brazil, Brant shared the experiences he acquired working on cultural planning for corporations and on partnerships with entities of the Brazilian government.
Brant Associados works as an incubator for projects of the Instituto Pensarte, where Brant is the founding director, as well as for the Arte Cidadania (Citizenship and Art) program of the Instituto Gtech. In Citizenship and Art children are placed in a computer workshop where they learn how to use the machine to produce art works. According to Brant, this access to art introduces the concept of citizenship to a segment of the population which very often is unaware of their civic rights and responsibilities.
For more information please visit these websites: www.institutopensarte.org.br and www.brant.com.br.
HSBC Finances Two Projects Through BrazilFoundation
HSBC, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, financed two projects pre-selected by BrazilFoundation in 2005. These donations result from a partnership under which HSBC Investments-Brazil, an asset management division that will donate to BrazilFoundation a portion of the commissions earned from its management of an offshore mutual fund that invests in shares of Brazilian companies.
The first project chosen by HSBC is the creation of Centros Educacionais Rurais para Acesso a Universidade (Rural Education Centers for Access to Universities) in partnership with Instituto Coração de Estudante (Heart of the Student Institute) which is headquartered in Pentecoste, in the interior of the State of Ceara. The second is a project created by Comunidade Núcleo de Amigos de Natércia (Group of Friends of Natercia Community) which aims to reduce the use of harmful agro-chemicals by farmers in Natércia, in the south of the state of Minas Gerais.
These two projects will receive financial support for one year. BrazilFoundation is providing technical support and will monitor and evaluate the results of the programs. The foundation believes that this new partnership with HSBC will bring about advances in the areas of education and environmental protection which are fundamental to the development of the country.
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