Mapping the (re)emergence of Black Cinema in Brazil: "Bróder" (2010) and "Branco sai, preto fica" (2014)

• In Event: Engaging Cinematic Turns in Brazil

Abstract

This paper considers the films Bróder (De, 2010) and Branco sai, preto fica (Queirós, 2014) to reflect on the (re)emergence of Black Cinema in Brazil. Contemporary Brazilian cinema evidences an increasing number of works featuring black protagonists and black directors. However, Black Brazilian Cinema is not a new phenomenon. In mapping contemporary Black Cinema in Brazil, I reference its historic roots but emphasize factors (i.e., film festivals, access to training, cultural policies) that have resulted in a shift in the regimes of visibility in Brazil since the late 1990s. Notably, director Jefferson De authored a manifesto that called for an explicitly Black Brazilian Cinema in 2001. While De defines Black Cinema prescriptively, others emphasize thinking more broadly about how a work is anchored in a given ethnicity, experience, memory and place of the black subject. To that end, I examine how the films Bróder and Branco sai, preto fica contribute to a contemporary understanding of Black Cinema in Brazil. Both films feature black protagonists and reflect on the Afro-Brazilian experience, but the different subject positions of the directors demand considering the parameters defining Black Cinema in Brazil. Among the questions I ask of these films to help map contemporary Black Cinema in Brazil: What are the historic and geographic reference points for Black Cinema in Brazil? How do the films reflect on blackness (negritude) in Brazil? How do they negotiate representation and participation of black talent? And, how do the films resignify the black male body outside stereotypes?

Author

• Leslie L Marsh, Georgia State University