Brazil film festival delights Beijing and Shanghai

Production team of Latitudes discussing the film with audience at the after-film Q&A section in Beijing. Xiao Lixin / China Daily

The fifth annual Brapeq Brazil Film Festival, which kicked off on Nov 29 in Beijing, has delighted local film lovers and Brazilians living in the city.

During the nine-day long screening event in the two major cities in China – Beijing and Shanghai – the festival is scheduled to present seven full-length and two short films and documentaries with strong reputations within and outside Brazil. The film festival moved to Shanghai Dec 4, and lasted for four days. The Brazil film festival, which began its run in Beijing in 2010, has drawn about 6,000 moviegoers each year.

Shot in eight different countries, this year's opening movie Latitudes tells a modern-day love story, and touches on how the two lovers cope with real life challenges that await them beyond the hotel rooms.

It is the very first trans-media film production in Brazil and was first shown on the Internet. "There are eight different episodes telling the accidental encounter or appointments of the hero and heroine in each destination, with individual trailer and poster for each episode," said Felipe Braga, director of the film.

"The version broadcast on TV is a little different. We got all the rehearsal and script reading shot and present the whole composition process and the latitudes' main characters can have to the public," he added. "The one good thing about a trans-media project is to create more access for the public to actually go and watch the story."

Latitudes debuted in cinemas in February.

Alice Braga, who has a leading role in the film, is known to Chinese audiences because of her involvement in Hollywood blockbusters such as I Am Legend, released in 2007, co-starring with Will Smith. The Brazilian actress first got noticed following her appearance in the critically acclaimed City of God, a film that portrays the harsh realities of life in the slums from an insider's point of view, and presented in a poetic way that according to the actress, "divided" her life before and after the shooting.

The opening film was followed by a 28-minute online episode of Neymar, a documentary featuring Brazil's beloved football star. Directed by Alice Braga herself, the documentary was a web series comprised of several episodes on Neymar's YouTube channel. It shows Neymar's life off the football field.

According to Anamaria Boschi, art director of the film festival, hopefully, apart from promoting the Brazilian culture, the festival can bring more people from the two countries closer. She hopes the festival will especially touch people from Brazil and China who know little about each other but actually share many things in common.

xiaolixin@chinadaily.com.cn