RIP Hector Babenco, my favourite South American film director (Pixote, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Carandiru). I was lucky enough to hear him talk in the London Film Festival when he presented Carandiru in 2003. Most people – including myself – first came across Brazilian cinema with the 1981 film Pixote, a Cannes Festival stunner. […]
On the trail of Chatwin in Gaiman, Patagonia
“Of course people remember Chatwin,” says Waldo. “He was always in shorts. We had never seen a grown man in shorts before.” Waldo Williams is the Director of Tourism in Gaiman and, like most people in this part of Patagonia’s Chubut province, he’s a descendant of the old Welsh families who settled here in 1865. […]
Chapada Diamantina: Brazil’s adventure playground
Chapada Diamantina (Diamond Highlands), six hours out of Salvador, is one of Brazil’s most easily accessible National Parks and is quickly becoming a place not just to visit but to invest. There are three different biomes that meet here: Atlantic Rainforest, cerrado and caatinga. From the small village of Lençóis at the entrance to the […]