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. […]
Photo Essay: Brazilians
As you may have heard many times, much of the joy of travelling in Brazil is meeting the Brazilians. As I say in my book: Brazil’s strength lies in its people and not in institutions that have been imposed, modified and mutated over the centuries to serve an elite; the ruling classes have failed the […]