Nelson Pereira dos Santos Discusses Cinema Novo and New Projects at 83

At 83, filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos maintains a rigorous schedule promoting his acclaimed documentary A Música Segundo Tom Jobim, co-directed with Dora Jobim, Tom Jobim's granddaughter. The film, a visual testimony to the maestro's universal work, has spawned a sequel, A Luz do Tom, featuring interviews with three significant women in Jobim's life: his sister Helena, first wife Thereza, and second wife Ana, slated for release in the first half of the year. In an interview, the director of classics like Rio 40 Graus and Vidas Secas reflected on his career and the Brazilian film industry. He discussed his involvement with Cinema Novo in 1963, emphasizing its goal to address the country's social reality and combat prejudice, including the ethnic discussion that challenged the absence of Black characters in Brazilian cinema. He cited influences from Italian Neorealism and Luis Buñuel, contrasting with the French New Wave impact on peers like Leon Hirszman and Glauber Rocha. Pereira dos Santos also commented on the aesthetic advances of Cinema Marginal, the state-subsidized industry via Embrafilme in the 1970s and 1980s, and its subsequent challenges. He addressed cultural prejudice, referencing his film Estrada da Vida about the duo Milionário e José Rico, and his belief in cinema as an autonomous art where content and form are inseparable. Looking ahead, he plans to start filming a new fictional project this year dedicated to Emperor D. Pedro II.