Rio Babilonia

A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.

The relationship among three friendly couples turns upside down when two of the men get a job on TV. Their girlfriends leave them, looking for more action in their lives.

The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills their lonely nights by spinning romantic fantasies drawn from memories of old movies.

The Narrator tells us how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before TV. In the New York City of the late 1930s to the New Year's Eve 1944, this coming-of-age tale mixes the narrator's experiences with contemporary anecdotes and urban legends of the radio stars.

Cropped hair, a rosemary branch behind the ear, yellow shirt of shiny satin, he's behind the wheel of his car when passing by a woman who walks by the roadside. Strongly painted lips, printed dress with round skirt and red shoes matching the color of the lipstick, she catches his attention. He gives her a ride, the two of them stare in silence for a few moments. They introduce themselves to one another and between the two establishes an absurd dialogue and full of metaphors. And they are driving around in corners of Rio de Janeiro, to the sound of Noel Rosa and Lamartine Babo. Eva and Antena, she a seer, he, an assassin on the run, initiate an unusual case of love, a marginal love, where boredom often gives way to tragedy, creating the agony of a holiday spent in an abyss.

Solange is a recently married young woman whose wedding night did not end well. After constant fights with her husband, she decides to live through her sexual frustration by sleeping with strangers she picks up on crowded buses in Rio de Janeiro.

10-year-old Pixote endures torture, degradation, and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of its members are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old trans hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape and they start to make their living by a life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.

Powerful and insatiable millionaire hides in his own private island for the weekend, in search of answers for his feeling of personal dissatisfaction. But he is not alone on the beautiful beach: he's surrounded by the women he cares for, especially his daughter, for whom he nurtures an almost incestuous desire.

When Cunda, a man living deep in the Brazilian rainforest, is bitten by a snake, he has a hallucination of four chimpanzees. Once he recovers, he is shocked to find the four chimpanzees waiting for him at home, and, believing them to be special, decides to take them to the city in order to sell them.

Ariella, a lonely young woman, feels like a stranger in her own house. Ariella is discovering her sexuality and her arrogant mother Helena, her father Rodrigo and her brothers Clécio and Alfonso do not give any love or affection to her. One day Ariella discovers the secret of her despair and plots to take her revenge.

Based on true events, the film tells the story of Brazilian outlaw Promessinha, one of the most famous and feared criminals of his time, depicting his crimes and cruelty, until his death confronting the police.

Eldorado, a fictitious country in America, is sparkling with the internal struggle for political power. In the eye of this social convulsion, the jaded journalist Paulo Martins opposes two equally corrupt political candidates: a pseudopopulist and a conservative. In this context, Paulo is torn between the madness of the elite and the blind submission of the masses. But, in this complex tropical reality, nothing really is what it seems to be.

Cora is a Mexican prostitute with typically inconsiderate johns. She is troubled by a hole in the ceiling. The hole triggers flashbacks regarding how she got to where she is; she hooked up with a gringo and got involved in digging a well. A horse thief given up for dead gives them a hand.

A group of armed soldiers is sent to the Northeast of Brazil in an attempt to stop a famine-struck population from invading and stealing a food deposit in the dry backlands. While the alienation and insanity of people driven to hallucination by their latent hunger is conducted by the predictions of a religious figure, a truck driver observes the situation and remains torn between his friendship with the soldiers and his revolt against the lack of government action in fighting the misery that lingers over the region.

Angie, a young Brazilian artist, abandons her old life and embarks on a journey around the country. Running from her past, and searching for her foundation in life, Angie finds not only herself but love in its many forms.

A young woman who is getting back on her feet after a mental breakdown, Carol Rivers discovers that her late uncle has left her a rundown nightclub. Carol decides to renovate the venue, but, in the process, uncovers dark secrets about the club and her dead relative. After a series of disturbing events, Carol becomes increasingly unstable, but she finds some measure of comfort in Sharpe, an enigmatic older detective.

After arguing with his ex-girlfriend, truck driver Jorge hits the road again, while remembering the past and questioning his friendship with his manipulative boss.

Milionário and José Rico are robbed of their money and their fans' enthusiasm. But a female truck driver is out to help them.

Born and raised in the misery of Brazilian slums, Jorge becomes a luxury house burglar in São Paulo and gets nicknamed "The Red Light Bandit" by the sensationalist press. In addition to wearing a red flashlight, he talks to his hostages in an irreverent tone and makes bold breakthroughs to later spend the money extravagantly. His world is the decadent neighbourhood of Boca do Lixo.

Zionists hire a hitman to kill a Nazi war criminal exiled in a Latin American country, where he's being protected by the local dictator. Get ready for gunshots; sex scenes; strange form of tortures; a cocaine-addict priest who helps the dictatorship; contemptous remarks and behavior from the main "hero"; amusing sequences of Chuchu having fun with beautiful women pretending to be James Bond; and the wimp colonel who is in love with a male prostitute. It's all good and fun to watch but remember that this is a product of its era, so it's quite possible to see some objectionable things. But for the most part it's never crass or insanely offensive.

A biography of spiritual medium and author Francisco Candido Xavier.

A man explores the process of formation of sexuality and is looking for a woman that does not exist.

When a large corporation threatens to take over a small town's primary business and put half of the town's population out of work, sawmill owner Logan Reeser is the only one who can stand in their way.

The story of painter and philosopher Ismael Nery and his wife, writer, poet, and journalist Adalgisa Nery, focusing on their marriage and her relationship with Murilo Mendes.

In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the work of two young priests.

Arne Sucksdorff’s drama follows four homeless children—Jorginho, Rico, Lici, and Paulinho—struggling to survive in the Rio de Janeiro slums. They shine shoes, scavenge food, and pickpocket while dreaming of escape from the streets. When Rico, once escaped from a brutal institution in Caxambu, falls ill, he chooses to return there rather than die outside. A somber portrait of poverty and resilience, the film was selected for the 1965 Cannes Film Festival.

Biography of a Brazilian dancer who lived on an island and practiced nudism when it was forbidden by law.

Sônia and her homosexual brother are both believed by their mother to be possessed by the devil. She works as a prostitute in the streets of Copacabana and he’s a servant who falls madly in love with his employer.

The difficult, dangerous, and selfless work of an expedition that set out for the harsh and deserted Plaza Wincul Valley in search of oil.

A three-episode anthology film based on short stories by Brazilian writer Graciliano Ramos.

Born a fully grown black man in a village in the Brazilian jungle, Macunaíma later magically transforms into a white man before making an adventure-filled trip to the city of São Paulo. Once there, he becomes something of a dandy, falling in love with Ci, a revolutionary who dies in an accidental bombing. After robbing a ruthless industrialist, Macunaima returns to his village where he finds his newly acquired knowledge and possessions of little use.

In the 17th century, to guarantee the possession of the region, disputed with Spanish and Dutch pirates, the Portuguese built a fort at the point where the dark waters of the Rio Negro meet the clear waters of the Rio Solimões, forming the Amazon River. Around the fort, the city of Manaus was born. Alli lived the Manaús Indians, warriors who worshiped Manari, the Good, and from him they received the order to fight all the invaders of the forest.

Molly, Val and Gina are graduating college, but on their final night, frustrations are aired. Molly is still looking for real love and Val is beginning to doubt if that is what she has found. Gina is too busy videotaping everything to really notice. When the final party at Pacifica College kicks off, things do not go exactly as planned.

The trajectory and artistic imagery of actor and director Zbigniew Ziembinski (1908-1978), precursor of modern theater in Latin America and master of generations of Brazilian actors. The polyphonic montage builds on vast unpublished material, covering half a century of performances, teletheaters and interviews by Zimba, as he was known – before and after fleeing Poland, on the eve of the invasion of Warsaw – and recreates fragments of Wedding Dress , a play by Nelson Rodrigues which the Polish-Brazilian director won a revolutionary montage in 1943.

In Esdras Baptista's film archives, kept at his home for decades, one can feel the fervor of those who believed in a new tomorrow. Filmed in Brazil in the early 1960s, in the heat of a libertarian political movement, the filmmaker's images materialize the incandescence of collective desires at the historic moment of their emergence. Utopia, though unattainable, is never a mere abstraction. A force that mobilizes actions and feelings, it constitutes the impetus necessary for human existence.

Bonga, his three friends and his girlfriend Loló care for abandoned children in a cave on the outskirts of a city. One day, Pedrinho runs away from home and goes to live in the cave. His father, a powerful industrial, offers a reward to anyone who brings the child back.

In Minas Gerais, the powerful "colonel" Alexandrão gets married with the young and virgin Cristina and promotes a huge wedding party in his farm. He eats and drinks a lot along the day, but in his "first night" with the bride, he dies before consummating his marriage. The marital status of Cristina becomes very unusual, being a virgin widow. Her doctor advises her to travel to Rio de Janeiro to rest, and she moves with her aunt to an inherited apartment in Leme. Once in Rio de Janeiro, the rascal Constantino, who is aware of her wealth, courts her and borrows money, clothes and a Mercedes Benz from his friends, pretending he is businessman man. His friends release "stocks" in a parallel stock market, based and supported in the expectation of the possible marriage of Constantino with Cristina. However, the ghost of Coronel Alexandrão appears for her whenever she intends to have sex with Constantino.

"Portraits and excerpts from Brazilian films from all times. Actors, directors and images that affirm cinema."