Brazilian documentary and film on issues of race in Brazil at UF

February 19, 2007

Gainesville, Fla. — Film director Joel Zito Araújo will be on the University of Florida campus Feb. 20 and 21 to screen his feature film, “Daughters of the Wind,” and his documentary, “Denying Brazil.” Both works address issues of race in Brazil and have garnered multiple awards.

In “Daughters of the Wind,” Araújo assembles the largest cast of black actors in the history of Brazilian film in a complex and universal treatment of love, deception, resentment and redemption between sisters, mothers and daughters. The film weaves together the life dramas of the female protagonists, starting at a funeral in the present and traversing back and forth between contemporary time and the 1960s and ’70s. Touching on themes universally pertinent to women and people of color, the film effectively plays them out in the social context of the Brazilian outback, where the ghosts of sexism and racism linger. “Daughters of the Wind” will be shown at 8 p.m., Feb. 20, in the Reitz Student Union Auditorium.

“Denying Brazil” debunks the myth of the existence of “racial democracy,” or a color-blind society, in Brazil by examining the representation of Afro-Brazilians in the media, particularly in the popular telenovela genre. The documentary is inspired by Araújo’s book “A Negação do Brasil: o Negro na Telenovela Brasileira,” a work based on his doctoral dissertation in the Communication and Arts School at the University of Sao Paulo. “Denying Brazil” will be shown at 4 p.m., Feb. 21, at Samuel P. Museum of Art.

A question and answer session with the director will follow each screenings. Both events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit the Web at www.latam.ufl.edu/outreach/outreachinfo.html or contact Mary Risner at mrisner@latam.ufl.edu

These events are sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, the UF International Center, the Institute of Hispanic Cultures and the Brazilian-Portuguese Club.