Memory – 1990

In Brazil, the copies of films could be exhibited for five years, then they were destroyed. A factory in São Paulo used this copies as raw material for making brooms.

After 25 years away from public life, Jânio Quadros was elected, again, mayor of São Paulo. 1989 was a decisive year for Brazil: the first presidential election in three decades. Some candidates are well-known. But no one remembers what happened last time.

Credits:
Directed by: Roberto Henkin
Producer: Luciana Tomasi
Screenplay: Roberto Henkin e Jorge Furtado
Cinematography: Christian Lesage
Art Direction: Fiapo Barth
Soundtrack: Leo Henkin
Production Director: Nora Goulart
Editing: Giba Assis Brasil
Cast:
João Batista Diemer (Narração) Maria Verbena de Souza (Depoimento)
Awards
Award
2nd Prêmio Iecine Governo do Estado/RS (Brazil, 1989) Production Support
Award
18º Festival de Gramado (Brazil, 1990) Best Short Film Screenplay
Award
23º Festival de Brasília (Brazil, 1990) Best Short Film (Prizes from Official Jury and Popular Jury) and Best Editing
Award
13th Jornada de Cinema e Video do Maranhão (Brazil, 1990) Highlight of the Jury (selected among the 4 best films), Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Honorable Mention of the CNC Jury and Honorable Mention of the OCIC Jury
Award
19th Ibero-American Festival of Huesca (Spain, 1991) Best Short Film and Best Film of 1991 according to the Aragonese Federation of Movieclubs

Memory is part of an unexplored kind of cinema: the essay film, which combinesdocumentary and fiction. (…) The scene of the blind female worker who describes her sensations in front of a movie being projected suggests a cross between two German masters: Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog from the documentary ‘In the Land of Silence and Darkness’.”
(Sérgio Bazzi, JORNAL DE BRASÍLIA, 10/12/1990)

Memory is, like ‘Ilha das Flores’, an original and creative film in its construction and that also has great political force. (…) One can consider Memory, in its form, the first Brazilian film whose message opposes president Collor and his political project.”
(Aramis Millarch, O ESTADO DO PARANÁ, 10/21/1990)

“The absolute highlight (…) is Memory, directed by Roberto Henkin. (…) Made just before Fernando Collor de Mello’s assumed the presidency of Brazil, the documentary focuses on a blind woman who loves cinema and, paradoxically, works in a factory that turns old movies into brooms. At the same time, he rehearses a reflection on the symbol of the broom of Jânio Quadros with the speech of the ‘Maharaj Hunter’ Collor. This is a testimony of Brazilian cinema to the government that tried to destroy it.”
(Hugo Sukman, O GLOBO, 08/26/1999)

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