Rio de Janeiro and the construction of the “Cinema Novo” imaginary

Abstract

“Cinema Novo”, as a political and cultural movement, was the result of a time between the late fifties and the early sixties, and had the city of Rio de Janeiro as its privileged locus. A time of profound changes on the international stage, with the emergence of the so-called third world countries and their affirmation in the political game characteristic of the Cold War. Also, a time of profound transformations on the national scene, with the developmentalist ideology, fed by the Juscelino Kubitschek government and, subsequently, the so-called national-reformism of the João Goulart government, which ended up animating social movements and denouncing the existing contradictions and injustices. in Brazilian society. In these scenarios, young people from the middle class of Rio de Janeiro seek cinema for their form of expression and articulate themselves with a renowned São Paulo filmmaker, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, and a young Bahian filmmaker, Glauber Rocha. This meeting, which takes place in the city of Rio de Janeiro, produced the most important cultural movement in the Brazilian cinematographic area, with productions that revolutionized cinematographic aesthetics and narrative and marked its place in international cinematography.