Samba

Colour, 35mm
Brasilia, 2001, 54 min
Section: New Brazilian Documentary

Synopsis

The samba is an integral part of life for the inhabitants of Mangueira in Rio de Janeiro. Children learn the dance from an early age at home and in school. The best and most persevering of them become professional dancers. The samba helps overcome everyday worries and, for many Rio inhabitants, it’s a way of life. This engaging documentary film captures only fragments of the carnival samba performed for foreign tourists, and focuses chiefly on the spontaneous dance of ordinary Brazilians. It also confronts the traditional and so-called “new” samba. The film proves that brilliant dance moves are no problem even for the oldest members of the Rio community.

About the director

Thereza Jessouroun was introduced to documentary direction by Eduardo Coutinho. During the last ten years she worked on Brazilian series and documentaries for foreign TV companies (BBC, ZDF, Channel 4, Discovery, National Geographic). Her first documentary film The Soul of Woman from 1998 describes the life of transvestites in Rio de Janeiro and was awarded at many international festivals.