ARTH 20
Brazilian Avant-Garde Film Winter 2025

This course will immerse students in the alternative cinema of Brazil in the 1960s, an explosive cultural and political moment that saw the emergence of radical experimentation across the arts. The crosscurrents of conservatism and countercultures clashed in Brazil in the 1960s. A military dictatorship seized power in 1964 as part of a swell of far-right authoritarianism in Latin America; at the same time, artists, musicians, writers, and filmmakers sought to profoundly challenge aesthetic and social norms. We will focus on key films of what became known as Cinema Novo (New Cinema) and Tropicalism, closely analyzing their innovative aesthetics to understand how the medium became a vehicle for avant-garde experimentation and powerful political critique during this time. We will also place these films in their larger cultural milieu, getting to know artworks, music, and poetry that surrounded these filmmakers, so as to reconstruct key aspects of a period that has remained a cultural touchstone in Brazil and internationally. Films are subtitled, and no previous knowledge of film history or Brazilian history is required, as we will incorporate readings and discussions to establish context.