13 February 2015, 19:00, Birkbeck Cinema

This second prelude to the Essay Film Festival 2015 focused on the essay film in contemporary Brazilian cinema. Filmmaker and academic Consuelo Lins (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) discussed her work, and showed examples of her films, in conversation with Cecilia Sayad (University of Kent), the author of Performing Authorship (2013), a study of first-person filmmaking and the essay film.

Films: Nannies [Babás], Consuelo Lins, Brazil, 2010, digital, 20 minutes, Brazilian with English subtitles
Consuelo Lins’s Nannies combines autobiographical elements with a reflection on the presence of nannies in the daily life of countless Brazilian families, approaching a subject quite rare in contemporary audio-visual productions. The movie ponders upon a typically Brazilian situation, in which affective bonds are genuine but incapable of dissolving layers of oppression – thus echoing some aspects of Brazil’s historical past, namely the period of black slavery. With a subjective narration, the film incorporates photographs, domestic footage and newspaper advertisements from the 20th century, as well as contemporary images of nannies and children shot in the beaches and parks of Rio de Janeiro. Nannies has been shown at festivals in Leipzig, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, and New Orleans.

Readings [Leituras], Consuelo Lins, France, 2005, digital, 6 minutes, Brazilian with English subtitles
In this film Lins portrays anonymous readers on the trains and subways of Paris. Readings has been shown at the Belo Horizonte film festival.

Seams [Costuras], Karim Ainouz, Brazil, 1993, digital, 29 minutes, Brazilian with English subtitles
The film blends archival footage set in the Brazil of 1940s-1960s with the filmmaker’s conversations with his grandmother and great-aunts. From this material, Ainouz reflects on the Brazilian “macho” culture through the experience of having been raised exclusively by women. The conversations explore the women’s attitudes to work, to men, and to sexuality. Karim Aïnouz is a film director and a visual artist. His film Seams received the Vito Russo Award of the New Festival in New York. His most recent feature, Praia do futuro, was premiered at the 64th Berlinale Competition in 2014.