Tiradentes Film Festival opens Brazilian audiovisual calendar
The Tiradentes Film Festival, a cornerstone of the Brazilian audiovisual calendar, is set to commence in the historic city of Tiradentes, located in the state of Minas Gerais. With an estimated 35,000 attendees anticipated over the course of the event, this festival promises to captivate film enthusiasts from across the nation, transforming the city and exceeding its resident population almost fivefold.
Scheduled annually at the end of January, this year marks the 27th edition of the festival, organized by Universo Produção since its beginning in 1998. The festival kicks off on the evening of January 19 and runs through January 27, featuring a diverse program including film screenings, artistic performances, workshops, and debates.
A total of 145 films are slated for screening, encompassing 43 feature films, three medium-length films, and 99 short films. Each edition of the festival pays tribute to notable figures in Brazilian cinema, and this year, filmmaker André Novais and actress Bárbara Colen, both from Minas Gerais, will receive the prestigious Baroque Trophy at the opening ceremony.
Raquel Hallak, director of Universo Produção and general coordinator of the event, emphasizes that the attendance projection is based on the experiences of past editions, particularly the 2023 edition, which marked a return to in-person programming following two years of virtual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She explains that the Tiradentes Film Festival selects a theme each year to steer the discussions, a choice based on observations about Brazilian film production. For this edition, the central theme will be "the forms of time."
"What we're presenting is a snapshot of what Brazilian cinema will look like in 2024. Through these films, we aim to delve into the temporal aspects of contemporary Brazilian cinema in every sense: the duration of film production, the accelerated pace of our real lives, and how these factors influence aesthetics, art, and language. We're exploring how time shapes the entire landscape of Brazilian cinema, particularly following the pandemic, which has propelled a shift towards audiovisual and digital mediums," explains Hallak.
