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"In Hélio Oiticica, the nephew of a Brazilian artist follows the steps of his uncle, who is called Brazil's Andy Warhol. The experimentations by a free spirit who died young are an archival collage of decades of Brazilian culture." - Screen International
Hailed as one of the most important Brazilian artists of the 20th century, Hélio Oiticica was one of the founders of Neo-Concretism and an inspiration for the Tropicália movement, which borrowed its name from one of the artist's famous environmental installations.
Directed by Oiticica's nephew César Oiticica Filho, this Berlinale Forum FIPRESCI Prize winner described by the Berlinale Jury as a "found-footage cinematic mosaic" places audiences inside the artist's own head as Oiticica himself narrates the film through rare cassette tapes containing his recorded confessions, reflections on art and music, and aesthetic propositions.
Oiticica Filho masterfully blends striking footage from Hélio Oiticica's mostly never-before-seen super-8 films and other rare archival material to the sounds of music from the era - from Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil to a new song by Jards Macalé, penned by Oiticica and recorded especially for the film. The result is a crucial document about an artistic legend that also charts one of the periods of greatest effervescence of Brazilian culture and offers an insight into the nation today.
D/S Cesar Oiticica Filho P Juliana Carapeba WS Guerrilha Films L Portuguese, English w/English subtitles TD 35mm/2012