'Rio to Reel' at Filmfest DC

As Filmfest DC turns 20 this year, the local showcase of international films is brimming with selections from around the world. Its twin themes are "From Rio to Reel: The New Brazilian Cinema" and "Hip-Hop 4 Reel." Overall, the Brazilian films make up a narrow slice of Filmfest DC's offerings of more than 70 films, but the ones included give filmmakers from the Portuguese-speaking nation a moment in the sun. Of the 10 Brazilian films, half are fiction and the rest are documentaries about music, soccer and favelas (urban slums).

Of the fictional films, one of them, the 2005 "Romeo and Juliet Get Married" ("O Casamento de Romeu e Julieta"), manages to marry soccer, romance and comedy. It's hardly the first time Shakespeare has been updated for the screen, and the conceit sounds contrived: Sao Paolo soccer fans Julieta and Romeu fall in love, but she and her family support the Palmeiras team, while his side roots for the rival Corinthians. Yet this frothy, fast-paced film by Bruno Barreto (who also directed the 2000 romantic comedy "Bossa Nova") is less an adaptation of the Elizabethan classic than a playful riff on intractable rivalries.

It's sprinkled with genuinely moving scenes, thanks in part to strong lead performances by Luana Piovani and Marco Ricca. The film is strongest when the humor is subtle, while physical comedy and scenes in the soccer stands lighten the mood. If at times Julieta's exuberance for the Palmeiras seems over-the-top, don't forget our own town's political allegiances. Might this film prompt a single gal to consider a boy from the other side of the aisle? Maybe . . . or maybe not.

Another film, "Favela Rising" (2005), proves that serendipity happens, and when it occurs within a documentary, magic happens, too. Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist chronicle the rise of the Afro-reggae movement in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Once a drug dealer until too many deaths prompted a change of heart, Anderson Sa, the movement's founder, decided to do something to counter the pervasive violence in his neighborhood, one of Rio's most dangerous. So he opened a performing arts center to teach children music, dance and art, and to promote nonviolence. Now the grass-roots movement has spread to other favelas and has become a worldwide phenomenon.

Anyone who has seen Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund's "City of God" (2002) will recognize "Favela Rising's" images of gun-toting children silhouetted against the mountainous and watery backdrop of Rio. The scenery is splendid, the story ripe for the telling. Yet it's an eleventh-hour occurrence that elevates the film into a gripping saga.

The other documentaries in the "Rio to Reel" collection, all from 2005, include "Brasileirinho," "This Is Bossa Nova: The History and Stories" and "Maria Bethânia: Music Is Perfume," which focus on the Brazilian musical forms of choro , bossa nova and tropicalia , respectively. These serve as a complement to the festival's "Hip-Hop 4 Reel" lineup of nine feature-length films and five shorts about hip-hop around the world. The final Brazilian documentary, "Pelé Forever," should play well to fans of the legendary soccer superstar.

The festival opens Wednesday with "Wah-Wah," Richard E. Grant's directorial debut set in Swaziland in the 1960s, which is scheduled to open in theaters in May. Gabriel Byrne and Miranda Richardson star, and Byrne will be at the screening and the gala afterward at Lisner Auditorium.

Other festival highlights include a tribute to Sydney Pollack on Thursday at the National Gallery of Art, where the director will screen clips from his extensive body of work, including "The Firm," "Out of Africa" and "Tootsie"; tickets are free. On April 25, the Arts Club of Washington hosts a roundtable discussion with guest filmmakers, and the closing film, on April 30, will be the French and British comedy "Housewarming" at Regal Cinemas at Gallery Place.

For movie times, see On Screen's Repertory list on Page 42. For tickets, schedule and film synopses, call 202-628-3456 or visit http://www.filmfestdc.org .

Colorful 'Black Orpheus'

Also this week, catch a classic Brazil-set film at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring (see review on Page 30). For one week only starting Friday, AFI will screen a newly restored print of Marcel Camus's 1959 "Black Orpheus," an adaptation of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. Camus won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1959 and the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1960. Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfa co-wrote the bossa nova soundtrack, and the film bursts with color and music. For tickets and information, call 301-495-6720 or visit http://www.afi.com/silver/new .

-- Christina Talcott