Hunger for the Absolute: Land in Anguish at 50

In 1967, Brazil was already living through a military dictatorship, but Glauber Rocha’s Terra em Transe [Land in Anguish] would unnervingly predict the more punitive turn the regime would take a year later. Looking at populist politics and the inescapable corruption of power in the nation, Land in Anguish revolutionised the filmmaker’s practice. Fifty years after its release, the experience of the film retains the force of its radicality, with its tumultuous separation of sound and image, intense performances from its actors and high operatic drama of Verdi and Carlos Gomes.

This key work of Brazil’s Cinema Novo or ‘new cinema’ movement is screened in dialogue with the world premiere of Eder Santos and Bruce Yonemoto’s Barravento Novo. The short video makes clever correspondences between Antônio Pitanga – a Cinema Novo actor seen here delivering lines from Rocha’s first feature, Barravento 1962 – and his daughter, Camila Pitanga, a well-known actor and filmmaker working today.

Actors Antônio Pitanga and Camila Pitanga, artists Eder Santos and Bruce Yonemoto, and film scholars Lúcia Nagib, Robert Stam and Ismail Xavier join us for this opening night of the film series.

Eder Santos and Bruce Yonemoto, Barravento Novo, Brazil 2017, DCP, black and white, sound, 11 min, Portuguese with English subtitles

Glauber Rocha, Terra em Transe [Land in Anguish], Brazil 1967, 35mm, black and white, sound, 111 min, Portuguese with English subtitles

The screening is followed by a panel discussion with film scholars Lúcia Nagib, Robert Stam and Ismail Xavier, and actor/filmmakers Antônio Pitanga and Camila Pitanga.

Barravento Novo will be presented as a looped display from 10.00–17.00 in the Starr Cinema on Friday 10 November.