While Bossa Nova flourished alongside Rio’s beachfronts, a fresh cinematic movement began to evolve further into the city. With nothing but “a camera in their hand and an idea in their head” (Glauber Rocha), the Cinema Novo subculture created some of the most innovative film masterpieces of the past century. Contemporary with our post-modern art-deco heritage, we embark on an archeological expedition of one of Brazil’s most important and influential movements.

Much of its poetic power is derived from Cinema Novo’s historical context. Brazilian modernism in the first decades of the twentieth century rose from the need to carve out an identity that felt genuinely Brazilian; battling with the juxtaposition of severing ties with its colonial roots while staying true to the influence that Portugal had in the country’s zeitgeist. This negotiation between artistic language and cultural authenticity became a central component of the vision behind Cinema Novo. Despite being named as the ‘Brazilian version of French New Wave’, Cinema Novo dispenses with the European prefix and actively breaks out of euro-centrist definitions. Emerging in the 1950s as a means of creative expression, and moving through the censorship of Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964-1985), the movement quickly became a central building block to Brazilian culture and national character. 

Drawing aesthetic reference from the Nouvelle Vague and Neorealismo Italiano, the school of Cinema Novo speaks in an arthouse tongue about the spatial orientation and subjective experience of the millions of Brazilians left to their own devices in the favelas or in the sertão. Telling the stories of the silenced voices of the Brazilian people, filmmakers such as Nelson Pereira do Santos, Glauber Rocha, Carlos Diegues and Ruy Guerra wrote history with their cameras: shining light on down-on-their-luck sambistas, Brazilian immigrants in America, and justice-seeking sertanejos.

“Our Cinema is new because the Brazilian people are new and the problematic of Brazil is new and our light is new and that is why our films are born differently than those of European cinemas.” - Glauber Rocha

This avant-garde approach to plots came with double-edged consequences; after international recognition at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, this underground movement was suddenly thrust into the spotlight of mainstream interest. A wave of reassurance and pride in the Brazilian identity emerged from the discussions surrounding Cinema Novo- pinpointing the struggles that many had faced, but had never seen represented or given any real importance. Contemporarily to this, Brazil’s military coup d’état had ended the Fourth Brazilian Republic and initiated their autocratic 24-year dictatorship, rife with censorship and silencing of the arts. Cinema Novo, then, transitioned to a much more directly defiant political protesting tool called Cinema Marginal, even leading to the arrest and exile of some of the biggest voices of Brazilian cinema.

“And the film said: I want to be a poem” - lyrics from ‘Cinema Novo’ by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, from the album Tropicália 2, 1993

Always bold, always spirited, both Cinema Novo and Marginal serve to inspire generations of Brazilians to keep a deep connection to their country’s cultural identity, and to never forget those that sacrificed and persevered before them. This movement, along with its successor artistic waves, paved the way for politically charged modern Brazilian cinema; containing films like Oscar-nominated Ainda Estou Aqui (2024) and much anticipated O Agente Secreto (2025), that have been sweeping Western audiences and prestigious awards. 

Back to Editorial