Cauby and Mario Lago are highlights at the Rio Festival.

Paulo Virgilio
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Rio de Janeiro - As an annual showcase of recent Brazilian film production, Première Brasil features two documentaries in this edition of the Rio Film Festival that explore important artists of Brazilian popular music who had a profound connection with the history of... National Radio of Rio de Janeiro. Mario Lago, by Marco Abujamra and Markão de Oliveira, had its national pre-premiere yesterday at the Cine Odeon Petrobras. Today (6), at 19:15 pm, at the same cinema, will be the gala session of Cauby – I Would Start All Over Again, A film by filmmaker Nelson Hoineff.

Selected for the exhibition PortraitsFrom Première Brasil, Abujamra and Oliveira's film is a biopic of Mario Lago (1911-2002), composer, actor, radio broadcaster, playwright, and political activist. With extensive archival material, including some rarities, the documentary takes the viewer on a 96-minute journey through Lago's life, guided by the artist himself.

“The hardest part was choosing what to leave out, among the incredible scenes we gathered,” says director Markão de Oliveira. Among the rare images, the documentary features the American vocal group Andrews Sisters singing a carnival march. Aurora, composed by Mario Lago and Roberto Roberti, in the film Hold that GhostOf 1941.

Among the testimonies, the one by actor Lima Duarte stands out, recounting the beginning of their friendship at Rádio Tupi and their time together during their bohemian days. The documentary includes scenes filmed in the radio drama studio of... National Radio, in the station's old building, in Praça Mauá, with testimonies from radio broadcasters Daisy Lucidi and Gerdal dos Santos, contemporaries of Mário Lago during the station's golden age.

Lago's 25-year career in television is portrayed with scenes from the soap operas in which he acted. The actor's participation in cinema, in films such as Earth in Trance, Glauber Rocha's work was not forgotten either.

“We wanted to portray his entire career, but we had to sacrifice a lot to avoid disrupting the film's rhythm. Managing to convey everything Mario Lago represented on screen was a great challenge,” says Markão, director and photographer with several documentaries to his credit, including… Life is a breath. (2007), about Oscar Niemeyer. 

A communist militant, Mário Lago was imprisoned seven times for political reasons and had his political rights revoked by the military dictatorship. According to the director, the documentary sought to highlight the coexistence of the militant and the bohemian in the artist's personality. "He was a militant with great firmness and at the same time a..." convivial"He lived life intensely in Rio de Janeiro. This was a very interesting facet of Mario Lago," highlights Markão de Oliveira. 

Versions of Lago's poems set to music by Lenine and Arnaldo Antunes complete the film. Mario Lago will have two more screenings at the festival, on Sunday (6), at 16 pm, at Ponto Cine, in Guadalupe, north of Rio, and on Monday (7), at 14 pm, at Oi Futuro Ipanema, in the south. According to the director, it should reach theaters next

One of the four feature-length documentaries selected for the "hors-concours" category of Première Brasil, Cauby – I Would Start All Over Again, It portrays a character who, at over 80 years old, remains fully active and maintains his voice and charisma unchanged. Cauby Peixoto is the last exponent of a generation of great singers revealed in the 40s and 50s, the golden age of Brazilian radio.

The idea of ​​bringing to the cinema the trajectory of this man, considered by many colleagues to be the greatest Brazilian singer of all time, came from the director himself, Nelson Hoineff, a filmmaker who has distinguished himself with his documentaries about controversial personalities such as Santos Dumont, Chacrinha, and Paulo Francis. “I started thinking about the film many years ago, when I watched a…” Show "Cauby [referring to a film about Cauby] here in Rio. It took me a while to make the film; it was a slow negotiation," says Hoineff.

Over the course of 90 minutes, the film seeks to unravel the legend of Cauby, an artist who defies time and makes his career a constant restart. Having lived in São Paulo for over ten years, Cauby Peixoto performs regularly on Mondays at Bar Brahma, in the center of the city. shows "They're always packed, with an audience ranging from octogenarians to youngsters in their early twenties," says the filmmaker.

The idolatry that surrounded the singer in the golden years of National Radio This is one of the film's highlights. The siege by the fans, who even went so far as to tear Cauby's clothes, was encouraged by the singer's manager, Di Veras.

"He invented things like dressing Cauby in a suit that was only partially sewn together to make it easier for fans to tear the clothes. Di Veras, in a way, invented the Cauby myth. Having all those girls screaming his name, grabbing him. Cauby is an unparalleled talent, but that talent needed a little help from..."marketing "It was very strong, and Di Veras was the main driving force behind it," says Hoineff.

In the director's view, that was precisely the case. marketing What Cauby lacked in his attempt at an international career in the United States in the late 50s, under the stage name Ron Coby. "The film includes several testimonies from people about the reasons why the singer didn't achieve the expected success abroad," he says.

According to Hoineff, Cauby Peixoto is a unique professional and an enigmatic character. “He dedicates himself to his art 24 hours a day. Whenever you go to his house, he's studying music as if he were a beginner. He's also very strict with his schedule and habits. He doesn't drink a drop of wine and has a perfectly balanced diet,” he observes.

After the pre-premiere “Cauby – Começaria tudo outra vez” will have two more screenings at the festival, on Tuesday (8), at 16 pm, at Ponto Cine, in Guadalupe, north zone, and on Wednesday (9), at 1 am, at Oi Futuro Ipanema, in the south zone. Afterwards, it will be taken to other film festivals, before starting its commercial run in theaters across the country.