Babel City and the Brasília Diaspora:

Direct cinema and testimony in 'Fala Brasília' (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1966)

Abstract

In the short film "Fala Brasília" (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1966), the Brazilian capital is depicted as a space of cultural encounter, a case study of the "Brazilian diaspora" that marks the contradictory modernization and urbanization of the country throughout the 20th century. We argue that the type of filmic arrangement produced - a simple device of filmed encounter established between characters - evokes the tradition of French cinema verité in its inclination towards encountering the reality mediated by a certain performativity of social experience. By rejecting the use of narration, the film allows us to put the sociological model's reading, a consecrated explanation of the history of Brazilian documentary that has Jean-Claude Bernardet's work as a reference point, under tension. We propose that "Fala Brasília" anticipates aesthetic and political concerns that would be deepened by Brazilian documentary throughout the 1970s.