Brazilian Cinema Day: nine national films that have Rio as a setting

This Friday (19), the Brazilian Cinema Day celebrates the trajectory of national audiovisual production and its contribution to the culture of the country. Over the decades, Rio has consolidated itself as one of the main scenarios of Brazilian cinema, serving as a backdrop for films that portray different aspects of Brazil's history, society and cultural identity.

From the productions that helped to tell this story, some have the city as a central element of the narrative, presenting different views on the city and its characters over time.

Rio, 40 Degrees (1955)

Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, it is one of the largest watersheds in the history of Brazilian cinema. Being the great forerunner of Cinema New, the film revolutionized the way to portray the reality of the country. Its opening brings the scenes of city postcards to the sound of one of the most iconic songs in samba history: "The Voice of Death", composed of Zé Keti ("I'm samba / I'm from Rio de Janeiro..."). The film exported and promoted the sound of samba carioca as the official soundtrack of those who visit the city, directly associating the destination to its musical wealth.

Roberto Carlos in Rhythm of Adventure (1968)

In the plot, singer Roberto Carlos is pursued by a gang that intends to explore his talent to produce large-scale songs. The long mix of music, action and humor in Rio scenarios. If Rio, 40 Degrees promoted Rio through realism, samba and street roughness, production directed by Roberto Farias did exactly the opposite. He turned Rio into a scenario of overproduction pop, futuristic, cosmopolitan and filled with adrenaline. The film's most famous scene shows a helicopter piloted by Roberto Carlos himself passing through the free passage of the Pasmado Tunnel and then landing at the top of the Pão de Açúcar.

Opera do Malandro (1986)

Inspired by Chico Buarque's musical, the film follows the trajectory of an elegant con artist who survives by playing small blows, with the central region as the narrative scene. The film is a big ode to Lapa, consolidating the neighborhood once and for all as the cradle of bohemian. Although depicting the 1940s, the long was launched in the 1980s — precisely in the period in which the Lapa was undergoing a strong process of rediscovery and cultural revitalization. Chico Buarque's music is the great promotion engine of Rio in this long. Songs like "Management to the Rascal", "My Love" and "Piece of Me" function as a gear that connects the viewer to melancholy, lyricism and the joy of the city.

Central Brazil (1998)

The award-winning production tells the story of a former teacher who writes letters to illiterate people at the Central Station of Brazil, while embarking on a journey that became one of the most recognized of the national cinema. The film won actress Fernanda Montenegro the award for best actress in the Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for best actress. The film transforms the Central Station of Brazil — an architectural landmark and transport of the city — into the main scene of its first act. Far from the beaches of the South Zone, the long one promoted the Rio of the Central region and Leopoldina, showing the station not only as a train terminal, but as a living monument to human diversity.

Orpheus (1999)

Set during the Rio carnaval, the long revisits the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice amid the reality of the Rio communities. Unlike the grey and documentary approach that would come in the following years with crime cinema, Cacá Diegues promoted the Rio favela as a place of aesthetic explosion, beauty and visual exuberance. Filmed largely in the Morro of Babylon, the long one used cinematography to frame the community against the blue sea of the South Zone and the green of the slopes. The favela was promoted as the top of the world — a pulsating "Olympus", full of dignity, art and tropical colors.

Madame Satan (2002)

The film depicts the life of João Francisco dos Santos, exploring the bohemian, resistance and marginality of the Lapa, one of the city's most emblematic neighborhoods. With Madame Satan, the image of Rio gained an impressive artistic density in the 2000s, proving that the history of destiny is written both under the sun of Copacabana and under the light of the reflectors of the former cabarets of Lapa.

Cazuza – Time Not For (2004)

The cinebiography revisits the trajectory of one of the most striking artists of Brazilian music, depicting different moments of his life and career. Released in the early 2000s, the film directed by Sandra Werneck and Walter Carvalho captured the spirit of one of the most vibrant and transformative eras in Rio de Janeiro: The 1980s. The long, which accompanies Cazuza’s meteoric and visceral trajectory (lived brilliantly by Daniel de Oliveira), rescued the image of the city as the capital of national rock, transgressing youth and beach bohemian.

It Was Once (2008)

The novel accompanies a young favela dweller who works in a kiosk of Rio and falls in love with a girl of a completely different social reality. The film uses Ipanema Beach (especially the stretch between Posto 8 and Posto 9) as the central connection point of the protagonists. The kiosk where Dé works and the sand of the beach are promoted as the true "neutral territory" and democratic of the city, where the worlds meet. The long one helped consolidate the edge of Ipanema not only as a place to sunbathe, but as Rio's integrating and cinematic space.

I'm still here (2024)

Released in 2024, directed by Walter Salles and based on the autobiographical book by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, I'm still here it promoted Rio from a deeply intimate, nostalgic and architectural perspective. Much of the narrative takes place in the iconic house of the Paiva family, located on Avenida Delfim Moreira, facing the beach of the Leblon. The film promotes Rio’s modernist architecture and the lifestyle of the city’s open doors: a house full of music, books, friends, young people circling around in swimwear and a constant circulation of affection. For those who watch, Rio is promoted as the apex of hospitality, good taste and spontaneous community coexistence.