The films of Josafá Duarte in the backlands of Brazil: made by the people, to the people

  • Paulo Passos de Oliveira Universidade Federal de Goiás, Faculdade de Artes Visuais, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arte e Cultura Visual/Doutorado, 74690-900, Goiânia (GO)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14591/aniki.v6n2.522
Keywords: Josafá Duarte, popular films, exhibition strategies.

Abstract

This paper presents producer, screenwriter, filmmaker and actor Josafá Duarte, resident of the district of Salgado dos Mendes, city of Forquilha, north side of the state of Ceará, Brazil. The second part of the paper addresses Josafá Duarte’s film shooting habits, focusing the interpersonal relationship within his work group. The third part discloses exhibition strategies to give his films visibility, particularly the use of digital media, the seizing of pirate DVD copies sold at newsstands and by street vendors, and the public exhibition of his films in distant districts and villages, using an old Kombi van provided by the City. In the fourth part of this paper, the type of films Josafá Duarte makes, the concept behind this type of film and some aspects of their making will be discussed. The conclusion is the history of Brazilian cinema should be re-assessed according to the importance of films made by small filmmakers in their communities. Methodologically, the research was based on four interviews, on observing the shooting of the short film “Escapei fedendo” (“I escaped stinking”, by Josafá Duarte 2017) and a field diary record, analysis of his blog e of his YouTube account. The paper is written using the life narrative technique.

Author Biography

Paulo Passos de Oliveira, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Faculdade de Artes Visuais, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arte e Cultura Visual/Doutorado, 74690-900, Goiânia (GO)
He is a PhD student at the Art and Visual Culture Post-Graduate Program (PPGACV) at the School of Visual Arts (FAV), Federal University of Goiás (UFG/GO), having as his advisor Prof. Dr. Alice Fátima Martins. Doctoral Internship at the University of Aveiro (UA), Portugal, having as his co-advisor Prof. Dr. António Costa Valente. Holds a master’s degree from the Communications and Culture Post-Graduate Program (PPGCom), School of Communications (ECO), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ, RJ/1998) with the dissertation O Cinema Brasileiro e a Pós-Modernidade: uma questão histórica" (“Brazilian Cinema and Post Modernity: a historical matter”), under the advice of Prof. Dr. Consuelo da Luz Lins. Holds an undergraduate degree in Social Communications, majoring in Journalism and an associate degree in Film Technology. He is a university professor since 1999, having coordinated the course of Journalism. He was one of the coordinators of the event Visualidades (“Visualities”), organized by the School of Social Sciences, State University of Vale do Acaraú (UVA/Sobral/CE), aimed at fostering the making of documentaries on image research by faculty members and the student body. He is a documentary maker. He was a radio host, editor and associate-editor of the newspaper Jornal Sobral News, the first daily newspaper of the city of Sobral, Ceará, where he also worked as journalist, writer and proofreader. He was one of the hosts of the Internet-broadcasted program Sobral News em Debate. In the academy, he is experienced in Anthropology, Theories on Communication, Cinema and Visual Culture; his main fields on interest are culture, post-modernity and cinema (particularly the Brazilian cinema).
Published
2019-08-20
Issue
Vol 6 No 2 (2019): Teorias, práticas e ontologias do ator no audiovisual
Section
Essays