Dialogues and exchanges between brazilian modern cinema and american underground in New York

Abstract

The purpose of this research - to be carried out during the internship at New York University (NYU) - is to continue and deepen the original research carried out in Brazil, mainly through dialogue with fellow researchers and by consulting, reading, and analyzing various primary sources located at the university itself as well as in its host city. The objects of the main research are the points of contact, mutual influences, and exchanges between Brazilian filmmakers and artists (Glauber Rocha, Júlio Bressane and Hélio Oiticica) and underground and independent New York cinema in the 1960s and 1970s (mainly Jonas Mekas, Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, Robert Kramer, and the Newsreel collective). In order to map the encounters, clashes, and dialogues between these filmmakers in exhibitions and festivals from the same period - central axis of this research - it is essential to access documents regarding the events' organization and repercussion, such as the exhibition dedicated to Cinema Novo held at MoMA in late 1968, with a massive presence of underground filmmakers. The collection of materials from Glauber, Bressane and Oiticica's sojourns and times in exile in New York City will also be of great interest, with attention to the dialogue among these artists and underground filmmakers, without losing sight of how exile experiences affected their projects and artistic practices.