Antonio da Silva on ‘Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures’

Dr Antonio da Silva, Language Coordinator in Portuguese in the Department of Modern Languages, is to take part in a post-screening talk as part of the ‘Journey’s in Brazilian Cinema’ season at the Embassy of Brazil, London, on Wednesday 2 November at 18.30.
The talk, with Dr Natalia Pinazza (Birkbeck, University of London), follows the screening of Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (dir. Marcelo Gomes, 2005). The film is set in 1942 in the middle of north-eastern Brazil, in which two very different men meet along the road: Johan, an aspirin salesman avoiding the German draft, and Ranulpho, a rural Brazilian seeking escape from the drought.

Although their personalities and lives are worlds apart, the two men develop a deep friendship, as Johan, in an effort to provide Ranulpho with job skills, teaches him to run the film projector, and drive a truck. In this deliberately paced road film, Marcelo Gomes reminds us that war is as close as Johan’s radio, broadcasting its relentless warnings that all lives are changed when the world is in conflict.

Further information on all the screenings is available at: http://londres.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/cineclub_brazil.xml.

Please RSVP to culturalbrazil.rsvp@gmail.com, mentioning the session(s) you would like to attend.