The Age of the Earth explained

Director:Glauber Rocha
Producer:Glauber Rocha
Starring:Maurício do Valle
Jece Valadão
Antonio Pitanga
Tarcísio Meira
Geraldo Del Rey
Music:Rogério Duarte
Cinematography:Roberto de Castro Pires
Pedro de Moraes
Editing:Carlos Cavalcante Cox
Raul Soares
Ricardo Miranda
Studio:Glauber Rocha Produções
Embrafilme
Distributor:Embrafilme
Runtime:154 minutes
Country:Brazil
Language:Portuguese

The Age of the Earth (Portuguese: '''A Idade da Terra''') is a 1980 Brazilian avant-garde film directed by Glauber Rocha. It was his final film.

The film had its world premiere at the Golden Lion competition of the 1980 Venice Film Festival.

Cast

Production

Rocha started the film in 1975 and planned to shoot it in Los Angeles, and subsequently proposed it in Paris, Rome, Mexico and Venezuela, but was unable to obtain financial support.[1] [2]

It was finally shot in Bahia, Brasilia, and Rio de Janeiro.

Reception

It was Rocha's last film and the one that caused the most controversy.[3]

It was produced by Embrafilme, a state-funded company, during the Brazilian military dictatorship, despite this, filmmakers had some level of creative freedom while shooting, the dictatorship used to impose its heavy censorship after productions had been completed. Rocha himself had been living in exile during the 70's, after numerous attempts of the censorship were made to Entranced Earth (1967) and Antonio das Mortes (1969).[4]

Regardless, it was boycotted by international critics and "crucified" at the 1980 Venice Film Festival,[5] [6] especially after an argument between Rocha and Louis Malle at the presence of numerous journalists, shortly after the Golden Lion results were announced.[7] Atlantic City, directed by Malle, had won the main prize and was deemed imperialist, by Rocha: "You won because your film was produced by Gaumont, an imperialist multinational"

Notes and References

  1. Book: Brazilian Cinema . . . 1995 . 9780231102674 . 106.
  2. Book: Cinematic Rome . Wrigley, Richard . Troubador Publishing . 2008 . 9781906510282 . 137.
  3. Web site: Glauber, o artista como filósofo . Tendler, Silvio . Silvio Tendler . August 25, 2006 . Terra Magazine. . May 3, 2014 . Portuguese.
  4. Web site: O Estado de S. Paulo - Acervo Estadão . 2023-08-12 . Acervo.
  5. Web site: O triunfo da beleza e da justiça . Pizzini, Joel . March 2011 . Revista Cult . . May 3, 2014 . Portuguese.
  6. News: Ecco i film di Venezia. La Stampa. August 9, 1980.
  7. Web site: Filho . William Helal . 2020-09-09 . 'Quebro sua cara, fascista': A briga de Glauber Rocha com Louis Malle que entrou para história do Festival de Veneza . 2023-08-12 . Blog do Acervo - O Globo . pt-br.