An Unexpected Invitation
Sometimes opportunities come out of the blue. Such was the case for me when about a month ago I was contacted by Leticia Friedrich of Boulevard Films, an independent movie company in Brazil. Through my Twitter account, Leticia tracked me down and let me know her company was working with one of Brazil’s largest banks (Caixa) to produce a Maysles Brothers film retrospective. She knew I had written a book on the brothers and that I knew a lot about the history of American documentary film in the 1960s and ‘70s. Would I be interested in coming to Sao Paulo to present a lecture as part of their retrospective? Oh, and all expenses would be covered . . .
After I checked out the legitimacy of this very intriguing offer(!) and exchanged several e-mails with the curators of the program, I agreed to do it. After all, I had spent about five years of my life researching the Maysles Brothers, tracking down films and other primary documents as part of my dissertation at Boston University. I completed the work in 2000 and then worked with an academic press to turn the whole project into a published book (linked below). Not to sound too much like an old-timer, but I should point out that all of my research was done pre-Internet, before this sort of research has become much easier. Luckily, Albert Maysles was still alive when I did my work, and I was able to interview him a few times.
The Maysles Brothers were part of a wave of filmmakers in the early ‘60s who brought cinema verite, or what they called “direct cinema,” to American audiences. In the days before everyone became a lot more media savvy and camera-conscious, the brothers were able to capture some truly remarkable unscripted moments and inspired a whole host of future moviemakers. Their most acclaimed and popular works are Salesman (1968), Gimme Shelter (1969) and Grey Gardens (1974), all three of which are considered to be in the top 100 documentaries of all time.
The program the Brazilians have put together is truly impressive, as they are screening EVERYTHING the Maysles ever made, including some obscure film fragments like “Orson Welles in Spain,” which was never released. It’s exciting that these important films will be getting their first major exposure in South America and that I can be a part of the program. It’s going to be a whirlwind few days for me, but I look forward to testing out my limited Portuguese and enjoying summer in one of the world’s largest and most culturally diverse cities.
Links:
© 2023 Colorado Academy
