Rio in Brussels
We will be showing a documentary about August Willemsen, the legendary translator of Carlos Drummond de Andrade and many other leading Brazilian writers. After the screening, we will have a panel discussion with Silvio Albuquerque, the newly appointed Brazilian ambassador to Belgium, and Peter Daerden, the author of Revolutie in Rio (Revolution in Rio).
page and reality
Driven by a fascination with the Portuguese language and Brazilian literature, translator August Willemsen travelled to Brazil several times between 1967 and 1984. He gave a compelling account of his experiences in his Braziliaanse brieven (Brazilian letters). The timeless letters about a country full of contradictions inspired film-maker Frederieke Jochems to follow in his footsteps and explore why Brazil held such an attraction for him. Her documentary interweaves footage of Brazil with television appearances and excerpts from the letters. The film reveals Willemsen’s complex relationships with women, friends and his daughter. Animated scenes bring to life the extremes that characterized his existence: his passion for language, literature and music and his drive towards self-destruction.
revolution in rio
After the screening of the film, we will delve deeper into the social and cultural climate in Brazil during the military dictatorship of the 1960s and 1970s with Silvio Albuquerque and Peter Daerden and compare that period to the situation today. Silvio Albuquerque is not only the new Brazilian ambassador to Belgium, he is also a writer and translator who experienced these turbulent times as a young man in Brazil. Peter Daerden is the author of Revolutie in Rio (Revolution in Rio), a book about Konrad Detrez, the Belgian writer and translator who spent a lot of time in Rio and São Paulo in the 1960s, where he was involved in the left-wing resistance, which also led to his imprisonment. The biographies of Detrez and August Willemsen therefore overlap to some extent, even though both men were also very different in the way they experienced their beloved Brazil.
about the speakers
Silvio José Albuquerque e Silva (b. 1961) was born in Rio de Janeiro. He studied law in Rio and international politics at ULB, when he served in Brussels at the start of his career. He has worked in Bogotá, Washington, Santiago, Vancouver and Nairobi. A former member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, he has collaborated with a great many institutions and organizations in Brazil. Since July of this year, he has been the Brazilian ambassador to Belgium.
Peter Daerden (b. 1978) studied history. He has published articles in De parelduiker and De Lage Landen, among others, and is the author of the books Revolutie in Rio and De laatste Buendia, both published by Tzara.
about the film-maker
Frederieke Jochems has been making films since the early 1980s, most of them for her own company Franjo Filmprodukties, which she set up with Andras Hamelberg. In recent years, she has also focused on photography and making documentaries on sociocultural topics. As a visual artist, she creates art projects in the public space.
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