In collaboration with the Brazilian Embassy in Copenhagen we proudly present a 2-day seminar with Documentary Filmmaker João Salles and Cinematographer Cesar Charlone.

Meet Documentary Filmmaker João Moreira Salles in a conversation with Jørgen Leth, and Cinematographer Cesar Charlone in a conversation with Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle.

João Moreira Salles is one of Brazil’s foremost documentary filmmakers. In 1992 he began shooting a film about Santiago, the butler in his childhood home who left an indelible mark upon the family. Santiago was an educated man who, in addition to his work, produced some 60,000 pages of stories documenting his surroundings as well as tales of aristocratic lifestyles, including that of the house in which he himself served.

Through his personal voice-over, Salles sheds light on his family and childhood, and on the reasons why it took so long to complete. The result is an elegant mosaic with two parallel narratives, dealing with universal topics such as memory, identity, and documentary filmmaking. Santiago has been screened at some of the world’s most important documentary film festivals and recently took the Grand Prize at Cinéma du Réel in Paris.

At the seminar we will screen Santiago. In the afternoon João Moreira Salles will hold a lecture on "What makes a documentary a documentary".

On the second day of the seminar we will screen Fernando Meirelles film Blindness, the opening film at this year’s Cannes festival and shut by Cinematographer Cesar Charlone. Focusing on Blindness, Cesar Charlone and Anthony Dod Mantle will discuss visual style, preparation, research, storytelling, collaboration with the director, etc. from a cinematographer’s point of view.

Cesar Charlone developed an early interest in drawing, painting and still photography. Charlone attended Escola Superior De Cinema in Sao Paolo, and began his career shooting commercials and documentaries in both Brazil and Sweden.

Cesar Charlone has worked on almost 20 films including City of God, The Constant Gardener (both directed by Fernando Meirelles) and Sucker-Free City (directed by Spike Lee).

In 2007 he shot and directed his film The Pope’s Toilet.

Cinemateket are screening a list of Brazilian films including The Pope’s Toilet in the week before the seminar. See the program here