The critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning film, City of God, which premiered in 2002 at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the 2003 Oscars, has recently been restored and is being re-released worldwide. The African premiere of the festival will take place at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) in July.
City of God is ground-breaking in its realistic and unflinching portrayal of the stranglehold that gangs had over life in the favelas of Brazil. It is a powerful and unfiltered story about a world of contrasts, where hope and despair coexist. The South African premiere at DIFF is part of a two-year collaboration between the Durban International Film Festival and the Mostra de Cinemas Africanos (Brazil African Film Festival). The BRICS-aligned partnership is supported by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS)
Ana Camila Esteves, the director of Mostra de Cinemas Africanos, sees this as a wonderful opportunity to revisit the acclaimed Brazilian film City of God, directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund, twelve years after its release. She highlights the significance of this moment, “especially considering how popular the film became in different parts of Africa.” Esteves believes it is an ideal time to reflect on City of God and the contemporary Brazilian cinema selections at DIFF, enabling audiences to understand the evolution of Brazilian audiovisual storytelling.