BY JANDYR FERREIRA DOS SANTOS, Brazilian Ambassador to Ethiopia
The embassies of Brazil and Mexico in Addis Ababa have partnered to organize the first edition of the “Brazil-Mexico Movie Nights”, which took place from 22nd to the 30th of March 2023 at the “Brasil in Addis” cultural space, located in the premises of the Official Residency of Brazil. It was the first ever cultural event jointly organized by the Brazilian and Mexican embassies in the Ethiopian capital.
The movie sessions were preceded by receptions serving treats from the Mexican and Brazilian gastronomy and mixology, which included margueritas and caipirinhas cocktails, as well as tacos and coxinhas (chicken croquettes), among other delicious finger foods.
Invitees were thus able to drink and taste typical delicacies of both countries before watching the selected motion pictures. The first Mexican film, screened on March 22, was “Como Agua para Chocolate” (Like water for chocolate), a 1992 drama film based on the 1989 debut novel by renowned writer and current Mexican ambassador to Brazil, Laura Esquivel.
The movie earned ten Ariel Awards including the Best Picture and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The magical realism plot hinges on the life of a woman named Tita, her experiences and struggles with love and family dynamics, including the importance of gastronomy in the everyday Mexican life in the early 1900s.
On March 23, it was time for the Brazilian movie “Eu, Tu, Eles” (Me, You and Them), released in 2000 and directed by Andrucha Waddington, to take the screen. The screenplay was based on a piece of news published on a newspaper about a woman and her three husbands, all of whom living in a sun-scorched town in the semi-arid Brazilian northeastern region. Upon its release, the film was well-rated by the New York Times and selected for an exhibition during the Cannes Festival.
In the following week, on March 29, “Su Excelencia” (Your Excellency), a 1967 Mexican political satire directed by Miguel M. Delgado and starring the acclaimed actor Mario Moreno, also known as “Cantinflas” was watched. The movie satirizes the cold war between capitalist and socialist countries, with comedian Cantinflas playing Lupitos, a hilarious burocrat-turned-ambassador representing his country in a fictional communist state, who ends up playing a relevant role deciding the fate of the entire world.
The fourth movie and the last one featuring in the “Brazil-Mexico Movie Nights” was the acclaimed “Cidade de Deus” (City of God), screened on March 30. The crime film, co-directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund, was released in 2002.
The plot was adapted from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins and depicts the growth of organized crime in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1980s. The film won fifty-five awards and received another twenty-nine nominations, including Academy Awards nominations for best director, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography and best film editing.
Brazil and Mexico have two of the most celebrated modern cinemas in Latin-America and the first edition of the movie nights initiative allowed Ethiopians and foreigners living in Addis Ababa to get a glance of a few of the country’s most iconic productions. It also greatly testifies to the friendly relations between Mexico and Brazil and to the importance both countries attach to the cultural dimension of their relationship with Ethiopia.
Together with the screening of the aforementioned movies, a photographic exhibition by photographers Chris Piason (Brazil) and Gastón Saldaña (Mexico) was on display at the “Brasil in Addis” Cultural Space. The exhibition is the result of several trips to Ethiopia made by both artists, who were struck by the country’s rich cultural diversity and nature, in particularly in the region of the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL 2023
