Ela Bittencourt investigates the ways in which film directors in the 1960s and '70s used surrealism as a way of interrogating unstable political moments and reimagining the future
This year's iteration of the international exhibition is impressively global in its curatorial reach but the impact of some works diminishes in cross-cultural adaptation
The photographer's exhibition at the Guggenheim, New York, captures the elemental power of Blackness by intermingling portraits with celestial installations
With preventable fires and flooding destroying many of Brazil's cultural institutions, what's at stake for the country's most significant film and television archive?
At Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, the artist presents a series of paintings, drawings and collages that capture the physical and mental endurance of confinement
2014 was a great year for cinephiles. The one regret I have is not having seen Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language (2014) in 3D, a film that is said to revolutionize cinema to the point where watching it in 2D, as I did, is pointless. Luckily, as far as 2D pleasures, there were plenty, starting with White Shadow (2013, 2014 release), a stunning debut by Noaz Deshe, so far scantily present on the festival circuit. Berlin and Los Angeles-based Deshe sets his film in Tanzania, inspired by real-life stories of Africa’s albinos, who are mercilessly hunted because their organs are believed to have healing powers. In the film, a young albino, Alias, escapes after his father’s ambush. Alias sells DVDs in a cutthroat city and finds companionship in a rural albino shelter, but is betrayed by his uncle. Deshe’s hallucinatory storytelling and edgy camerawork have a primal power, with a witchdoctor that channels Flannery O’Connor. Deshe stresses the sensory experience, and Alias’ plight is so agonizing, this is the one film whose vision and humanity continue to haunt me.
