Para Vigo Me Voy (To Vigo I Go!), in memory of the Brazilian master, Carlos Diegues
Cannes Classics is paying homage to a director who has shaped the history of both world cinema and the Festival de Cannes. Carlos Diegues, who died last February, is the focus of documentary Para Vigo Me Voy (To Vigo I Go!) by Lírio Ferreira and Karen Harley.
Para Vigo Me Voy (To Vigo I Go!) explores the films of master filmmaker Carlos Diegues from his beginnings as a pioneer of Cinema Novo, a movement that was to revolutionize the thematic and aesthetic approach of Brazilian cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. The documentary blends excerpts from his work with interviews given by him over the past 60 years, tracing the evolution of his art and his philosophy.
The cinema of Carlos Diegues, both political and poetic, brought the art of film closer to the people and their everyday concerns. He helped to shape Brazilian cinema, working alongside talents such as Glauber Rocha and Nelson Pereira dos Santos. He gained huge popularity in 1976 with the box office success of Xica da Silva, which deals with the issue of slavery in the 18th century. It was the first ever Brazilian film to feature a black female protagonist.
He received his first invitation to the Festival de Cannes four years later. Shown in Competition, Bye Bye Brazil follows a small troupe of performers traveling across the country. From the Amazon to the new cities, the film reflects the upheavals of a society undergoing profound change.
Over the course of his career spanning 60 years, Carlos Diegues left a lasting impression on South American and world cinema, both as a director and as a producer. In the 2010s, he worked with a new generation of filmmakers, including Kleber Mendonça Filho (in Competition this year with O Agente Secreto (The Secret Agent)). In 2018, the Festival de Cannes welcomed for a Special Screening the whimsical The Great Mystical Circus, the final film directed by the much-missed filmmaker who passed away last February.
