Cinema emerged in the 18th century. The technique was developed in the scenario of photography, which already existed for a long time, from the combination of the magic lantern and still images on film. It was considered the invention of the century.
Since the invention of cinema, several scientists contributed with their experiences and innovations to the development and improvement of photographic film. In 1824, the Belgian Joseph-Antoine Plateau invented a device that produced the illusion of movement. Then, similar devices were created, which worked with drawings and photographs. The French brothers Louis and Auguste Lumière, in 1895, were the first to make and project films (animated photography).
However, cinema was only recognized as a mature and independent art from 1908, with the work of the American David Griffth and the use of camera movements, light, the chiaroscuro effect, and the movements of images on the screen. Thus, cinema was named the Seventh Art.
Until 1927, films were silent. Cinemas commonly hired pianists to play a background music during the screening. The first sound film, called The Jazz Singer, was directed in the United States by Alan Crosland.
In the early 1920s, silent films invaded the main Brazilian capitals, such as Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, São Paulo, Porto Alegre, and Recife, due to the national pro-cinema movement promoted by advertisements in the magazines Para Todos and Selecta, which at the time were the main mass communication vehicles.
In the pioneering phase of Brazilian cinema, regional cycles emerged. They were antiforeignism movements and produced films based on the sociocultural reality of the Brazilian people. The cycle of Pernambuco was the most productive.
The history of cinema in Pernambuco began in 1922 and was marked by two important moments for Brazilian regionalist cinema: the Cycle of Recife in the 1920s and the Super 8 Cycle in the 1970s. The documentaries produced by the latter are in the custody of the Coordination of Sound, Image and Microfilm of the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation.
The Cycle of Recife was one of the most important and busiest cycles of regionalist silent cinema, lasting about nine years. It brought together many young people, from various professional categories, who divided the time between their profession and the art of filmmaking.
In this golden age, young Edson Chagas, Gentil Roiz, Ary Severo, and Jota Soares stood out. They came together to rescue the national memory, as until then American films were the most successful in Brazil, but they were totally dissociated from the context of Brazilian society.
This period includes the largest production of Brazilian films and documentaries based on themes of the daily life of the society of Recife: Retribuição; Aitaré da Praia; Um Dia na Fazenda; Um Ato de Humanidade; Jurando Vingar; Filho Sem Mãe; Grandezas de Pernambuco; Histórias de Uma Alma; Herói do Século Vinte; A Filha do Advogado; Sangue de Irmãos; Reveses, Dança, Amor e Ventura; Destino das Rosas; No Cenário da Vida; and others.
Retribuição was the first film made in Pernambuco, from 1924 to 1925. It was written and directed by Gentil Roiz, based on bad boys, pretty ladies, mining, and much confusion, produced by Aurora Filmes, and starred Barreto Junior, Almery Steves, and Eronides Andrade.
Aitaré da Praia is another film of the Recife Cycle that stands out. It was also produced by Aurora Filmes, based on the regional theme of jangadeiros (raft sailors), and was considered the best produced 35 mm film. Aitaré da Praia starred the most praised team of protagonists, including Ary Severo, Jota Soares, Rilda Fernandes, and Almery Steves, and was directed by Gentil Roiz, who was considered the best director.
Several film companies were founded in the prime of the Recife Cycle, such as Aurora Filmes—which was the first producer of film tapes in Northeastern Brazil, located on the Rua de São João (Saint John Street), in the district of São José in Recife—Olinda Filmes, Vera Cruz, and many others. Many screening rooms were also built for the projection of the silent films of the 1920s, such as the Cinema do Parque, Moderno, Helvética, Royal, and Pathé. The Royal cinema, which operated at 47 Rua Nova (New Street), stood out in the decade. It became the sacred temple of the romanticism of the silent cinema of Pernambuco because its owner, Joaquim Matos, always decorated the place with flags and cinnamon leaves with each release of a new regional film to attract the audience of Recife.
Despite the great national repercussion of silent films, the decay of the Recife Cycle began in 1931 due to several factors, such as economic issues, the competitiveness of the film market, and the emergence of sound cinema in North America, which most contributed to the bankruptcy not only of the cinema of Pernambuco, but Brazilian cinema.
Even with the imminent bankruptcy, a group of filmmakers still made the last film of the heroic Recife Cycle: No Cenário da Vida, by Jota Soares and Mário Furtado de Mendonça.
From 1931 to 1969, the cinema of Pernambuco showed a considerable decrease in the production of 35 mm films, but made its first sound film, O Coelho Sai, written by Newton Paiva and Firmo Neto, however, its copy was destroyed in a fire. Other films produced in this interval were documentaries with anthropological themes, sponsored by the Joaquim Nabuco Institute for Social Research and directed by the French researchers Arnaldo Laroche and Romain Lesage.
Besides these documentaries, two other feature films were made: the adaptations of the play Auto da Compadecida, by Ariano Suassuna, and the poem Morte e Vida Severina, by João Cabral de Mello Neto.
In the 1970s, the international market released another innovation: the Super 8 mm film gauge, which revolutionized the international world of cinema.
The Super 8 Cycle began in Recife in 1973 as a movement similar to the Recife Cycle, but with an innovative and nationalist nature, according to its supporters. Its limited space of existence was a characteristic of this movement, as it was restricted to the national short film festivals held in Brazilian capitals.
The first National Super 8 Film Festival took place in Curitiba in April 1974. Among the 64 competing films, four were from Pernambuco: Caboclinhos do Recife (Fernando Spencer); Bajado, Um Artista de Olinda (Fernando Spencer and Celso Marconi); A Górgona Doméstica; and Vaquejada (Athos Cardoso and Osman Godoy).
Despite the short duration of this cycle, Pernambuco actively participated in the production of short films. Its greatest contribution took place at the festivals held in 1977, 1978, and 1979.
Jomar Muniz de Brito, Geneton Moraes Neto, Fernando Spencer, Celso Marconi, Walderes Soares, Paulo Menelau, and many others were supporters of the Super 8 Cycle who deserve praise for their good performance. Fernando Spencer was considered the greatest producer and promoter of this group, with about 36 documentaries based on cultural manifestations of Pernambuco.
The history of cinema in Pernambuco was marked especially by the strong nationalist and liberating tendency, which came from within society due to the mobilization of groups of people who lived in different times and, despite technical, economic, and political difficulties, overcame these barriers. Moreover, it showed the authentic popular culture of Northeastern Brazil by cinematographic art.
After these cycles, the productions are driven by the same libertarian feeling, also aiming to rescue the culture without losing the roots in order to build a multicultural, open, and modern vision.
Recife, May 24, 2004.
sources consulted
DUARTE, Eduardo. A estética do Ciclo do Recife. Recife: UFPE, Ed. Universitária, 1995. 67 p.
ENCICLOPÉDIA do estudante. São Paulo: Nova Cultural, c1973. v. 2.
FIGUEIRÔA, Alexandre. Cinema Pernambucano: uma história em ciclos. Recife: Fundação de Cultura Cidade do Recife, 2000. 121 p. (Coleção Malungo, 2).
MARCONI, Celso. Cinema: uma panorâmica. Recife: ASA Pernambuco, 1986. 78 p. (História Setorial de Pernambuco, 1).
how to quote this text
MACHADO, Regina Coeli Vieira. Pernambuco Cinema. In: Pesquisa Escolar. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, 2004. Available at:https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/artigo/cinema-pernambuco/. Access on: month day year. (Ex.: Aug. 6, 2020.)