Ironically, the big winner of the 13th It's All True International Documentary Film Festival, Pan-Cinema Permanente directed by Carlos Nader, features a subject that declares, "I don't need truths! Just lies. Essential lies." That pretty much sums up poet Waly Salomão's over-the-top attitude in this film that is a loving portrait made by a dear friend. Salomão was an excessive personality who made life a performance.

As someone who had never heard of Salomão before watching this film, there are two scenes that I remember very fondly. One is footage of an interview Salomão gave on Syrian television. (Salomão's father was Syrian and he goes to the fatherland to reconnect with his relatives there.) The calm, polished demeanor of the interviewer plays at perfect odds with Salomão's eccentricity, to revealing and hilarious effect.

The other scene is a confession by the director that Salomão simply never let his guard down for the camera. The only glimpse we have of him relaxed is when he is sleeping, but even that footage is not as straight-forward as it should be. Opaque in every way, Salomão actively creates and projects his own image throughout the film.

What I loved about Pan-Cinema Permanente was that Nader lets Salomão have center stage while not one-upping him. The editing is quick and playful and the visuals, full of color, are approached in surprising ways. Watching Salomão's endless energy can feel a bit exhausting at times, but the impact of his art and life on those around him must have been a wonderful thing.

Harrison Ford and Alice Braga in Crossing Over

I'm amazed at how many roles Alice Braga is landing in Hollywood lately. At 25 years old, she's only starred in one Brazilian movie (Cidade Baixa), and she's foregone the traditional path to celebrity here by acting in soap operas on TV Globo (though her aunt, Sônia Braga, is a famous soap actress who once tried to make a career for herself abroad but it is probably best known to mainstream audiences as Samantha's lesbian lover on Sex and the City).

Alice's agent must be doing something right. She's currently showing in U.S. theaters in David Mamet's Redbelt, plays "the girl with dark glasses" in the Cannes-opener Blindness (reuniting with Meirelles after a bit part in City of God), and has roles alongside stars like Harrison Ford and Jude Law in two upcoming films. All of this after starring last year in the Will Smith blockbuster I Am Legend.

The only other Brazilian actor I can think of getting this level of exposure is Rodrigo Santoro, who also has a role in Redbelt. Rodrigo is actually much more famous in Brazil, due to his career in soap operas and well-regarded films like Bicho de Sete Cabeças and Abril Despedaçado ("Behind the Sun"), but I feel like he's been trying to break out internationally much longer than Alice. Ironically, Alice said in an interview last year that she wishes she could do a Brazilian soap opera but hasn't been able to find the time. I guess the grass really is greener on the other side.

The New York Times Travel section continues its love affair with São Paulo, with an article about chic new shopping in the bohemian (and rapidly gentrifying) neighborhood of Vila Madalena. Of course, the article is written for travelers in the upper income bracket. Nevermind that they misspelled a few street names.

Vila Madalena (and neighboring Pinheiros) is definitely one of the most fashionable areas of the city for film folk. Many production companies are based there, in addition to the Brazilian MTV headquarters. I used to live in the area, and it's see-and-be-seen for lunch at Mercearia de São Pedro or when going out at night to StudioSP (one of the go-to spots for film premiere parties).

Meanwhile, I'm hoping my current neighborhood, Consolação, will stay off the NYT's radar for awhile yet. I've lived around here for a year and a half and it's already transformed pretty shockingly in this time. All the trendy new bars and restaurants opening up are only OK as long as I can still afford a drink or two!

Last week I caught the Spanish-Mexican co-production La Zona, directed by Rodrigo Plá, which is currently in theatrical release in Brazil. I have to say, the film surpassed my expectations. I thought it would be the frustrating type of movie that starts out as a social critique but ends up becoming a messy Hollywood-wannabe-thriller that doesn't have the guts to truly finish what it started. I was pleased to find that the plot does get messy - but in a good way, sustaining its unflinching look at ugly realities while swiftly moving the story forward to some unexpected places.

La Zona takes place in a wealthy gated community in Mexico City that could easily double for an exclusive neighborhood in São Paulo. One night three boys enter this community for petty theft, but things get out of control and one of the residents gets killed. Two of the boys are found and killed, but the third stays hidden and is unable to escape the neighborhood without getting caught by homeowners hungry for "justice." Meanwhile, community leaders make every attempt to keep the police away from the scene of the crime for fear of losing control of their privileged area. Wrought with tension, La Zona has a killer premise that exposes some serious social divisions.

I have to admit that one of my motives for seeing this movie is Maribel Verdú. She doesn't even get that much screen time in La Zona but she's one of those actresses who just appeals to me - I think it has something to do with her Spanish (ie, from Spain) accent and the fact that she's somehow intimidating in every role I remember her in.

Earlier this month I caught Estômago, directed by Marcos Jorge. The film took a bunch of awards last year at the Festival do Rio and seems to have been an audience favorite wherever it has played. The story is about a seemingly naive man from the Northeast, Raimundo Nonato (played by João Miguel), who comes to São Paulo looking for work. He shows some natural talent at cooking and gets noticed by a prosperous restaurant owner, who takes him under his wing and teaches him the nuances of the finer foods. Juxtaposed with these scenes are revelations of Raimundo's jail time in the future, where he uses his culinary knowledge to ingratiate himself with his cellmates who are a little rough-around-the-edges. The film relies on the audience's desire to reconcile Raimundo's bleak future with his promising present to create suspense; on the way he falls in love with a food-obsessed prostitute who is more than willing to accept Raimundo's cooking as a form of payment.

João Miguel has made a career out of playing simple Northeasterners to perfection in Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus, O Céu de Suely ("Love for Sale"), and now Estômago. He really carries this movie and gives it heart. Personally, I would have liked the plot fleshed out to depend less on the vicarious satisfaction of seeing people prepare and eat delicious food. Doesn't everyone love a good cook? Raimundo cooked miracles time after time, and while I watched (getting hungrier by the minute) I couldn't help but think it was a little too easy.

That said, I found Estômago entertaining if not all that original, and I enjoyed Giovanni Venosta's playful score. As this is Marcos Jorge's first feature I am now very curious to see what he will do next.

I had the privilege of being involved with the 13th It's All True Documentary Film Festival, which took place in São Paulo from March 26 to April 6. The guest of honor was prolific Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth, who many know solely as Lars von Trier's adversary in The Five Obstructions, but has had long and varied careers as poet and director of (primarily) documentary films for over 40 years.

For a variety of reasons, many directors who visit São Paulo are usually intimidated by the sprawl of the city and/or are a bit paranoid about their safety - but that was not the case with Jørgen, as he has lived in Haiti for 20 years! He had also already been to Brazil before, filming scenes for his 1986 doc Moments of Play (complete with a musical score by his hero Tom Jobim).

This time around, Jørgen is in Brazil to film what he considers one of his most challenging projects yet: a documentary called The Erotic Human. It's a project he's been working on for years, and he confessed that he considered abandoning it in the heat of a scandal that involved his published memoirs in Denmark in 2005. Since then, with the encouragement of his producer Lars von Trier (who seems to have gotten over his Oedipal complex and does not want to destroy his mentor anymore... at least for the time being), Jørgen has once again taken up the project and is currently filming in Manaus (in the Amazon) with his cameraman and long-time collaborator Dan Holmberg. I'm pretty curious to see what will result.

Below is the famous "My name is Andy Warhol and I just ate a hamburger" scene from Jørgen's 66 Scenes from America.

It's finally official: Blindness, directed by Fernando Meirelles and based on the book by José Saramago, will open Cannes. A lot of us who work with film in São Paulo were pretty shocked when the film didn't make the competition lineup as it seemed like a shoe-in, but the possibility of it scoring the coveted opening night slot hadn't even occurred to me!

With the combined pedigree of the director, cast (including Julianne Moore, Danny Glover, Gael García Bernal, and Mark Ruffalo), and source material, expectations for this one are high. It's O2 Filmes' biggest production yet and media attention since filming in São Paulo last year has been intense.

For those of you who read Portuguese, Fernando Meirelles has been keeping a blog about his experiences with the movie. I found this part interesting, where he explains that Miramax had reservations about the intensity of the cut he screened for them (translation mine):

"By contract, the final cut is mine, but these guys know what they're talking about and I took advantage of their expertise and my disposition to rethink once again the editing. I thought they were hypersensitive to the scenes of sexual violence and I didn't pay too much attention to their comments. Not one friend in Brazil had mentioned this problem. North Americans are more moralistic, I generalized. But nevertheless, as a good neighbor policy, I decided to lessen a little the film's voltage. A little."

By the way, you can see the movie's oddly-paced (in my opinion) trailer below: