Successful Brazilian Summer in Rotterdam
Caramundo closed the summer months in Rotterdam successfully. Camera Mundo, The Brazilian Squares around town and R.U.A. (Reflexo on Urban Art) - Festival which gave Rotterdam beautiful Brazilian art and culture in the streets, we can proudly look back to this warm summer.
Camera Mundo
The 2nd edition of the independent film festival Camera Mundo took place in June in Rotterdam. We projected over 150 unique films and hosted 45 independent Brazilian film directors, producers, actors, musicians and DJ’s. The weather gave the festival a real Brazilian character with an average of 28 degrees and the presence of such a huge amount of Brazilian guests made the festival a constant party.
It was a very hard job for the technicians in the projection booths to keep the pace with the heat of the beamers, interrupting the smooth projection of the DVD’s, some movies didn’t want to play because of the heat, but in the end we saw that as being the charm of the festival; the Brazilian directors where patient to give a helping hand in de projection booths or keep the audience alert.
The presence of our very special guests Di Melo and DJ Samuca - who stole the show in café Dizzy on Friday with the local musicans Marijn van der Linden, Julio Pimentel en Jan Dumee - made the opening of the festival a fact. This was only the warming up because on Saturday it continued when Tejo Damasceno (Turbo Trio), Rica Amabis and DJ Samuca and VJ Holzmeister & friends rocked the roof off Lantaren/Venster at the soundtrack party.
Not to speak about all the films that we could see during three days. The many directors present at the festival gave various Q&A’s that always continued in the lounge of Lantaren Venster with a caipirinha or two and long discussions about Brazilian independent cinema, politics, culture in general and opportunities handed by Camera Mundo. We are proud that we succeeded to offer upcoming talents in Brazilian independent cinema an international stage. (click here to see some photos of the festival)
For more info on Camera Mundo click here
Praçinhas Brasileiras
After Camera Mundo we didn’t stop. Rotterdam could enjoy the laid back climate of a real Brazilian square on several spots around town. Brazilian snacks, drinks and live music; people could print their own shirts at the MiCamichula Silk Screen caravan, and Brazilian products where for sale in little stands. At dawn Cosymo’s Solar Cinema showed films such as Morrinho or the Savio Leite MUMIA selection of Brazilian most stunning animations. On August 1st we celebrated the official opening of the R.U.A. Festival in front of the NAi (Nederlands Architectuur Instituut) with a very special show, straight from São Paulo. Curumin shaked the stage ánd technicians of “Squat Deluxe” and e-ve-ry bo-dy was dancing!
R.U.A – Reflexo on Urban Art
The months July and August we where also happy to receive the Brazilian graffiti artists Speto, Gais, Onesto, Ramon Martins, Dalata, Onio, Yusk, Horoiwa and Stile. We invited them to leave their marks behind on ten buildings around town and show us their colourful and inspiring art. Our goal was to refute the negative image graffiti has in Rotterdam and show that graffiti is a form of urban art that should be given more space to develop itself and add to the positive development of a city. By stigmatizing graffiti as illegal and chase those who are inspired to make art in the street, it is impossible for writers to develop their techniques and polish their work. They need to run before they finish and a layman would see it as ugly dirt. Caramundo showed with those walls, that graffiti is art and art is subjective. You like it, or you don’t.
It was absolutely not easy to get all walls confirmed on time and we had some obstacles to overcome with delayed paint and working force, but the team was extremely motivated and full of power to make of this wonderful project something never to forget. With the excellent support of Braber Onderhoud, Doornbos Equipment, the Hilton Hotel, Bureau Binnenstad and Kroonpart in Rotterdam we managed to overcome all our own limits and literally climb sky-high to realize this project.
When the boys weren’t painting, they gathered in our Container atelier, where we had our office and paint deposit. This area turned out to be the hangout during the summer where we cooked, had stunning parties with endless DJ sets of Gais and Gustavinho, sjoelbak-competitions, Japanese meditating sessions and “Spetolized” – yoga classes. R.U.A. Festival was a wonderful exchange which overcame all bounderies.
