Celebrating another birthday on this October 27, the father of Brazil’s most famous gang—Monica’s Gang—is the main character in a series of tributes. With a film about his life and a book that gathers tributes from 90 comic artists, the boy who never stopped drawing reaches 90 years old.
After telling so many stories to children and adults alike, now Mauricio de Sousa’s story will hit the screens and the newsstands and bookstores across the country.
The first of these stories is a biopic, presented in a special session at the Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo last week, with the illustrious presence of its subject. Titled Mauricio de Sousa – O Filme, the biopic shows the artist’s origins, his creative process, and the birth of Brazil’s most beloved characters like Mônica, Cebolinha, Cascão, and Magali. In this film, Mauricio appears on the big screen portrayed by his own son, Mauro Sousa.
“In the month of my father’s 90th birthday, not only he, but I and all Brazilians will have this gift, which is a film in his honor telling a part of his story. I had the honor of portraying him in cinemas. It’s my cinema debut, so that’s another reason for it to really be a very special moment for us, especially for me,” Mauro told the Caminhos da Reportagem program, which airs this Monday (27) on TV Brasil.
“I would say this was, without a doubt, the most intense, emotional, and unforgettable experience of my life. And challenging too, after all, I’m portraying my father in the cinema, who is an icon, Brazilian cultural heritage, and at the same time a father, an artist, and a businessman,” he stated.
In addition to screening the new film, the Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo awarded Mauricio de Sousa the Leon Cakoff prize, a recognition of his work and a celebration of his birthday. The festival also screened three productions about the Limoeiro gang during the second edition of its children’s programming: Turma da Mônica: Laços, Turma da Mônica: Lições, and Chico Bento e a Goiabeira Maraviósa.
Besides these tributes, journalist Sidney Gusman, editor of the UniversoHQ website and MSP Estúdios, announced the launch of a collection book, already on sale, gathering 90 comic artists from across Brazil to celebrate the author. The work is titled MSP90.
“I decided to make a book with 90 authors. It came out this October for his birthday. There are 90 authors and female authors from all over Brazil, each making three-page stories,” he explained to the Caminhos da Reportagem program. “They are authors of all genres you can imagine, making comic strips, humor, horror. So, I think this is the trophy he will carry forever, the legacy he brought not only in supporting reading but also in forming so many comic artists in Brazil.”
One of the comic artists and illustrators invited to participate in this special MSP90 was Helô D’Angelo. “Since I always wanted to work with comics, Mauricio de Sousa was a horizon for me, the only person I knew who made comics that weren’t superheroes,” she told the TV Brasil program.
For this tribute to Mauricio de Sousa, the comic artist and illustrator chose to work with a somewhat unusual character: Dona Pedra.
“If you read Bidu’s little stories, you’ll often see Bidu talking to a rock. It’s kind of philosophical. But in my story, Dona Pedra, even as the protagonist, will be more of a connecting thread. I included the rock because it’s one of the few fixed things in our lives. And that allowed me to draw several Monica’s Gang characters interacting with her,” she explained. “I wanted to do something that wasn’t so comfortable for me, you know, and not what people expect from my work. I wanted something that let me explore as many different situations and characters as possible, really play around,” she declared.
According to Helô, participating in MSP90, which is even more diverse in this edition, is a great achievement. “The national comics scene is very diverse, and it has been for a while. But historically, there was an erasure of that diversity, not just in comics but in all areas, especially in the arts. That’s why having this diversity in MSP is so important because it brings artists from diverse geographic, social origins, different genders, to bring different views on [Mauricio’s] characters.”
According to her, Mauricio de Sousa always sought to bring this diversity to his gang. “Mônica is a super strong girl, the strongest in the world, the strongest on the street. She’s the boss of the street, who beat up the boys. Until Mônica, we didn’t have a representation of a girl like that,” said Helô D’Angelo. “Before, girls had to be sweet, delicate, silly, innocent. And Mônica is none of that. Besides Mônica, there are many other characters that emerged later, like Pipa, Tina’s friend. She’s one of the few fat characters in comics, and the fact that she’s fat isn’t the focus of the comics about her. That’s very revolutionary.”
Source: Agência Brasil