“Cinema Novo is a project realized in the politics of hunger and, therefore, suffers from all the weaknesses resulting from its 
existence,” concluded Glauber Rocha, one of the most influential filmmakers in Brazilian history, in his manifesto “The Aesthetics of Hunger,” a fundamental text for understanding the motivations and dilemmas of one of the most important artistic movements in Brazil’s history. Inspired by the French Nouvelle Vague movement and Italian neorealism, Cinema Novo emerged from the desire of young filmmakers to portray the reality of the country critically, without Hollywood’s norms, without masks. With a typically Brazilian aesthetic, the works reveal Brazil’s inequalities in an unprecedented way.
Sparking in the first half of the 1960s, directors dissatisfied with the large 
companies that prioritized the so-called chanchadas (musical comedies inspired by Hollywood with carnival and burlesque themes) began to produce a new style of cinema in Brazil, with low-budget productions and a much greater focus on originality.
“Cinema Novo deepens the question of popular representation. It is this idea of bringing the people to the screen, showing the faces, customs, ways of being, and political dilemmas of the middle class. This is the strongest characteristic of Cinema Novo,” says Fernão Pessoa Ramos, a professor in the Film Department at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), who credits filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos, creator of classics like Rio 40 Graus (1954) and Rio Zona Norte (1957), with the title of “father of all” Cinema Novo directors.
Ramos, who is one of the organizers of “Nova História do Cinema Brasileiro,” a compilation with a detailed overview of all Brazilian cinematic history, highlights three essential factors to consider in understanding Cinema Novo.
The first is the stylistic aspect, symbolized by Glauber Rocha’s famous 
motto: “a camera in hand, an idea in the head,” which synthesizes the new cinematic experience sought by filmmakers of the time.
The second is the new mode of production created by directors in the country, with completely original techniques and resources. Finally, the movement was characterized by its generational aspect, marked by the rise of young 
directors advocating for a complete break with the type of cinema produced in the country.
Technology
In addition to innovating in artistic, aesthetic, and ideological aspects, Cinema Novo also marks an era of technological modernization in the national audiovisual sector. The new equipment, techniques, and materials that emerged in the 1960s were fundamental to the movement’s success, explained Ramos.
“There is no ideology without new techniques. The technological part was essential. The new image and sound technologies that exploded in the 
1960s range from photographic emulsions to new lenses, lighter cameras, sound. One cannot think of Cinema Novo without these new technologies of the 1960s. They were essential,” he asserts.
Directors and Films
In Cinema Novo: the fight for a national aesthetic (“Cinema Novo: The Fight for a National Aesthetic”), Professor Alexandre Figueirôa, a PhD in Cinematic and Audiovisual Studies from the University of Paris III Sorbonne-Nouvelle, reports that the Brazilian audience was introduced to the expressions of Cinema Novo in 1962 with Os Cafajestes (1963) by Ruy Guerra. Guerra was one of the main exponents of the movement, 
and would later direct important films like Os Fuzis (1963) and Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1970).
Other directors who helped define Cinema Novo include Paulo César Saraceni (O Desafio, Arraial do Cabo, Porto das Caixas), Joaquim Pedro de Andrade (O Couro de Gato, Garrincha: Herói do Povo, Macunaíma), Leon Hirszman (Pedreira de São Diogo, Maioria Absoluta), and Cacá Diegues (Escola de Samba Alegria de Viver, Ganga Zumba, A Grande Cidade), among others.
Despite the significant contribution of their works, none of these directors was 
as representative of Cinema Novo as the Bahian Glauber Rocha. Born in 1939, he led discussions on the need for a truly national cinema in Brazil. In addition to award-winning films like Terra em Transe (1967) and O Dragão da Maldade contra o Santo Guerreiro (1969), Rocha is the author of Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964), one of the most important works in the entire history of Brazilian cinema and the main symbol of Cinema Novo.
“I see Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol as the turning point of Cinema Novo. I think it is a key film because it breaks with the realistic tradition of neorealism and proposes a new perspective of fragmentation,” says Fernão Ramos. “It is a film ahead of its time,” he concluded.
Source: BrazilGovNews