Kleber Mendonça Filho Introduces Neighboring Sounds

“I’d put money on the likelihood that Brazil’s Kleber Mendonça Filho is on track to become a major filmmaker in the coming years. Neighboring Sounds is a thrilling discovery.”–Gavin Smith, Film Comment

Welcome Kleber Mendonça Filho to the Wexner Center in our inaugural Via Brasil event. This assured debut feature by the Brazilian film critic-turned-filmmaker is already being acclaimed as one of they year’s most accomplished and gripping films. Tension fills the air in the Brazilian coastal city of Recife as a history of violence and oppression threatens to engulf the residents of a single affluent city block. When a private security firm is reluctantly brought in to protect the residents from a spate of petty crime, it unleashes the fears, anxieties and resentments of a divided society still haunted by its troubled past.

We’re thrilled to be able to bring Mendonça Filho to Columbus to discuss his film with audiences. Not only because it’s a truly extraordinary film that viewers will love to watch and discuss, but also because it kicks off a larger Wexner Center project devoted to Brazilian cinema and art. Last year Wexner Center received a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation to research and present Brazilian programming in the areas of film/video and exhibitions. The initiative culminates in major exhibitions in our galleries and an extensive film series in our theater in the winter of 2014. But to lead up to that Brazilian bounty, this screening of Neighboring Sounds initiates an ongoing, monthly screening series devoted to the riches of Brazilian cinema. This monthly series will provide Columbus audiences with an uncommon opportunity to explore and discover the vibrant and vital cinematic offerings—both contemporary and historical—from this singular country.