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'The Way He Looks' movie: Gay teen love story is Brazil's entry for the 2015 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (photo: Fábio Audi and Ghilherme Lobo in 'The Way He Looks') In mid-September, The Way He Looks / Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho was selected as Brazil's entry for the 2015 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. Written and directed by 32-year-old São Paulo native Daniel Ribeiro, The Way He Looks (the Portuguese-language title literally means "Today I Want to Go Back Alone") won two awards at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival: the International Film Critics' Fipresci Prize for Best Film in the Panorama sidebar and the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender characters. Based on Ribeiro's 2010 short I Don't Want to Go Back Alone / Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho, The Way He Looks tells the story of Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo), a blind 15-year-old struggling to become...

Wagner Moura, The Elite Squad 2 José Padilha's Tropa de Elite 2 / The Elite Squad 2, a controversial sequel to the equally controversial 2007 Brazilian blockbuster and Berlin Film Festival winner The Elite Squad, has become the top local production at the Brazilian box office in 2010. According to preliminary results accounting for 90% of the 696 theaters showing the film, after 10 days The Elite Squad 2 has been seen by 4.14 million moviegoers (approx. Us$26.6m in ticket sales), surpassing previous 2010 hits Nosso Lar / Our Home and Chico Xavier, both dramas with a spiritualistic bent, which to date have sold 3.64m and 3.41m admissions, respectively. Here's another comparison: Brazil's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, Fábio Barreto's costly Lula, the Son of Brazil, sold approximately 800,000 admissions. On its opening weekend alone, The Elite Squad 2 was seen by 1.3m moviegoers according to the film trade [...]...

Lula, The Son of Brazil: Mother Glória Pires and her seven children, including Felipe Falanga (yellow shirt) as the boy Lula Unanimity isn't what it used to be. First, Quentin Tarantino's Venice Film Festival jury unanimously decides to hand out awards to the director's friends. Now comes a unanimous decision from Brazil's Official Film Selection Committee to have Fábio Barreto's costly biopic (some would call it a "hagiopic") Lula, o Filho do Brasil / Lula, the Son of Brazil as the country's submission for the 2011 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Reportedly the most expensive Brazilian movie ever at the time of its release in Jan. 2010, Lula, the Son of Brazil turned out to be a major critical and commercial disappointment, criticized for its glorification of the current Brazilian president and grossing only Us$4m. Based on Denise Paraná's book, Lula, the Son of Brazil shows how migrant Luis...