Escola de Samba: A film/ discussion on Brazil

Paul Goodman, Monday, October 26, 2009

4:30pm - Porter 100, Gregg Hall

This lecture is given in conjunction with the Brazil Today course offered on the Carnegie Mellon campus October 31 - November 1.

Paul Goodman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, will discuss "Escola de Samba," a one-hour documentary he created about how 4,000 Brazilians work to create the country's annual carnival.

This presentation will be a combination of showing my documentary film – Escola de Samba – plus a discussion with the audience. Escola de Samba is a documentary about creating the Brazilian carnival through the eyes of one “Escola de Samba” or samba school. For over 10 months, we followed one Escola de Samba - Camisa Verde e Branco (Green and White Shirts) - as they prepared to compete against other escolas in São Paulo, Brazil. The film takes the viewer through the process as this organization selects a theme, the music (one out of 80 sambas selected), the costumes, and the design of the floats or allegory cars. Then there is a complex set of activities concerning creating the costumes, the floats, extensive rehearsals, and finally the drama culminates at the Sambódromo or stadium, where the final processions and judging occurs. All this unfolds in the streets and life of Brazil. The music, dance, and visuals of the carnival, provide a dramatic context for the film.

One question is: How does this Escola de Samba get 4,000 people, fully costumed, choreographed, singing, with complex floats in a highly visual, musically coordinated spectacle? Another question is: What motivates these people, most with very limited resources, to invest so much time in this activity year after year? The answers to these and other questions come from the voices of the participants, and observing their work, as well as an understanding of life and culture of Brazil.

Escola de Samba continues to be shown on PBS stations nationally.