Alvorada (film)


Alvorada - Brazil's Changing Face is a 1962 West German documentary film directed by Hugo Niebeling. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and was entered into the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.

Overview

The film offers an overview of Brazil, from the history of the country to the most recent developments at the time of its making - including developments of the industry and the new capital Brasília. It starts with an overview of the country itself and its history, and then proceeds to the social structure and social changes brought by industrialization and other development in recent years.

Style

The film does neither follow the camera- and editing-conventions of documentary films in the early 1960s, nor their narrative style. Instead, it uses experimental camera and editing techniques, often set to different kinds of music and electronic sounds by Oskar Sala. The voice-over-narration of the film only occasionally tells the viewer details about what they are seeing, often letting impressions speak for themselves. According to Hugo Niebeling, due to its tight connection of music and visual style, Alvorada is also his first "music film".

Reception