RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The 17th Festa Literária Internacional (International Literary Festival) of Paraty (FLIP) began yesterday, July 10th, and runs until next Sunday, July 14th.
The opening session of FLIP’s main program was held yesterday evening at the Matriz Auditorium, with the “Canudos” debate table featuring the literary critic Walnice Nogueira Galvão, the author of over forty books, twelve of which are dedicated to the writer Euclides da Cunha, the event’s main honoree this year.
The opening show Mutação de Apoteose was held at the Auditório da Praça, with a performance by actress, playwright, director, and visual artist Camila Mota.
According to FLIP organizers, there will be free programs throughout the city. The Educational Program, FLIP+, the Casas Parceiras, and the Praça Aberta are but a few examples of free-access activities at the event for the visiting public and local residents. In the Auditório da Praça, located next to the Igreja Matriz church, there will be literary discussion panels and musical shows.
The admission fee for the main program’s literary panels, which will be held in the auditorium, is R$55, with the usual option of half-price entry for seniors and students. All debates will be simultaneously translated and broadcast to those in the square.
Tickets for the main program, which have been available since June 3rd on the internet, may be purchased at the event’s box office, at the window Último Minuto (Last Minute).
Terra Nova
The 17th FLIP edition introduces the artistic project Terra Nova, which seeks to trace new experiences in the city of Paraty for residents and visitors, from the No Ar (In the Air) installation, designed by artist Laura Vinci, with the Máquina do Mundo performance by the art group of Mundana Companhia de Teatro. A steam cloud installed on the bridge, the main public access to the historic center of Paraty, leads to a reflection on the transformation of states of nature, encouraging people to find new shapes in the mist.
“The Flip public will try to cross this mist, this fog, in the middle of the city, and will also be able to watch a performance that finds points of contact between fundamental texts of Brazilian literature and plastic forms,” highlights the festival’s curator, Fernanda Diamant.
Black God, White Devil
Glauber Rocha’s iconic 1964 film “Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol” (“Black God, White Devil”), filmed in Monte Santo, Bahia, establishes a connection with the work “Os Sertões” (“Rebellion in the Backlands”), by Euclides da Cunha, an honoree at the 17th Flip edition, by depicting the violence and authoritarianism that is typical of the Brazilian backlands. The exhibition is scheduled for tomorrow, July 11th, at 10 PM, in the Auditório da Praça. A landmark of Brazil’s “cinema novo” (new cinema), the film will be shown in full and with English subtitles.
The film session will be preceded by a performance by singer, filmmaker, and composer Ava Rocha, in honor of her father, Glauber Rocha, who would have celebrated his 80th birthday in 2019.
Within the main program, Flip+ will also showcase classic Brazilian feature films at the Cinema da Praça, which, according to Fernanda Diamant, engage with Os Sertões (“Rebellion in the Backlands”) and the creative universe of Euclides da Cunha.
The films Vidas Secas (“Barren Lives”) from 1963 by Nelson Pereira dos Santos; Cabra Marcado para Morrer (“Man Marked for Death”) from 1984 by Eduardo Coutinho; Árido Movie from 2005 by Lírio Ferreira; and Tabu from 2012 by Miguel Gomes are the most noteworthy.
Casa Azul
The educational area of Flip takes place throughout the year, promoting reading, involving children and youths with their communities, in the pursuit of appreciation for the local culture and knowledge.
These actions are carried out in the Casa Azul Community Library, on Ilha das Cobras, regarded as one of the most vulnerable areas of Paraty. Founded in 2003, during the first edition of Flip, with a small collection of books by the authors invited at the time, the library now holds more than 16,000 works. In addition, it offers ongoing programs for the training of readers and support for teachers in the public school network.
Participating Writers and Artists
Among the national and foreign authors taking part in this year’s Flip are composer Adriana Calcanhoto; indigenous leader and environmentalist Ailton Krenak; Brazilian artist and playwright Grace Passô; Portuguese interdisciplinary artist Grada Kilomba; Angolan writer Kalaf Epalanga, member of the band Buraka Som Sistema; American writer Kristen Roupenian; British naturalized Brazilian photographer Maureen Bisilliat and Canadian writer Sheila Heti.
Biologist and researcher Stuart Firestein, a professor at Columbia University, USA, heading a study on the olfactory system of vertebrates, has canceled his visit to participate in Flip for health reasons. Firestein would be in charge of panel Table 18, over the indigenous land of Massacará, and he will be replaced by the Brazilian neuroscientist Sidarta Ribeiro.
Culture
The Paraty Municipal Culture Secretariat will hold an active program at the 17th Flip. Activities will occur at the Municipal Library, Cinema na Praça, and Mercado das Artes, where the official area for local crafts is located.
In an interview with Agência Brasil, Paraty’s deputy secretary of culture, José Sérgio Barros, emphasizes that Flip is the biggest literary event in Latin America due to its offer and program diversity. “It is the greatest advantage of Flip to mobilize the whole area of tourism and economy of the city, in addition to the work developed in the educational area.”
Barros points out the increased activity recorded in the cultural facilities that managed to engage Paraty’s students during Flip. In some of the festival’s editions that took place after the school year, schools found it difficult to mobilize students, the secretary recalled. This year, Flip returns within the school term, when student attendance is higher.
For eleven years, the Assistant Secretary of Culture led the entire student community to Flip through Flipinha, directly responsible for the involvement of teacher training interns and high school students, and for children’s activities in the Arte na Praça and Os Pés de Livros events, which were held on the five days of the festival. “We can truly see a much larger attendance when we are involved with the schools”.
Flip is sponsored by the Ministry of Citizenship and Banco Itaú and co-sponsored by EDP and CMPC.
Download the complete program of Flip 2019 here.