Pixote

An heir apparent of Jean Vigo’s cinematic revolt: a group of rebellious kids that seem doomed to failure… The first half of Héctor Babenco’s Pixote takes place in a correctional institution and is horrific in its visual veracity. The toilets are always filthy, the food is nasty, the clothes are shabby. Rapes, humiliations, and beatings have the status of daily rituals. Pixote and his cohorts seize a fleeting chance to escape and end up in São Paulo, where –  though it might have seemed impossible – life is even more difficult. Shot like a documentary, Pixote is an elegy for all abandoned children whose futures are stripped away and painted in the same dreary colours over and over again. Compared to this shocking classic of Brazilian cinema, Vigo’s Zéro de conduite resembles a pleasant walk in the park.

Patrycja Mucha

Héctor Babenco (1946–2016) was a Brazilian director and screenwriter. He was born in Argentina to Jewish emigrants from Ukraine and Poland, and gained his film skills in the 1960s in Europe, working at the Cinecittà studio in Rome among other places. He made his first feature Fabuloso Fittibaldi in 1973 and his masterpiece Pixote in 1981. The 1985 film Kiss of the Spider Woman brought him international fame and an Oscar nomination for best direction.

Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata in association with HB Filmes, Cinemateca Brasileira, and JLS Facilitações Sonoras. Restoration funded by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

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