Um lugar, o menino e o vento: impacto e memórias da gravação do filme em Visconde do Rio Branco-MG

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the cultural impact of the film O Menino e o Vento (1967) in the city of Visconde do Rio Branco, Brazil. It adopts a theoretical-practical approach, culminating in the production of the documentary Um Lugar, O Menino e o Vento as an integral part of the research. The filming of O Menino e o Vento in 1966 constituted a significant event in the local context, marking the city’s relationship with cinematic production. The film was produced by Carlos Hugo Christensen Produções Cinematográficas, co-produced and distributed by ART Filmes, and directed by the Argentine filmmaker Carlos Hugo Christensen, based on the short story O Iniciado do Vento by Aníbal Machado, with adaptations and dialogues by Millôr Fernandes. The choice of this object aligns with recent approaches in film historiography, particularly the New Cinema History perspective (Maltby, Biltereyst, and Meers, 2011), which emphasizes the social and cultural dimensions of cinema rather than focusing exclusively on the filmic text. Methodologically, the research includes fieldwork aimed at identifying the film’s impact on the city. Primary sources were accessed at the Museu Municipal Theresinha de Almeida Pinto, which preserves part of the film’s archive, including photographs, posters, furniture, and press materials, in addition to digital and institutional sources such as YouTube, the Portal Brasileiro de Cinema, the Cinemateca Brasileira, and academic publications. Interviews were conducted with different groups: individuals who witnessed the filming, those who heard about it, and others encountering the work for the first time. As a practical component, a documentary was produced, adopting the participatory mode (Nichols, 2008) and the concept of the “device-film” (Migliorin, 1993). The documentary employs the archive interactively through six public-space actions: urban projections, poster interventions, photographic reenactments, public screenings, collaboration with a local artist, and Super 8 recordings, in addition to an indoor exhibition at the museum. The film’s editing, guided by the poetic mode (Nichols, 2008), articulates individual and collective memory, past and present, and fiction and documentary, revealing how O Menino e o Vento continues to inhabit the city’s cultural imagination.