O cinema científico de B. J. Duarte e suas singularidades: do roteiro de vida ao filme Transplante cardíaco humano, 1968

Abstract

The present master’s thesis aims to take a critical look at the “medical-scientific” cinema produced by Benedito Junqueira Duarte (1910-1995), who embarked on the cinematographic field from the mid-1930s. Although B. J. Duarte has made important insertions in photography and film criticism, in this research we seek to give greater focus to his career as a filmmaker and more particularly to the way he acted in his productions, i.e. how the scientific activity was interpreted and represented by him. Most of this work concerns the film Human Heart Transplant, directed by the filmmaker in 1968 at the Hospital das Clínicas of the USP Medical School – the record of the first heart transplant performed in the whole of South America. Besides performing an analysis of the narrative and aesthetic elements of the work, we present technical and contextual information, which helps us to understand the importance and scope of this type of production in Brazil