Retrospective: Karim Aïnouz
With generous empathy and a sensualist’s eye for detail, Karim Aïnouz has created a unique body of work that provides loving but unsentimental portraits of memorable characters. While alive with beauty and emotion, the world he presents is also astutely aware of the structures that limit their possibilities. The son of a Brazilian mother and Algerian father, and a graduate of New York University’s film school, Aïnouz has become a treasured presence at the world’s most important film festivals. He’s the perfect guest to close out the Wex’s winter of Brazilian programming.
Via Brasil
Via Brasil is the Wexner Center’s multidisciplinary initiative focusing on contemporary art and culture in Brazil made possible by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Visiting Filmmakers
Rising stars and acclaimed masters come to screen their films and talk with Wexner Center audiences.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aïnouz’s debut feature, Madame Satã, remains his best-known work in the states. It’s a hypnotic recreation of the life one of Brazil’s most famous drag queens and gay icons, João Francisco dos Santos—a Josephine Baker-wannabe who rose from the ghettos of Rio in the 1930s to become a national figure of defiance and resistance. As LA Weekly noted, lead actor Lázaro Ramos “combines the street swagger of a hard-core homo thug with the balletic grace of a self-created queen,” offering “a subversive take on black cool and black queerness.” A reception with Aïnouz, cosponsored by Stonewall Columbus, follows the screening. (103 mins., 35mm)
