“Desire Machine - 60 years of Teatro Oficina”: Film Screening and Discussion Panel

Date: 

Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 5:30pm to 7:00pm


This event is virtual and will be held in both English and Portuguese with simultaneous interpretation. To register, click here.

Speakers: Marília Gallmeister, Scenic Architect and member of Teatro Oficina since 2011; Lucas Weglinski, Actor and Filmmaker, one of the two directors of “Desire Machine”; Patricio del Real, Associate Professor at Harvard University, Department of History of Art and Architecture
Moderated by: João Marcos Copertino, PhD Candidate at Harvard University, Department of Romance Languages and Literature; Victor Próspero, Fulbright Visiting Fellow at Harvard University, Department of History of Art and Architecture; PhD Candidate at University of São Paulo

In six decades, Teatro Oficina has done more than revolutionize theatrical language in the country; the aesthetic influence of José Celso Martinez Corrêa's company extends from Tropicalism to the renewal of Brazilian audiovisual languages from the 1960s onwards. The film revisits a story that involves personalities such as Caetano Veloso, Glauber Rocha, Lina Bo Bardi, Chico Buarque and Zé do Caixão, brings together scenic art, ecology, architecture and sexuality, and mixes art and life in dialogue with different Brazilian languages.

The movie “Desire Machine” by Lucas Weglinski and Joaquim Castro is a documentary made exclusively of Teatro Oficina’s video archive with materials from the 1950s to nowadays. The group’s history shown through these images is of striking coherence and intensity. More than that, the images reveal a strong relationship between the theater and the city. Not only through its architecture—a milestone designed by Lina Bo Bardi and Edson Elito—but also evidencing the violent urban changes and the radical responses given by the group’s art. Following Oficina’s fruitfulness, the film magnificently raises multiple questions in interdisciplinary directions.

The film will be available to watch during the two days prior to the debate on March 8, 2022. Registered participants will receive the film link in their email. 

Event organized by moderators  João Marcos Cupertino and Victor Próspero. Presented in collaboration with the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures