Contemporary Brasilia: Ambiguities and Contradictions of the City Seen by the Lenses of Cinema

Brasilia is recognized for its exceptional modernist architecture and urbanism, as well as for the socioeconomic segregation represented by the satellite cities. Its metropolitan area has more than three million inhabitants, from which 90% lives outside the limits of the planned city. This ambiguity is evident in the cinema, since on the one hand, the films produced for the advertisement of Brasilia explored its breadth, monumentality, and plasticity, and on the other hand, the ones made by the first generation of filmmakers born in the city reveal another Brasilia. This article will explore the tensions resulting from this socio-spatial segregation that are materialized in the constructed space and in Brasilia’s representation in cinema.

Brasília; Modern Urbanism; Cinema