Abstract/Summary

The relationship between cinema and the real is probably the most central and complex issue in film studies. In this article I shall attempt to address this issue by looking at a selection of films in which intermedial devices, that is, the utilisation within film of artforms such as painting, theatre and music, appear to function as a “passage” to political and social reality. Case studies will be drawn from the São Paulo and Pernambuco scenes, as represented by Beto Brant, Cláudio Assis,Tata Amaral, Paulo Caldas and Marcelo Luna, in order to demonstrate their shared values at a certain historical juncture and interconnectedness across Brazilian geography.