Samba!

Samba! follows the intense six-month buildup to the world famous Carnaval of Rio de Janeiro through several diverse and eccentric characters who have devoted their lives to the pagentry and mythology surrounding the annual event. These include some of the parade's aging founders, powerful businessmen, a formerly rich aesthete who has spent his family fortune on a series of increasingly elaborate costumes, an overweight recluse from Los Angeles who discovered Carnaval over the Internet, and the "Socialist Socialite" who represents Rio's poorest favelas. The film traces raging battles between tradition and business, and uses samba culture and its representation in the media as a vehicle for addressing race and class in contemporary Brazil.

The partner of the screening is the international music film festival [Music on Film-Film on Music] (http://www.moffom.org/en/index.php).