Counterflows Tropicalia by Marcelo Machado

Counterflows’ film screenings explore the work of artists who cross boundaries and connect and engage culturally across communities using music as a force to develop new thinking and enhance society.

This wonderful film may seem an odd choice but actually it reveals through the evocation of an exhilarating period in Brazil’s cultural development how artists can influence the political framework of the society they find themselves a part of. Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso were and are massive stars of Brazilian music but in 1968 were imprisoned for their views. With complete artistic integrity they grappled with pop music and dictatorship and what the responsible response of the artist can be.