Rudolph Rex Lustig, Adalberto Kemeny Sao Paolo, Symphony of a Metropolis

film: Brazil, 1929

São Paolo, A Symphonia da Metrópole
(film: Brazil, 1929; directors Rudolph Rex Lustig and Adalberto Kemeny)
Lustig and Kemeny were Hungarian natives with an infatuation for Sao Paolo. This black-and-white classic is their celluloid salute to what was even then a visibly ‘modern’ metropolis. Inspired by Walter Ruttman’s 1927 film, Berlin, Symphony of a big city, the film trains its lens on Sao Paolo’s burgeoning business district, its factories and workers, and showcase avenues. Livio Tragtenberg and Wilson Sukorski provided the 1997 musical composition.