The film follows the April 2014 visit of the “marginal” poet to Harvard University 

 

Chacal: Forbidden to Write Poetry (2015, directed by Rodrigo Lopes de Barros and co-produced by Guilherme Trielli Ribeiro) is an allegoric transposition of the memories and interpretations about Brazilian culture that poet Chacal presented at Harvard University, in April 2014. The film offers an overview of his poems, performances, workshops, talks and life experiences, which took place during his passage through the well-known American educational institution.    

The documentary is based on the exchange between the filmmakers and the poet. Chacal engaged in a reflection on his own artistic journey, from his debut through the mimeographed book Muito prazer, Ricardo (1971) to the present day – encompassing his iconic collection of poems Belvedere (2007) and the publication of his autobiography and cultural testimony Uma história à margem (2010). These reflections involve, therefore, nothing less than four and a half decades of poetry, whose tensions emanate from a meticulous work concerning poetic language, as well as from an attentive observation of Brazilian and Western historical experience.         

Shot partially in Super 8, the film aims at providing, through images, the high-tension of the dialogue between the camera and Chacal’s electrik lyrics and vocals – as he proclaims to be the psychedelic reincarnation of Brazilian modernist Oswald de Andrade. His groundbreaking countercultural poems, which appear to be traversed by beats and rhythms from Tropicália (by lucid emotion and acid irony), discuss anthropophagically his poetic and political challenge: “Every poet is an arms dealer.”  

 

Technical Specifications   

English Title: Chacal: Forbidden to Write Poetry
Original Title: Chacal: Proibido Fazer Poesia
Year: 2015
Director and Editor: Rodrigo Lopes de Barros
Production and Screenplay: Guilherme Trielli Ribeiro and Rodrigo Lopes de Barros
Performance: Ricardo Chacal
Original Soundtrack: João Pedro Garcia & Tustão Cunha
Cinematography: Mar Bassa and Rodrigo Lopes de Barros

Length: 25 min.