{"id":54095,"date":"2023-05-07T20:24:17","date_gmt":"2023-05-07T17:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=54095"},"modified":"2023-05-13T10:35:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T07:35:46","slug":"docaviv-2023-miucha-the-voice-of-the-bossa-nova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=54095","title":{"rendered":"Docaviv 2023: Mi\u00facha: The Voice of the Bossa Nova"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mi\u00facha: The Voice of the Bossa Nova\/Photo: Cristina Ferra\u0303o<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mi\u00facha: The Voice of the Bossa Nova<\/em> explores the life and creativity of Helo\u00edsa Maria Buarque de Hollanda, who went by the stage name Mi\u00facha. The film seeks to shine a spotlight on the singer and songwriter who was in the inner circle of the Bossa Nova \u2013 the Brazilian music that became popular worldwide in the late 1950s and early 1960s \u2013 yet did not receive the same recognition as the musicians with whom she worked, such as Jo\u00e3o Gilberto, Ant\u00f4nio Carlos Jobim, and Vinicius de Moraes. Mi\u00facha\u2019s dazzling smile shines out in every photograph, and what makes the documentary distinctive is that it is based entirely on her own diaries, letters, recordings, and watercolors. Directors Lilian Mutti and Daniel Zarvos (Mi\u00facha\u2019s nephew) let Mi\u00facha tell her story, without exposition, resulting in a very intimate feel to the film, as the viewer becomes her confidant.<\/p>\n

Born in Rio de Janeiro 1937 as one of four children. Mi\u00facha\u2019s father, a historian, had a wide circle of acquaintances and she describes the family home as always lively and full of guests. That is how she met musician Vinicius de Moraes, who was the first to teach her some chords on the guitar. Music was an integral part of her life from the start, yet it took many years before she began performing professionally and recording. The film follows the trajectory of Mi\u00facha\u2019s life in chronological order, and in her experiences one can also see a reflection of the changes in women\u2019s lives during those times. A startling example is when she describes sitting at home with her father one night and hearing her brother come in at 11pm she feels jealous that he, at age 14, has house keys, yet she \u2013 although 7 years older, does not.<\/p>\n

The film benefits from Mi\u00facha\u2019s vibrant personality and her honesty in talking about her thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The drawback is that everything is told only from her perspective and the wider context in the music scene and other aspects of her biography and its times, is lacking. Her childhood bout with polio is mentioned briefly in passing, yet one might imagine that the illness had an impact on the development of her character and feelings. Awarded a scholarship to study art history in Paris, she set out to discover a wider world, yet that is where she met and began a relationship with Jo\u00e3o Gilberto. Known as the \u201cfather of the Bossa Nova\u201d it is not too surprising that the young Mi\u00facha was swept off her feet, as she says, \u201cJoao was my hero. I only thought about music, so he totally won me over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their intense and often turbulent marriage takes up much of the film, again, reflecting the social norms and status of women in the 1960s. In those early years, Mi\u00facha seems to have accepted without question the role of \u201cproblem solver\u201d as well as homemaker and mother. Yet as time goes on, she begins to feel more frustrated with the limitations of her life and begins to devote more time and thought to music. It\u2019s very much a feminist narrative typical of the 1960s \u2013 70s, as women began to join the professional work force in greater numbers and seek an equal role in public as well as private life. As Mi\u00facha becomes more active in music, there are interesting descriptions of her work recording with Stan Getz, Ant\u00f4nio Carlos Jobim, and Vinicius de Moraes.<\/p>\n

One of the film\u2019s great pleasures is Mi\u00facha\u2019s voice in song, from her albums as well as more informal recordings. The film provides an opportunity to become acquainted with a talented singer and vivid personality.<\/p>\n

Mi\u00facha: The Voice of the Bossa Nova\u00a0<\/em>will be screened at the Docaviv film festival which will take place from May 11 – 20, 2023. The full program and schedule are available on the Docaviv website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mi\u00facha: The Voice of the Bossa Nova\u00a0<\/em>will be shown on YES docu at a future date.<\/p>\n

Mi\u00facha: The Voice of the Bossa Nova<\/em><\/p>\n

Brazil\/France\/2022\/98 min\/English, French and Portuguese with English and Hebrew subtitles<\/p>\n

Directors: Liliane Mutti, Daniel Zarvos; Screenplay & Cinematography: Liliane Mutti; Editors: Isabel Castro, Daniela Ramalho; Sound Design: Rodrigo Sacic, Pierre-Yves Gauthier; Music: Ruben Jacobina; Animation: Guilherme Hoffmann, Meton Joffily, Julie Reed; Narrator: Silvia Buarque<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mi\u00facha: The Voice of the Bossa Nova explores the life and creativity of Helo\u00edsa Maria Buarque de Hollanda, who went by the stage name Mi\u00facha. The film seeks to shine a spotlight on the singer and songwriter who was in the inner circle of the Bossa Nova \u2013 the Brazilian music that became popular worldwide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":54096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[328,59,96,122],"class_list":["post-54095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","category-music","tag-bossa-nova","tag-documentary","tag-film","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}