Film

Films do not exist only to create fantasy worlds. In the case of Latin American cinema, they illustrate real situations and conflicts. These films are often the best way to reach viewers who might never travel to Latin America. Films and film scholars are messengers to a broader community. At the Kellogg Institute, the presentation of films and the discussions they spark carry on the Institute's mission to raise awareness of the social issues that scholars seek to analyze. Scholars and the general public alike gain special benefits from engaging in dialogue with a film director who is present on campus. Such visits link films more clearly to their artistic and social contexts, to a director's larger body of work and to an audience's social consciousness.

In the Spring 2003 semester, the Kellogg Institute hosted film director Katia Lund as Visiting Chair in the Study of Brazilian Culture. Lund was co-director of Cidade de Deus/City of God (2002), an internationally acclaimed Golden Globe nominee that tells the compelling story of the gangs of Rio de Janeiro's slums. While at Notre Dame, she screened the film for students and local townspeople and participated in in-depth discussions of the film's subject matter in various classrooms across campus.

In November 2001, the Kellogg Institute brought film scholars and filmmakers from the US, Cuba and Brazil together to discuss the current state of Latin American cinema. Cosponsored with the Henkels Visiting Scholars Series on Latin American Cinema, the two-day Latin American Film Symposium opened with Brazilian director Lúcia Murat's latest film, Brava Gente Brasileira/Brave New Land (2000). Murat resided at Notre Dame as the Visiting Chair in the Study of Brazilian Culture during the fall 2001 semester, providing Notre Dame students and faculty with a firsthand glimpse into the world of Brazilian society.

The Visiting Chair in the Study of Brazilian Culture is supported by funds from Brazil's Ministry of Culture.