The Weekender – Voices of Sao Paulo

“The Weekender” is our new feature where every weekend we hope to highlight a short film, movie or documentary pertaining to the Americas. 

For over a century, the Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paulo has grown and become highly diverse due to its constantly growing immigrant population. South America’s largest city has received traditionally received foreign migrants from countries like Japan and Portugal as well as domestically from around the country.  In recent years Sao Paulo as seen an influx of Chinese, African and Latin American immigrants that have helped gradually revitalize the area’s crime-ridden and largely crime-ridden downtown area.

Produced by Kika Nicolela and Lucas Bambozzi, “Somos São Paulo” (“We Are Sao Paulo”) was featured as part a 2011 exhibition in the Sao Paulo Museum of Art. More than sixty Paulistas of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds were interviewed and provided their experiences living in the city.  Among those featured in the film was a Polish Holocaust survivor, an Argentine escaping the repression of the “Dirty War”, a Bolivian seeking better economic opportunities and a Korean woman in love with a Brazilian.

Below the page break is the entire “Somos São Paulo” where you can view how the metropolis has impacted the lives of the film’s interviewees:

Somos São Paulo [We Are São Paulo]. 6 bilhões de Outros from GoodPlanet on Vimeo.

Video Source – Vimeo user GoodPlanet
 
Online Sources – New York Times; 7billionothers.org