Master of Brazilian agit-prop cinema, the radical film director SERGIO BIANCHI will be attending the MOMAs Premiere Brazil screenings of “WHAT IS IT WORTH,” his powerful denunciation of the charity culture in Brazil.
Never afraid of courting controversy, in this his fifth feature film, Bianchi compares the social practices during the days of slavery with the pseudo-benevolence of modern day charitable organizations.
Sergio was inspired to make the film when he heard of an NGO in Brazil, planning to give each street child their own street hut to protect them from the weather whilst begging in traffic lights as it is a common practice there. He came to realize that the almost 22,000 Brazilian NGOs make yearly almost $100million, enough to buy each street child their own two bedroom house. The film shows how this money, often raised the name of those children regularly ends up in the hands of those who least need it, or that at any rate, it deals with the symptoms and not the cause of misery.
Speaking about the film Sergio says: “What is it Worth is even more radical than my last film, Chronically Unfeasible. It is about slavery in Brazil: how it influenced Brazilian relations in the past and how it infiltrates society and general behavior, and persists in our society today.
“What Is It Worth” screens at Museum of Modern Art, New York: Sunday July 16 at 4:30 and Saturday, July 22, at 4.
Bianchi’s Biography
Born in Paran, Brazil, Sergio Bianchi began his filmmaking career in 1972, after professional experience in advertising as photographer and director. Bianchi has been directing documentaries, short films and feature films in his country, ever since.
Feature Films:
Maldita Coincidncia (Bad Luck), 1979
Romance, 1988
A Causa Secreta (The Secret Cause), 1994
Cronicamente Invivel (Chronically Unfeasible), 2000