For sculpting and materializing time. The cinematographic representation of the vertical landscape of the city of Recife

Abstract

Since the 1990s, Recife has had its landscape transformed by vertical residential buildings. Such phenomenon is represented in films recently made in the city – an important cinema/audio-visual pole in Brazil. Such representation is not only about landscape as a scenario, but as a central theme in the scripts, collaborating for discussions about urban qualities and rights. Through a synchronic analysis, it is initially noticed that the production of Recife is descriptive/denunciative of the disturbance generated by the vertical landscape. In a second moment, however, it adopts a more technical discourse (typical of Architecture and Urbanism); at the same time, it is appropriated by collective actions and social movements which use it as an instrument for communication/mobilization.