Tuesday, March 31, 2009

From the AV Room: The Soul of Sampa

Watch this shiny, sing-songy, well-meaning tourist board commercial about my favorite world city, São Paulo.


Now watch this short film, which captures the texture, depth, chaos, grit, wonder, and naked beauty of the same mesmerizing city. This is the Sampa I love.

Urban Age :: São Paulo Film from OutrosFilmes on Vimeo.


Fly Brother
welcomes your views. If this post hit the spot, please comment below and/or click
.

7 comments:

MDUBB said...

Since moving to Italy, I've marveled at how peoples perceptions of culture, history,and tourism are so out of wack.

People think all of these things are synonymous because most of the time they are all related and intertwined, but they are not all one in the same.

You get it and that's cool.

Black Women in Europe said...

I get your Samba my Fly Brother. I really appreciate learning through your experiences.

I am please to give you an award today! I hope you have a chance to pick it up:

http://blog.blackwomenineurope.com/2009/04/03/yipee-i-won-a-lemonade-stand-award-and-now-i-get-to-share/

Ibou said...

I really liked the second film. São Paulo seems like a very interesting city.

A Cuban In London said...

It is a marked contrast and as a person who worked in travel can totally relate to the first film. 'Every kind of... (insert any word here)' sells and that's what these cats are after. Many thanks for such thoughtful post.

Greetings from London.

Fly Brother said...

MDUBB: Thanks for commenting, bruh. Having grown up in a touristic environment (Florida), I've always been privy to the truth behind the hype, and I think that's shaped my view of places when I travel. I'm also drawn to (metaphorically, at least) dirty, funky, sweaty, places - they appeal to all the senses.

BWIE: LOL, I'm honored that I got the Lemonade Stand (which I remember as a computer game in elementary school). I will indeed spread the juicy love.

Ibou: Thanks for stopping by, brother; I hope to learn a lot through your blog. São Paulo is phenomenal, for all the reasons captured in the second film. I would love to write a screenplay and have it shot in the city; what the place lacks in obvious physical "beauty," it makes up for in tremendous character.

Cubano: I bet you can guess what they forgot to include in their line up of "every kind of people." Still, I'm glad Sampa's selling itself, because it still has an (unearned) reputation for being a boring, industrial wasteland. I'd say it's probably the biggest city people keep sleeping on, which I kinda like.

Fly Girl said...

Every kid of people, every kind of food, can it get any more generic? Why would people be inspired to visit a place that can only be summed up by these generalities? The film shows the depth and color! of Sampa which is sorely missing from the ad. I must say, that boring, industrial, sterotype was exactly what I heard when I was in Brazil, from people who live in Sao Paulo! Brasilians don't do a good job of promoting their country for some reason. There's an ongoing discussion in the Linked In Brazil Travel group on this very issue.

Vakker Kvinne said...

Yes, you get it. Lovely.