This year the London International Documentary Festival will present four Brazilian films dealing with different themes…
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The actor and journalist’s two-part documentary about the Amazon forest screens on Sky.

Best known for his part in the soap East Enders, Kemp claims he’s no environmentalist, but he sure could be a good one. The actor/journalist presents this Tuesday and Wednesday a documentary that explores the challenges of preserving the Amazon regions of Brazil and Ecuador. The shows look into the great devastation created by the global demand for energy, food and mineral resources. It also investigates how oil companies and other kinds of dealings such as soya plantations, gold mining and also cocaine production take their toll on the forest. Read the full story

JD headed down to the Saatchi Gallery to see what it made of BRIC…

Two years has passed from when the Tate Modern’s walls were layered with the bright colours of 6 graffiti artists/collectives, with Brazil’s Nunca and the duo Os Gêmeos playing their part. The stage, or canvas, couldn’t have been much larger. And this April, the artistic prowess of Brazil has been invited for another chance to shine, as it takes its place alongside Russia, India and China, comprising the BRIC nations, in a project realised by Phillips de Pury & Company.

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Brasília celebrates 50 years of president Kubitschek’s expansion to the mid-west
In the mid 1950’s, small planes glided above the savannah in the central plateau of Brazil: vast pastures, bare earth roads with difficult access, houses scattered sparsely. On board those small aeroplanes, geographers, architects and government officials mapped out the land that would host the new Brazilian capital. From high above, they picked out the farmhouses and dropped down a note which read: ‘we want to buy your land. This soil will be part of the new federal capital, Brasília.’ The episode is engraved upon the memory of pioneer Jofre Parada, who was one of those in charge of acquisition of the land that would become the Federal District.

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When you think about it, Brazil has every reason to be churning out world-class photographers; a huge country heaving with rich and diverse nature, full of nooks and crannies, vastly different cultures, languages and ethnicities and still in a phase of development which allows you to find the practices of the past alongside the vision of tomorrow.

This year, one of the most prolific international photography competitions, the Sony World Photography Awards, has recognised the talent of not one but three Brazilian photographers, who have been shortlisted for prizes to be announced in April at a prestigious ceremony in Cannes.

1 | Duda Carvalho is a well-known photographer in the fashion industry in Brazil, but it was his atmospheric image of an empty restaurant that got him a Sony nomination in the Architecture category.

2 | Leonardo Giannetti is in the amateur category, but from the looks of his portfolio he could give some pro’s a run for their money – no pun intended; he’s up for the prize in the Sports category which could win him $5,000 and a Sony camera.

3| Calil Elias Neto has been a professional photographer since 1982 and is shortlisted for two images in the Arts and Entertainment section. His pictures depict the heavily symbolic, Afro-Brasilian religious ceremonies of the Northeast.

Ooops, she did it again – and this time she was in Brazil

Yes, the illustrious Paris Hilton has managed, yet again, to grab the attention of the entire international media whilst visiting Brazil last month. And she’s also got feminists and the Brazilian Women’s Bureau all in a fluster. The socialite’s latest antics began at a party thrown by the Devassa brewery when she ended up on all fours acting out a bizarre dance full of shimmys and acrobatics.

But it was her next move – as opposed to her drunken performances – that caused the furore. The 29-year old heiress is the new face (and body, read on) of the Devassa ad campaign. In a video now widely available online, Paris and a can of Devassa get intimate at her window, as the whole of Rio gets a good look (she’s not exactly naked – in her little dress, she even looks more modest than usual). Critics claim the advert is disrespectful to women and it’s been pulled from Brazilian TV – much to the surprise of viewers who are used to seeing much more raunchy than a fully-clothed Paris and her bevvy.