Retomada

Retomada, or 'resumption', is the name given to the revival of Brazilian cinema in the mid-1990s. In 1990 President Collor shut down the state film company Embrafilme and the main funding bodies, and production almost stopped. New tax-incentive laws from 1993 and 1995 brought it back. The films that followed, such as Walter Salles's Central Station, Fernando Meirelles's City of God and José Padilha's Elite Squad, found audiences at home and abroad. They looked at the favelas, the sertão and the Northeast, and at the memory of dictatorship years, with a mix of social concern and polished, accessible storytelling.

Where

Brazil, mainly Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and the Northeast (Recife)

When

About 1995 to 2010

Key figures

Walter Salles, Fernando Meirelles, José Padilha, Karim Aïnouz, Cláudio Assis, Marcelo Gomes, Bruno Barreto, Laís Bodanzky

Landmark films

Four Days in September (1997), Central Station (1998), City of God (2002), Bus 174 (2002), Elite Squad (2007)

Legacy

It rebuilt a national industry and gave Brazil a place in world cinema, and it opened the way for a newer generation in Recife

What to look for

• Favela, sertão and city stories with strong social themes
• Fast, polished editing next to quiet, humanist road movies
• Documentary and fiction borrowing from each other